American Bonsai at the NC Arboretum

Height: 18in. (45.7cm)
Container: Michelle Smith, MC2 Pottery
Plants collected from cultivated landscape, grown as bonsai for approximately 8 years

Height: 35in. (88.9cm)
Container: Nick Lenz
Collected from the wild as a young sapling, 2003

I love that Amelanchier, and I have some of these in my collection, but only about two years old.  Encouraging!

Have you ever tried Blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium I think)?  The Amelanchier seem to have survived collection more successfully, but I don't have enough numbers to say for sure.  I realize that the shadbush is currently blooming and that's why you have posted it, and your potted specimen looks more flowery than my yard tree!

maybe this belongs in a thread such as "Eastern North American species useful for Bonsai"?

I love it!  

Amelanchier laevis is quite rare as a bonsai, I've often wondered if it could be a good candidate. Yours shows it deserves more attention.

wonderful image arthur... glad you found the time to share.

dave - i know that the arboretum has blackhaw viburnum as a landscape tree...
arthur allowed me to pick some of the tiny fruit and after gnawing off the bit of flesh i later tried to germinate them (unsuccessfully)

Dave Leppo wrote:

(...) maybe this belongs in a thread such as "Eastern North American species useful for Bonsai"?

That's a very good idea: the Japanese adapted the concept of Penjing to their local climate in the 12th century, and developed a culture (cultivation,) of their own.

Neither the Chinese or the Japanese grew olive or oak or sequoia for instance, and yet, there are outstanding trees, or landscapes in a pot now.

working with local species is to my mind much more sensible: can you imagine someone from Guangdong growing tamarack?...

OK, that can be done: if you can afford a refrigerated room for the night in summer, with a misting system at dawn, then putting the tree outside every day, and maybe a freezer for the winter months (and seasons don't last the same), and on top of that pay the carbon footprint for the electricity bills, why not?

I wonder why more Cantonese don't post here to show us their spruce, mugo pines, etc...



Oh, I'm being mean again

You call that mean?

maybe a happy hour post

perhaps by mean he meant mean vs mean... know what i mean ?

You mean mean as in the middle of the road not mean as being left beaten and bloody in the middle of the road?

dave. I know that rusty blackhaw do not transplant very well or tolerate root work well. It is one of the more common shrubs in local cattle fields and I have collected dozens of them. The only one to have ever made it was 3 years ago and had a 9" diameter trunk with 200lb rootball yet it has started loosing very large portions finally.

Height: 24in. (60.9cm.)
Container: Sara Rayner
Plant collected from cultivated landscape, grown as bonsai for approximately 16 years

couple things that don't tickle me about this one, but very interesting, none-the-less
i guess everyone but me knows what it is, so i am forced to ask:

what is it ?

beer city snake wrote:

what is it ?  

Read the title of the post:

Mount Airy Fothergilla (Fothergilla x intermedia 'Mount Airy')

[quote="AlainK"]

beer city snake wrote:

what is it ?  

Read the title of the post:

D'-OH !

thanks... i usually over look post titles as opposed to thread titles...

AlainK wrote:

Dave Leppo wrote:

(...) maybe this belongs in a thread such as "Eastern North American species useful for Bonsai"?

That's a very good idea: the Japanese adapted the concept of Penjing to their local climate in the 12th century, and developed a culture (cultivation,) of their own.

Neither the Chinese or the Japanese grew olive or oak or sequoia for instance, and yet, there are outstanding trees, or landscapes in a pot now.

working with local species is to my mind much more sensible: can you imagine someone from Guangdong growing tamarack?...

OK, that can be done: if you can afford a refrigerated room for the night in summer, with a misting system at dawn, then putting the tree outside every day, and maybe a freezer for the winter months (and seasons don't last the same), and on top of that pay the carbon footprint for the electricity bills, why not?

I wonder why more Cantonese don't post here to show us their spruce, mugo pines, etc...



Oh, I'm being mean again

found this pre-existing thread. https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t12735-utilizing-native-north-american-species

Height: Approximately 8ft. (2.4m.)
Planted in the Bonsai Exhibition Garden and shaped since 2010
Originally collected as an offshoot from a tree in a cultivated landscape, then containerized for several years before being planted in the garden

can't wait!

Prepped and ready

Dave Leppo wrote:can't wait!

for what ???






wait... whats that ?

a carrot ?
just hanging there ???
maybe if i juuuust stretch... my.... neck....

Arthur, thanks so much for sharing these spring images. I had no idea that Yellowood had flowers like tiny fireworks! That was a real treat.

Getting to see tree flowers up close is one of the under-appreciated joys of bonsai. You can put your face right up to them and examine every tiny detail intimately. (Just look out for the bees!)

Craig and I do need to get back down to the NC Arboretum, last visit was for the Bonsai Expo in 2003, before the Bonsai Exhibit Garden was open. I still have the hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) that I got at the auction then and it's developing really nicely.

-Anita

Hi,

Anitasfarm wrote: I had no idea that Yellowood had flowers like tiny fireworks!

An excellent example of how "bonsai" is not a mummified art.

No need to comply to the species, and the rules that were made by tyrants and a caste of professional criminals (the samurai) in a remote island that has since invented so many things that we have adopted too.

Some people make us move on, others live in the past, or never got down from too strong an acid trip

AlainK wrote:Hi,

An excellent example of how "bonsai" is not a mummified art.

Right you are! Though, I would like to gently point out that using local species is exactly what those folks "on a remote island" were doing originally. If they'd had yellowood, or shadblow, or blackhaw, I'm sure someone would've stuck them into a pot! And, there's a tradition there too, of displaying trees only seasonally, to show off their delicate flowers, unfurling new leaves, spectacular fall colors, even if they are not classically "ideal" bonsai in terms of their ramification or taper or whatever.

best,
Anita

Anitasfarm wrote:

Right you are! Though, I would like to gently point out that using local species is exactly what those folks "on a remote island" were doing originally. If they'd had yellowood, or shadblow, or blackhaw, I'm sure someone would've stuck them into a pot! And, there's a tradition there too, of displaying trees only seasonally, to show off their delicate flowers, unfurling new leaves, spectacular fall colors, even if they are not classically "ideal" bonsai in terms of their ramification or taper or whatever.

best,
Anita

Quite right.

I couldn't agree more

Height: 20in. (50.8cm)
Container: Byron Myrick
Received in 1992 as part of the Staples donation

Height: 13in. (33cm.)
Container: Eli Akins
Collected from the wild, containerized for approximately 10 years