The Grim Reaper, and Bonsai

Emperor Fish

The New Year is a time of reflection for many of us in many differing cultures and places in the world. Out with the old, in with the new - hopes for the coming year and plans for the future.

Being an optimistic species, we dwell much on getting richer, improving our and our families lot in life, and collecting more 'stuffo'. If two bedrooms is good, four must be better! If Bert down the road gets a second-hand Beemer, I must crush him with a new Merc! We dwell little on the one true constant: our own mortality.
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Given that we will all surely die, (don't get depressed, it's a fact - deal with it), how many of us have any sort of even rudimentary plans to limit the damage to our collections, collections that without our intervention, are just as fragile as we are? Would our death just herald the death of our bonsai too? Have we tied ourselves so closely to them, made them so dependent, that their living or death is entwined totally with our own?

In the West, we have obviously reached a stage where many different service industries will take care of our death and what we leave behind. The stuffo that we leave behind is normally pretty able to take care of itself until it is sold, re-distributed or stays where it is. The six DVD players are quite happy without our intervention (six is better than two remember). The trees are a different matter and there is no sevice to take care of them, yet they are each unique, each containing a part of us within them. They are a reflection of us. If anything lives on of us, past our death apart from any children, it is our creations. And these creations too, are alive.

Given the above, is it time that we addressed things in 2005, if we have not already done so? Do you have plans? You could get squished by Bert's second-hand BMW tomorrow you know...

Regards,

Fish.

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FlyBri

Hola Fishola! Awfully philosophical today, aren't we? I thought that your concept of 'long-term' was the next 5 or so years...

Who will look after my trees when I'm gone? I'm looking into having my trees cryogenically preserved, along with any bits of me which can be saved from the ravages of tobacco and alcohol abuse. So "I" may end up being just 2 ears, half a brain and an eyeball in an upturned goldfish bowl full of bubbling brine - nobody's really going to want to spend much time with me, so I might as well have a hobby, right? What's new?

OK, so it's not a very good plan, but it's something... The reason I reply today is that something you said interested me:



I'm just wondering if you are being sarcastic when you say 'optimistic species'. To me, the wholesale hoarding of every material possession one can get one's hands on is anything but optimistic. There are many who would argue that such behaviour is brought about through fear and uncertainty. I heard one financial observer saying that the War On Terror was one of the best things since sliced bread where consumer spending is concerned. (If you are being sarcastic, please ignore this paragraph.)

Anyway, thanks for this thread - it is potentially a good one, and certainly worthy of much contemplation. I'll be interested to hear from others.

See you in the golfish bowl.

Fly.

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Alasdair

Although i am somewhat afraid of my own mortality it is something i have thought about almost evry time i work on my trees. So heres an idea, how about when someone pops their clogs they generously donate them to the Alasdair foundation where they will be carefully idolised, worshiped and tended to. Then, when this foundation goes bust and the founder finaly passes away, all trees will be passed onto the first cheeky bugger with a clever way of groveling.

Personally i think this is brill

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JLDoggett

Fifteen years ago, as my grandmother was dying her lawyer (and executer) closed up her house, under the pretext of securing her assets. Unbeknownst to us he also dismissed her remaining staff (gardener included). He set the alarms and locked the doors and left the house empty for a week, informing the family all was being taken care of in proper fashion. That was a particularly warm, rainless August. Needless to say her collection of bonsai became a forest of dead trees by the time we were allowed in after the funeral. Of forty-seven trees only four survived. It seems her philistine of a lawyer had no idea that bonsai were an asset, to him they were just “stupid house-plants” (though he learned differently when he had to reimburse the estate for their value).

Being childless, I have added to my will, a clause, leaving my collection to the local university with a small trust to fund their care and a scholarship for students interested in arboriculture. I actually plan to give them before I die (not for another fifty or so years, I hope, the will is just in case of errant BMWs) so that I can be certain of their disposition. This was inspired by an aging friend’s recent gift to the same university of his forty acre garden. My friend is well into his nineties and unable to maintain his gardens as he would like. By donating them he is assured they will continue to grow and flourish, he will still be able to visit them and give direction, while educating the school’s students (who will also tend them)

While many do not have major collections, we all have trees of which we are proud. The donation of even one tree may not seem like a grand gesture, but for a growing collection owned by a school, collage or university, it may well add a missing element. There are also many small arboreta around the world who will gladly accept donations. Another option would be to leave them to your local bonsai club, possibly to be auctioned off with the monies going into a scholarship fund.

Whatever you decide to do, you need to make your wishes known now, otherwise by the time your trees are thought of again it may be too late.

rockm

It's nice to think donating your plants to a foundation or charity, or even your kids will provide them with a way to continue on. Realistically, that probably ain't gonna happen.

Bonsai are like pets. They are YOUR darlings, not your children's, not your spouse's, not the local Heart Association's. Once you're gone, they are a kind of burden, unfortunately. I think the best place for displaced bonsai is on the auction block at the local bonsai club, or at least distributed for free by your kin to knowledgeable bonsai club members. Another idea would be to consign the trees' sale through a local bonsai nursery, although this can be a little tricky, since the sales of your trees might disrupt sales of the nursery's trees.

Several local noted bonsai people have passed on around here in the las couple of years. Several of them had backyard auctions of their trees, leaning heavily on local bonsai clubs. There are 13 local bonsai clubs in the D.C. area, linked by a single newsletter, so there is a pretty large contingent of bonsai people. The sales were publicized, coordinated and aided by bonsai people through the clubs. This network ensured that all the trees at these sales were literally snapped up by people that REALLY wanted them and knew how to care for them.

Unfortunately, in the cold light of day, donating bonsai to educational institutions, even places like the National Arboretum, doesn't gaurantee their survival or even that they will stay at those institutions.

Vance Wood

The sad reality; unless you, me, us have some real outstanding and beautiful bonsai the pots they are in are probably more valuable than the trees they contain.

clrosner

Vance Wood may be right, since I have one of his planters!!! Hmmmm

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Emperor Fish

Well, I did have an idea to help us all. Let me run it by you.

As an example:

I get snuffed by Bert's Bimmer tomorrow. Luckily, I have informed my nearest and dearest, (who couldn't give a rat's @ss about my strange twisted tree depravity), to contact the webmaster of this site tout suite.

Matt informs all the many bonsai people via this site that the Fish is, sadly, dead, and you all come down to my garden and grab what you want. One less hassle for the Empress to deal with upon my demise, and bonsai people get free trees.

Probably never work.

Regards,

Fish.

PS Fly, thanks for the thoughts. It wasn't sarcasm though. The human species can't stop moving 'forward'.

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Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.

HEALTH WARNING: Engage brain fully, before typing into keyboard.


"We are the average gamers and we'll kill you badly. There'll be no finesse. no fancy tricks, no inventive attacks, just 2 whole smg clips and a rain of 'nades."

FlyBri

Morning folks.

I remember similar conversations over on the other Forum, and they all seemed to go this way... The younger, more idealistic Bonsaiists tend to be of the notion that their trees will somehow be their ticket to immortality. As the Emperor suggests: '[Our trees] are a reflection of us. If anything lives on of us, past our death apart from any children, it is our creations.' Meanwhile, the more experienced Bonsaiists seem to agree that this simply is not the case, unless our trees are of exceptional quality, or that we leave them to particularly sentimental offspring and grand-offspring. While I certainly do no consider myself to be 'more experienced', I think the latter take on the issue is closer to the mark than the former.

However, I do not think that this is a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. The way I see it is this: if I wish my trees to survive as some part of my legacy, then I must strive for excellence, not only in my Bonsai practice, but also in my character. The way I see it, if my trees do not achieve excellence, they may still survive me if they stand as a representation of my character and my devotion to the practice. If the people around me respect me

In the end, I won't know or care what happens to my trees - I'll just be dead. If they continue to be cared for after my death, then I will have done something right - be it horticulturally, artistically and/or personally.

Does this make sense?

Thanks.

FlyBri.

PS: I truly hope my trees are not worth less than the pots they're in - all of them are still in plastic nursery pots...

PPS: Fishy-Poo - what about your thoughts on the issue? So far you have simply posed the question.

PPPS: So they're your thoughts, eh? Do you not think that the Empress of Fish might be a little disturbed at being over-run by tree nerds directly after her favourite tree nerd has been run-over?

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