Collecting in Pennsylvania

[rockm]

I've joined the Susquehanna Bonsai Club. But their meeting schedule seems to be very spotty, so we will see. I hope so.

I also second a visit to Chase Rosade in New Hope. His place is a mecca for bonsai folks. If you're nearer to Harrisburg a trip to Nature's Way--Jim Doyle's place might also turn up some info on collecting trips.

Bonsai Trees, Outdoor Bonsai | New Hope, PA, Rosade Bonsai

Learn about the fascinating art of bonsai trees at Rosade Bonsai in New Hope, Pennsylvania. We offer bonsai classes, maintenance, workshops, and boarding. Pure excellence in bonsai for over 50 years.

www.rosadebonsai.com

Nature's Way Nursery

nature's way nursery bonsai suiseki tools horticulture classes trees plants linglestown harrisburg pennsylvania interiorscape interiorscaping landscape landscaping

www.natureswaybonsai.com

 

[PABonsai]

I also second a visit to Chase Rosade in New Hope. His place is a mecca for bonsai folks. If you're nearer to Harrisburg a trip to Nature's Way--Jim Doyle's place might also turn up some info on collecting trips.

Bonsai Trees, Outdoor Bonsai | New Hope, PA, Rosade Bonsai

Learn about the fascinating art of bonsai trees at Rosade Bonsai in New Hope, Pennsylvania. We offer bonsai classes, maintenance, workshops, and boarding. Pure excellence in bonsai for over 50 years.

www.rosadebonsai.com

Nature's Way Nursery

nature's way nursery bonsai suiseki tools horticulture classes trees plants linglestown harrisburg pennsylvania interiorscape interiorscaping landscape landscaping

www.natureswaybonsai.com

The SBC actually meets at Natures Way. I guess I just need to be bonsai patient to attend my first meeting October 20th.......I may stop by Chase's if I can find the time. His place is kind of far away. Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[Sansui]

You could also try asking the folks at SuperFly Bonsai for leads. Darn it, do think we need a bonsai spotting permit in Pennsylvania?

 

[PABonsai]

You could also try asking the folks at SuperFly Bonsai for leads. Darn it, do think we need a bonsai spotting permit in Pennsylvania?

Do you think it's legal to bag trees on sundays?

 

[Sansui]

Do you think it's legal to bag trees on sundays?

Maybe on Palm Sunday.

 

[Shogun610]

I also second a visit to Chase Rosade in New Hope. His place is a mecca for bonsai folks. If you're nearer to Harrisburg a trip to Nature's Way--Jim Doyle's place might also turn up some info on collecting trips.

Bonsai Trees, Outdoor Bonsai | New Hope, PA, Rosade Bonsai

Learn about the fascinating art of bonsai trees at Rosade Bonsai in New Hope, Pennsylvania. We offer bonsai classes, maintenance, workshops, and boarding. Pure excellence in bonsai for over 50 years.

www.rosadebonsai.com

Nature's Way Nursery

nature's way nursery bonsai suiseki tools horticulture classes trees plants linglestown harrisburg pennsylvania interiorscape interiorscaping landscape landscaping

www.natureswaybonsai.com

He’s kinda a pompous aashole though who only likes you if you buy 1,000 Black Pine or buy from him... just like the dude from Kifu Bonsai.. only interested if you have money.

 

[BrianBay9]

He’s kinda a pompous aashole though who only likes you if you buy 1,000 Black Pine or buy from him... just like the dude from Kifu Bonsai.. only interested if you have money.

To be fair, he is trying to run a business.

 

[Shogun610]

To be fair, he is trying to run a business.

To be fair yes... but don’t shut yourself out on those who genuinely want to learn to do it themselves, and how to develop,or collect. Be a teacher , but one who doesn’t charge 400 fucking dollars to do it. I mean holy shit dude, sure sell out and get rich clients to buy expensive pines. Then be a dick to those who don’t have the money , but want to learn and need guidance from a teacher. That’s what I hate about Bonsai, to get good material you either need to know how to get it/ develop it or have the money. I’m going for developing and gathering good bonsai for myself. I have 60+ more years god willing. Rather learn how to do it now than being a old man buying a 10,000 bonsai to only water and change soil on 2-3 years

 

[BrianBay9]

To be fair yes... but don’t shut yourself out on those who genuinely want to learn to do it themselves, and how to develop,or collect. Be a teacher , but one who doesn’t charge 400 fucking dollars to do it. I mean holy shit dude, sure sell out and get rich clients to buy expensive pines. Then be a dick to those who don’t have the money , but want to learn and need guidance from a teacher. That’s what I hate about Bonsai, to get good material you either need to know how to get it/ develop it or have the money. I’m going for developing and gathering good bonsai for myself. I have 60+ more years god willing. Rather learn how to do it now than being a old man buying a 10,000 bonsai to only water and change soil on 2-3 years

Wow dude. Join a club and get some instruction for cheap. If the guys running a business can't make money at it, there won't be anyone to provide the supplies, services, and lessons at all. Spend what's comfortable for you, but don't denigrate people who are trying to make a business out of it.

 

[Shogun610]

Wow dude. Join a club and get some instruction for cheap. If the guys running a business can't make money at it, there won't be anyone to provide the supplies, services, and lessons at all. Spend what's comfortable for you, but don't denigrate people who are trying to make a business out of it.

I’m not denigrating anyone ... I’m simply stating a fact there are 2/4 Bonsai nursery’s in my area that have fair price , like their customers of all levels of income, invite you to go to a club , workshop or a collecting group. The simple fact is there are those who want to cultivate and teach you bonsai etc with supplying affordable hardware not just trees. Then there are those who are so far up in the clouds you need to spend thousand of dollars on a tree to get their attention. That’s all. And I’m not saying all their clients but some would pay thousands for a tree just as a status symbol just like you’d buy a Porsche vs a Honda as an example.

 

[CWTurner]

He’s kinda a pompous aashole though

The guy has the pedigree, and I've not found him to be that way at all. He's a good fellow, but sure you'll get his attention if you're spending, rather than looking for cheap advice.
CW

 

[Shogun610]

The guy has the pedigree, and I've not found him to be that way at all. He's a good fellow, but sure you'll get his attention if you're spending, rather than looking for cheap advice.
CW

Isn’t that what is wrong with Bonsai though? Wouldn’t you want an enthusiastic and young learned person to come in hungry for growth and knowledge?Sure join a club or go to a class, but the classes are 300+ , so I don’t know what kind of cheap advice you’re referring to. I mean they were all in that spot where they couldn’t drop cash for a refined Bonsai. Not everyone has the privilege to learn in Japan or get access to material they have because a lot of that has changed on the east coast.
I’d rather be a Rōnin , join a club , learn online from Youtube,even Mirari has videos up that are just as good as going to a class. I don’t know if I want to drop a lot of money for a class at that. I mean Kifu Bonsai and Bucks County Bonsai are far more accommodating and helpful , although Kifu classes are pricey too. I shouldn’t have grouped Kifu with Rosade regarding guidance.

 

[rockm]

I’m not denigrating anyone ... I’m simply stating a fact there are 2/4 Bonsai nursery’s in my area that have fair price , like their customers of all levels of income, invite you to go to a club , workshop or a collecting group. The simple fact is there are those who want to cultivate and teach you bonsai etc with supplying affordable hardware not just trees. Then there are those who are so far up in the clouds you need to spend thousand of dollars on a tree to get their attention. That’s all. And I’m not saying all their clients but some would pay thousands for a tree just as a status symbol just like you’d buy a Porsche vs a Honda as an example.

Wow...just wow...

 

[Shogun610]

Wow...just wow...

Wow.. just wow yourself. You know it’s true. I may have shown some excess frustration in my earlier post but I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. Do you want Bonsai to be more accessible, and cultivate a new generation ? Or do you only want a bunch groveling boomers evaluating trees..

 

[PA_Penjing]

@jmmzpsu14 I'm not sure if you're attacking Chase or Jim yet but, if you don't want to pay a lot of money for classes then watch youtube. You can't expect someone to devote their life to a skill, traveling the globe, and then just teach everyone for free whil they work some job they hate to pay the bills. I can't speak for Chase, I don't know him well. But I can tell you that Jim has given me hand forged japanese shears for free, Randy Knight collected material at a 70% discount , and I'm now taking a class with Jim and Chase this Novemeber for FREE. Personality and hard work go a long way in place of money. These guys are friendly and happy to help. Instead of ripping them apart online try watering their trees and helping out around the nursery here and there. You too can do this hobby without spending much. But maybe do work on yourself while you're at it

As a side note, and as a (now) close friend of Jim, he lives a very modest lifestyle and worries about money the same as us, again I can't speak for chase but even if the man doesn't have money woes, he's certainly paid his dues

 

[Shogun610]

No

@jmmzpsu14 I'm not sure if you're attacking Chase or Jim yet but, if you don't want to pay a lot of money for classes then watch youtube. You can't expect someone to devote their life to a skill, traveling the globe, and then just teach everyone for free whil they work some job they hate to pay the bills. I can't speak for Chase, I don't know him well. But I can tell you that Jim has given me hand forged japanese shears for free, Randy Knight collected material at a 70% discount , and I'm now taking a class with Jim and Chase this Novemeber for FREE. Personality and hard work go a long way in place of money. These guys are friendly and happy to help. Instead of ripping them apart online try watering their trees and helping out around the nursery here and there. You too can do this hobby without spending much. But maybe do some character building first.

As a side note, and as a (now) close friend of Jim, he lives a very modest lifestyle and worries about money the same as us, again I can't speak for chase but even if the man doesn't have money woes, he's certainly paid his dues

Nope wasn’t referring to anyone except the Rosade nursery. So actually 3/5 nursery’s , the other one besides Rosade is in Jersey.... Jim , Kifu and Bucks I like their nursery, cool dudes, and helpful , again with Kifu you have to look around for modest prices... I do have good character , maybe I was a bit harsh on the Rosade nursery but going off my own opinion.

 

[PA_Penjing]

I apologize for drawing drastic conclusions about you as a person. I got defensive

 

[Bonsai Nut]

@jmmzpsu14

We're offering advice... and we're free.

Just settle down for a moment, and I mean this in a nice and friendly way. Practicing bonsai is not expensive. What is expensive is buying peoples' time - especially if you are asking for dozens of hours. If you were a professional painter and someone asked you to paint their garage, and you did an awesome job and it took you six hours... how much would you charge? Now imagine you hired a bonsai professional - someone who studied in Japan on their own dime, and who depends on bonsai to put food on the table - and asked them to style your tree and they took six hours and they did an awesome job... how much would you expect to pay?

Once you have practiced bonsai for a while, you will realize that you don't see too many bonsai masters around driving expensive cars and living in 10,000 square foot houses. In the best case, they make a reasonable living while doing something they love. They tend to have to live out in the boonies where real estate is cheap. And they tend to buy low and sell high... buy material as cheaply as possible, dump their labor and skill into it, and then resell it for what the market will bear. What the market will bear usually differs on a person by person basis.

What I am hearing from you is panic that you will never be able to enjoy bonsai without shelling out $ thousands. Nothing could be further from the truth. The quality of your material is only limited by your skill and creativity. When I lived in SoCal, some of the best material was coming out of old hedges that people were digging up and giving away for free. If you knew the right landscapers, you would often get more material than you could work. One of my friends developed a good relationship with the guys at the greenwaste dump who would give him a call whenever a big landscape stump came in. He would pay a 6 pack of beer for anything he could use. Visit construction sites where they are bull-dozing trees and ask if you can grab some. You'll get some raised eyebrows when you drag a nasty stump back to your car, but so what?

But it doesn't have to be massive old growth material either. Grow some stuff from seed! Learn to air-layer stuff out of your yard - without even losing the parent tree! I could go on and on...

But one thing you should NOT do is look at a $10,000 import tree, and denigrate someone just because they own it. Bonsai often involves trickle-down economics, and if it is the big import sales that help pay for the nursery, I'd rather have the nursery stay in business than to force them to rely on people (like me) who might just be in the market for starter material. Maybe I could afford to pay more, but I choose not to - because for me it is about the journey versus the destination. Do I care that some of my friends spend more money on their trees? Nope. I enjoy my trees, they can enjoy theirs.

I think you will find a lot of people in this hobby who are quite generous with their time and knowledge... if you give them a chance. But if you roll in with a bucket full of judgementalism... should you be surprised if you feel yourself being judged?

 

[Shogun610]

@jmmzpsu14

We're offering advice... and we're free.

Just settle down for a moment, and I mean this in a nice and friendly way. Practicing bonsai is not expensive. What is expensive is buying peoples' time - especially if you are asking for dozens of hours. If you were a professional painter and someone asked you to paint their garage, and you did an awesome job and it took you six hours... how much would you charge? Now imagine you hired a bonsai professional - someone who studied in Japan on their own dime, and who depends on bonsai to put food on the table - and asked them to style your tree and they took six hours and they did an awesome job... how much would you expect to pay?

Once you have practiced bonsai for a while, you will realize that you don't see too many bonsai masters around driving expensive cars and living in 10,000 square foot houses. In the best case, they make a reasonable living while doing something they love. They tend to have to live out in the boonies where real estate is cheap. And they tend to buy low and sell high... buy material as cheaply as possible, dump their labor and skill into it, and then resell it for what the market will bear. What the market will bear usually differs on a person by person basis.

What I am hearing from you is panic that you will never be able to enjoy bonsai without shelling out $ thousands. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The quality of your material is only limited by your skill and creativity. When I lived in SoCal, some of the best material was coming out of old hedges that people were digging up and giving away for free. If you knew the right landscapers, you would often get more material than you could work. One of my friends developed a good relationship with the guys at the greenwaste dump who would give him a call whenever a big landscape stump came in. He would pay a 6 pack of beer for anything he could use. Visit construction sites where they are bull-dozing trees and ask if you can grab some. You'll get some raised eyebrows when you drag a nasty stump back to your car, but so what?

But it doesn't have to be massive old growth material either. Grow some stuff from seed! Learn to air-layer stuff out of your yard - without even losing the parent tree! I could go on and on...

But one thing you should NOT do is look at a $10,000 import tree, and denigrate someone just because they own it. Bonsai often involves trickle-down economics, and if it is the big import sales that help pay for the nursery, I'd rather have the nursery stay in business than to force them to rely on people (like me) who might just be in the market for starter material. Maybe I could afford to pay more, but I choose not to - because for me it is about the journey versus the destination. Do I care that some of my friends spend more money on their trees? Nope. I enjoy my trees, they can enjoy theirs.

I think you will find a lot of people in this hobby who are quite generous with their time and knowledge... if you give them a chance. But if you roll in with a bucket full of judgementalism... should you be surprised if you feel yourself being judged?

Yeah , you’re right , I wasn’t fair... I’m late 20’s I don’t want to just make a hobby out of it , I really want to expand.....but this is just form personal experience, and I hope I don’t feel like that again , was that I was wasting their time at Rosade, which is how I felt maybe untrue in my opinion but I learn from my mistake...Learning Bonsai isn’t medical school or Law School, it should be more available than what’s online. So that’s all I want to say.
I am talking with Nursery’s I feel comfortable with, and calling around for landscaping places and even awaiting collecting permits. Also, joining a club near me. I do have to learn more patience, again it was a fear of mine that I needed to buy a great pre-bonsai tree to really learn and gain acceptance from the community.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Yeah , you’re right , I wasn’t fair... but just form personal experience, and I hope I don’t feel like that again , was that I was wasting their time , which is how I felt. Learning Bonsai isn’t medical school or Law School, it should be more available than what’s online. So that’s all I want to say.

Been there, done that. No one wants to feel ashamed because they are just starting out. And maybe (honestly) you WERE wasting their time... because you were not the first person to come into their nursery and ask a billion questions and they would starve to death if they spent an hour with every customer. They're only human. I have gotten very good with my bonsai behavior radar so I can tell when a nurseryman has the time to chat... versus when they are being polite and they really have 1000 things they need to do so would you please shut up and buy something?

Join a club. Then you can sit around and drink beers and talk bonsai all day long and not only won't people care - they will actually ENJOY it. And there isn't a single person in bonsai that hasn't faced the same dilemma starting out that you are facing - ie where to get the skills without going bankrupt and where to get the material without going bankrupt. Eventually you will have a yard with over 100 bonsai in it, and you either sell your own work or you trade for something, and it won't be an issue.