Michigan Native Collector

[Owlman]

Hi Everyone,
New to the forum but I've been practicing bonsai for a little over a decade. I'm mostly interested in native US deciduous species but dabble in some coniferous trees as well as some Japanese maples (cuz they're so darn pretty). Been searching for beni chidori for years with no luck but I still have hope I'll find one eventually.
Beech, hornbeam and ironwood are my jam. Looking forward to meeting people and learning from the knowledgeable people here!
Eric

 

[queenofsheba52]

Hi @Owlman Glad you found this awesome bonsai site!

I am your near neighbor in Kalamazoo. Michigan has so many great natives, we are very lucky. It's all about the flowers for me, so I like crab apples and azaleas.

Enjoy poking around this forum!

 

[Colorado]

Welcome!

 

[Gabler]

Hi @Owlman Glad you found this awesome bonsai site!

I am your near neighbor in Kalamazoo. Michigan has so many great natives, we are very lucky. It's all about the flowers for me, so I like crab apples and azaleas.

Enjoy poking around this forum!

Wait. That's a real place? I thought it was a silly nonsense place like Neverland, Whoville, or Oz.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Wait. That's a real place? I thought it was a silly nonsense place like Neverland, Whoville, or Oz.

It's real and it's spectacular. What makes you think it's fake is what's puzzling me. Maybe I missed a Dr. Suess book.

 

[Gabler]

It's real and it's spectacular. What makes you think it's fake is what's puzzling me. Maybe I missed a Dr. Suess book.

I'm not sure I believe you. Kalamazoo really doesn't sound like the name of a real place.

 

[KikurageOtomo]

I'm not sure I believe you. Kalamazoo really doesn't sound like the name of a real place.

A lot of cities in the great lakes area retain the names given to them by the indigenous population, lets be adult about it!

 

[Dav4]

Let’s not even talk about cheboygan

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I'm not sure I believe you. Kalamazoo really doesn't sound like the name of a real place.

Kalamazoo only scratches the surface of weird names.

 

[Wulfskaar]

Free Soil sounds amazing!

 

[Wulfskaar]

View attachment 540926
Kalamazoo only scratches the surface of weird names.

Free Soil sounds amazing!

 

[19Mateo83]

View attachment 540926
Kalamazoo only scratches the surface of weird names.

Hey! I live in charlotte…. not the Michigan one though, that place is weird

 

[Gabler]

Apparently, I'm not the only one.

 

[rockm]

Those aren't all that weird. Native names are pretty common. It's the English names that are freakin weird. There is also a Bugtussle Texas, Dime Box, Texas, as well a Cut and Shoot, DIng Dong and Jot 'em Down. Here in Va, we've got Tight Squeeze which is a short drive from Climax (I don't want to know the origin story there...)

 

[The Barber]

Hi Everyone,
New to the forum but I've been practicing bonsai for a little over a decade. I'm mostly interested in native US deciduous species but dabble in some coniferous trees as well as some Japanese maples (cuz they're so darn pretty). Been searching for beni chidori for years with no luck but I still have hope I'll find one eventually.
Beech, hornbeam and ironwood are my jam. Looking forward to meeting people and learning from the knowledgeable people here!
Eric

Welcome! Share pictures, we love pictures!

 

[rockm]

Hi Everyone,
New to the forum but I've been practicing bonsai for a little over a decade. I'm mostly interested in native US deciduous species but dabble in some coniferous trees as well as some Japanese maples (cuz they're so darn pretty). Been searching for beni chidori for years with no luck but I still have hope I'll find one eventually.
Beech, hornbeam and ironwood are my jam. Looking forward to meeting people and learning from the knowledgeable people here!
Eric

I forgot to say Welcome. Also a little bit of clarification--Ironwood is sometimes a name for Hornbeam. It's a regional thing.

Also more specific species names can get you better care info. There are a few species of hornbeam and beech in North America and Europe that are used in bonsai. U.S. native species names (Hornbeam--Carpinus Caroliniana, American Beech--Fagus Grandifolia are commonly collected in the U.S. for bonsai)

 

[Owlman]

Ya, holy cow those southern state names definitely take the cake

 

[Owlman]

I forgot to say Welcome. Also a little bit of clarification--Ironwood is sometimes a name for Hornbeam. It's a regional thing.

Also more specific species names can get you better care info. There are a few species of hornbeam and beech in North America and Europe that are used in bonsai. U.S. native species names (Hornbeam--Carpinus Caroliniana, American Beech--Fagus Grandifolia are commonly collected in the U.S. for bonsai)

I prefer to use species names actually so that's a good thing. I'm a taxonomist so it comes second nature to me, but I've found in conversation people don't understand and always ask for the common name anyway so I wanted to be polite. Good to hear this is the place to break free and speak plainly.
The "Ironwood" I'm referring to is Ostrya virginiana and the "Hornbeam" is Carpinus caroliniana. Both of these seem to be underutilized compared to other deciduous species, particularly the former. Japanese species tend to have some of the more dwarfed characteristics useful for bonsai material but I think that given the right care, native American species can really shine as well.

 

[Gabler]

I prefer to use species names actually so that's a good thing. I'm a taxonomist so it comes second nature to me, but I've found in conversation people don't understand and always ask for the common name anyway so I wanted to be polite. Good to hear this is the place to break free and speak plainly.
The "Ironwood" I'm referring to is Ostrya virginiana and the "Hornbeam" is Carpinus caroliniana. Both of these seem to be underutilized compared to other deciduous species, particularly the former. Japanese species tend to have some of the more dwarfed characteristics useful for bonsai material but I think that given the right care, native American species can really shine as well.

If you're buying commercially available trees, they tend to be Japanese and Chinese species because they've been cultivated for bonsai for centuries, the process is well known, and that makes them easy to mass produce. You'll find that serious hobbyists and high-level practitioners prefer to work with wild-collected material, which tends to include many native species. I've seen lots of Carpinus caroliniana (which around here we call ironwood), as well as everything from Pinus taeda to Vaccinium corymbosum. I'm partial to Quercus spp. Most oaks aren't as ideal for bonsai as most elms and junipers, but there's something iconic about a stately old oak tree that draws a lot of interest from bonsai practitioners. Out west, they use all sorts of interesting desert plants I'm not familiar with. Down under, it gets even more interesting.

 

[rockm]

I prefer to use species names actually so that's a good thing. I'm a taxonomist so it comes second nature to me, but I've found in conversation people don't understand and always ask for the common name anyway so I wanted to be polite. Good to hear this is the place to break free and speak plainly.
The "Ironwood" I'm referring to is Ostrya virginiana and the "Hornbeam" is Carpinus caroliniana. Both of these seem to be underutilized compared to other deciduous species, particularly the former. Japanese species tend to have some of the more dwarfed characteristics useful for bonsai material but I think that given the right care, native American species can really shine as well.

Oystra Virginiana is "hophornbeam" here. Ironwood and "musclewood" are terms for Caroliniana in the South. Caroliniana is a pretty common bonsai species in the Southern U.S. It used to be more popular than Bald Cypress (which seems to be a on big run up in popularity these days). Caroliniana is extremely easy to collect, even in large sizes (trunks 6 to 8 to even bigger diameters). I've collected more than a few. Hophornbeam is rarer as bonsai because it's not as common in the wild. It's habitat can more more specialized than Caroliniana. That said, you can run across it every now and then. The one below is growing two doors down from me and is relatively old and large.