How long have you been bonsaing?

mgodbee

I started in 1996 as a junior in high school. I just had a few willow leaf ficus' and a couple of oaks. Read a lot of books and stuff. Went to college (Georgia Tech) and that ended the bonsai craze. Started back in 2001 when I finally rented a house my senior year, and immediately started doing some cypress' trees. Got married and moved into a bigger home and really jumped back in full force. Now I have about 15 trees, and about 50 trees/seedlings waiting for the full treatment. Now I need to work on some sort of greenhouse so I can keep more tropicals. I need to convince my wife it is a good idea too. That will be the harder part. I plan to get to the point where 20 years from now, I can retire and just keep a nursery for a little income. I am still a freelancer with no bonsai friends and no club affiliation. Economics is the biggest hinderance for me right now. Grad school saps a lot of my bonsai cash. Hell I have trees I can't even pot because I can't afford to buy a suitable pot for them...

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susieq

I have been "playing " with bonsai for so long that I don't even remember how I got interested in it, though I think it might have been part of a phase when I loved everything oriental......and that part just stuck. It has been close to 35 years now. One of my trees is a San Jose' juniper that I started from a cutting nearly 30 years ago..... It is old, ugly and full of warts but an old friend just the same.

Vance Wood

My first tree was a Cotton Wood seedling I found growing in the garden; 1957.

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The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

magilla

I have had a miniature rose for approx 5 years (which makes 10 years old , apparently), and I said to myself if i can keep this alive for some time I will get some more. I went to a 2 day course on bonsai about 2 years ago and ever since them I am addicted. I now have 15 trees in pots and have planted in tubs god knows how many cuttings/root prunings/plants in training/plants I don't know the name of but found them in my travels. Everyone reading this knows how one day you have 1 bonsai which gets all of your attention and then one day you have plants and trees and tools and pots and tubs of soil and wire all over the place an not enough time.

Newt

"I showed the survivors to my friend Satoshi who was visiting from Japan about 5 years ago. He wanted to know why someone a young as me was interested in Bonsai. In Japan, he said, Bonsai is the hobby for retired people. It would be interesting to know if this is really true. I told him that if I started when I retired I wouldn't get very far. He said, by then, you'll be able to afford a finished tree."

Yes, this is true. I work for a Japanese company and I always get that! At least he did not laugh! I had some pictures of my trees up at work and Chikashi-san (sp?) said, "you grow bonsai?" I replied yes. "ha ha ha ha ha (goes on for a minute or two, tears in his eyes)." I finally asked, " what is so funny?" Oh, Eric-san, you are too young for bonsai, bonsai is old man hobby!" I thought he was laughing at my trees (he may have been) but he said I should spend my time making money (wow they work long days). He did like one of my junipers enough to name it for me though. He said, "that tree looks like a dancing woman (literati juniper)". I asked how to say in Japanese. "Odoru josei" he said. So I guess technically I named it.

Newt

Newt

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Opportunity must not be lost while the gods smile.
-Li Jing

Jonny

I've been growing plants for over 30 years, but bonsai for about 10 years. The collection is about 30 trees in various stages, most are not finished trees. I tend to be quite frugal, but I like to collect and/or buy nursery stock to work on.

Jonny

RedPine

Hi Newt,

Back in 2000 I was renting a house with some friends,one of my roomates was kinda friends with a girl from Japan who had come to the states for college.Keiko(sp) noticed my "bonsais" one day and commented to my friend -oh,your doing bonsai.Then she explained to him that these were nice but he was too young for bonsai,bonsai is what old men do and he should be out in the world doing things.

I could tell just by the look on her face when she was inspecting them she wasn't too impressed.Her and her boyfriend only lived a couple blocks away,one afternoon me and the same roomater were walking and he wanted to stop by,and there it was on the porch.The boyfriend had fashioned a jade into a bonsai pot and covered the soil with some mosses.
The little visit to my ghetto collection had spread the virus to yet another young american boy,lol.

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CScott

So are these young (Thirtyish) bonsai sylists from Japan considered the equivalent of american loser computer geeks? I was also laughed at by a Japanese woman I work with - and I was 45 years old! She went to one of our club shows and just shook her head. On the up side she gives me gifts from Japan when she goes to visit her family. I have been doing bonsai for 22 years. My husband had a little maple when I met him at college. He dropped the habit and I picked it up and ran with it. What a glorious passion!

Carmen

Newt

"Hi Newt,

Back in 2000 I was renting a house with some friends,one of my roomates was kinda friends with a girl from Japan who had come to the states for college.Keiko(sp) noticed my "bonsais" one day and commented to my friend -oh,your doing bonsai.Then she explained to him that these were nice but he was too young for bonsai,bonsai is what old men do and he should be out in the world doing things."

I think alot of it has to do with culture. See they have been doing it long enough that they already know that you cannot make any money at it! Make your fortune first and then spend it on bonsai! It is very important not only for you, but for your family, to be sucsessful and to poor yourself into your job. Here we put in our time at work (as little as possible) and get on with our passion (rarley our job). Heck it is not unlikely to take your own life if you are not successful or you bring shame on your family. Very different culture.

Newt

__________________
Opportunity must not be lost while the gods smile.
-Li Jing