Backyard Collecting

By Thomas J.

When it comes to collecting material for use as bonsai, many enthusiasts, myself included, have literally no where to go. Especially if you live in the flatlands like I do. All we're really left with is to go to nurseries, be they bonsai nurseries, or regular garden type nurseries. And then of course we're limited to stock on hand, or whatever is available at the time.
It really limits our pursuit to advance in the art of bonsai, when you don't have new material to work on.

Bonsai is all about being creative, and not just in styling. You sometimes have to explore your options. Another option to collecting other than going to the mountains, or on club digs, is to do some backyard collecting. At least that's what I call it. This isn't something new, as I'm sure there are many enthusiasts who at one time or another, have dug up material either
at a friend or relatives property. Some have even approached construction site supervisors and asked for permission to dig before the bulldozers move in. If you see potential material and have the permission to dig, by all means have at it. Collecting is by whatever means you can to get the material right? But again, make sure you have the permission first. I've heard some real horror stories of enthusiasts going to city parks to dig up material. Some how, spending time in the city slammer for bonsai material that might not even survive the dig, doesn't seem all that worth it.

For me, my recent collecting came from my sons back yard. After purchasing a new home in an established neighborhood, the former owner had two junipers planted right in the middle of the yard where a nice shade tree should have gone. My son, not sharing the same interests as his old dad in bonsai, told me to either take them, or the bushhog would consume them.

Now these we're some pretty good size junipers, and I wasn't looking forward to that much work, so I looked them over and decided that one would be all I would take.

Looking at the picture below, I think you can see what I mean. After being overgrown for sometime, I wasn't even sure that I had material with any real potential. But if I may brag a little, I usually have a good eye for finding something in just about every juniper I ever worked on.

After getting it home I immediately put it into a large tub like mica container with the correct draining soil that I use with all my bonsai. I then began to clean it up just a bit in order to see what I had to work with. Being that it was mid February, I didn't worry too much about the type of work I was doing with
the tree because the stress factor would certainly still be there, but wouldn't be as high if it were much warmer. I did keep the work to a minimum though, just to be safe. The picture below shows what it was I had to work with finally.

Just before we got into the heat of Spring, I had the tree pretty much broken down to what I thought I might be able to use for a final specimen. No more work would be done now until  next winter.

In early December I finally eliminated all the branches that would not work for my final design. A few of the thicker ones down low were stripped of their foliage and and used for jin. A small Dremel tool was used for the carving, and lime sulphur would be applied at a later date when the stripped wood
would be dried out some.

The carving was fun, as I was able to be just as creative with it as I am with styling my trees.

The winter of 2006 was a very strange one even here in North Texas. The winter months were almost as warm as early Spring, and for that reason I decided to lift the tree from it's pot after only eleven months from the initial dig. I really couldn't believe the root mass that had grown in less than a years time. The soil combined with the a good fertilization program, and just allowing the tree to grow throughout the summer, in full sun, with the pot covered on very excessive hot days, showed a very healthy tree, not only on top, but underneath as well.

I saw no reason at this time why I wouldn't be able to transplant it into a suitable bonsai pot, and begin work on the ramification of the branches.

At this writing, the tree is puttting out really nice new Spring buds, and will continue to spend it's time in full sun, just like it did sitting out in the open yard before it became a bonsai.