almost persuaded

Was having a nice chat with a fellow bonsai hobbyist, and we got around to chatting about favorite trees. Just about all of my trees are evergreen, not necessarily meaning pines but stuff that hangs on to it's green thruout the seasons. My friend was just the opposite and put on a wonderful oratory about the value of deciduous. His view was that the constat green was boring and unchangeable. That those trees that change with the seasons are much more exciting and enjoyable.
I quess I hadn't really looked at it that way, but as an avid student of display that focuses so much on seasonal influences, it made a rather strikingly good point. Gee, just when I thought I settled into a comfortable rut.
The timing was awful as I've finally accepted the fact that it is time to downsize the house i raised my kids in,
drop my koi and japanese garden and hang on to a coupla bonsai. <sigh> quess there's just no "good timing" for new challenges.

I have very few (2) conifers as (believe it or not) I find them quite boring. One boxwood, Azalea, and cotoneaster and a few tropicals.

Everything else in a collection of 60-70 some odd trees is deciduous. This year I have begun collecting weird or wacky Japanese Maple cultivars as they just astound me with their seasonal interest.

-Jay

I find that in both my garden and now as I grow my collection of bonsai material in training that I like to have both, with my evergreens providing a constant backdrop for the ever changing colors of my deciduous trees, plus it gives me more to do throughout the year.

Jay- Like you I have become a bit of a collector of the odd ball japanese maple cultivars for both bonsai and my garden, just love all the variations in leaf size, shape, color, even branch habit, my wife says I may have a problem lol. Just got a great low grafted acer attaryi that for the moment may be my new favorite cultivar.

Has anyone considered some of the evergreens that due change color throughout the season, not sure which if any are good for bonsai. I am growing a few Cryptomeria Plumosa mainly to be container trees to accent some of my other trees, the foliage turns a lovely pinkish purple in the fall.

Steven wrote:
Has anyone considered some of the evergreens that due change color throughout the season, not sure which if any are good for bonsai.

One of the two conifers I have is a Japanese Larch and the Fall color is wonderful. In fact being deciduous helped it out a lot when I bought it last fall.
-Jay

thanks guys for your thoughts. I had a fabulous J larch but each year it would drop another limb till I couldn't stand it and offed it. I had it in a yellow pot and in the spring with it's yellow green and in the fall with it's yellow
it was very nice!

I think the true appretiation of deciduous bonsai comes after you've been doing it a few years - initially they seem to progress so very slowly and you can convince yourself they are looking good in leaf - only to realise how poor they still are in winter when all the branches are bare for all to see.

The conifers do let you produce a very credible bonsai in less time - so I am currently refining and fine tuning conifers while being patient with the deciduous trees as they achieve the desired branch structure. with a few of the trees i'm now working on ramification - some trees have maybe 4 or 5 years to reach a nice stage now.

I think a balanced tree collection has a mixture of all species - it gives you knowledge of many techniques and spreads the bonsai work through out the year. Also you soon see that a person who dismisses conifers as just green has not really owned or looked at them properly - my pines were laden in pink and purple flowers this year, the junipers were nearly orange with pollen 'balls', then changed to vibrant lime green with new growth tips. The hinoki has amazing contrast too - old dark green foliage with similar intense bright green new growth on every tip.........spruce,,, what can i say...the new growth is as bright and delicate as any flower. Come winter you can get bronze foliage on many species and with frost on they are truely beautiful.

I guess for me variety is the spice of life

I think a balanced tree collection has a mixture of all species - it gives you knowledge of many techniques and spreads the bonsai work through out the year. Also you soon see that a person who dismisses conifers as just green has not really owned or looked at them properly - my pines were laden in pink and purple flowers this year, the junipers were nearly orange with pollen 'balls', then changed to vibrant lime green with new growth tips. The hinoki has amazing contrast too - old dark green foliage with similar intense bright green new growth on every tip.........spruce,,, what can i say...the new growth is as bright and delicate as any flower. Come winter you can get bronze foliage on many species and with frost on they are truely beautiful.

I guess for me variety is the spice of life [/quote]


Marcus,

Beautifully said, While I myself have not taken the plunge into pines, I could not imagine my garden or my benches without the subtle and year round changes in my conifers/evergreens