What's The Rush?

I don't even own a bonsai pot unless I'd count the little green thing I got an elm mallsai in. Don't see a need for them for a while either.
 
I can go from my own perspective.
I love small trees!
I want them to be a perfect replica of what I see in Nature...
I do not see the fat over developed base, nor the super low branching, nor the perfect fanning of branches.
Sometimes I see what I see in a tree. Sometimes it may need to be tweeked, perhaps a branch down here or there. I work with a lot of Natives that have thorns. I do not remove the thorns, to me they are a part of the tree.
I do not follow the rules very much.
Mom
 
I can't help but to notice a substantial number of pre-bonsai (in some cases, stock), still in need of serious development, being shown on this forum and others planted in a bonsai pot.

My question would be why?

(... ... ...)

Will

To have the pleasure of looking at something from a different point of view.

Take this holly seedling found in the lawn I put in a plastic pot two years ago : with a little staging, a few cuts, and a mame pot I find it pleasant to look at (6inches tall).
 
To have the pleasure of looking at something from a different point of view.

Take this holly seedling found in the lawn I put in a plastic pot two years ago : with a little staging, a few cuts, and a mame pot I find it pleasant to look at (6inches tall).



Sweet tree Alain!
Love the background color as well :D
Mom
 
I am guilty of putting underdone trees into Bonsai pots. Why do I do this?, lack of patience I guess. I am learning the value of patience however, and now have trees in training pots and a few in the ground, but I need to see some trees in Bonsai pots for my sanity. I know they are not there yet as finished trees,(are trees ever finished), but they give me some enjoyment while I am developing my other trees. It is hard as a beginner to resist the urge to put your trees into Bonsai pots early, but as time goes on you learn the value of not doing so.

I visited a bloke recently who had hundreds of bonsai. He said to me that I probably would think that his trees were crap, and that most bonsai experts would too, but he loved them and got great enjoyment from them. At the end of the day isn't that the most important thing?

Steve.
 
Sorry, Al has a history and his words are judged by such.
.......

Lastly, until you become a moderator here, I will ask what I darn well please, thank you.

Will

So, we are judged purely on our history, are we? Interesting. Are you not forever bickering about reading a tone into a written response?

For the record, I found the last statement very harsh. I think an apology is owed to both posters. But, as I'm sure you'll say, that is just my opinion.


Take care.
 
Thanks for pointing our the tone in my post you quoted. You are quite correct, that post had a tone, thank you for taking the time to find that and point it out to us.



Will
 
I visited a bloke recently who had hundreds of bonsai. He said to me that I probably would think that his trees were crap, and that most bonsai experts would too, but he loved them and got great enjoyment from them. At the end of the day isn't that the most important thing?

Yes it is, unless you make the mistake of posting on a public forum..... ;)



Will
 
Thanks for pointing our the tone in my post you quoted. You are quite correct, that post had a tone, thank you for taking the time to find that and point it out to us.



Will



I'm not sure I understand your reply, or the need for it.
 
I simply thanked you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to point out a sentence I used that had some toned attached to it. I am honored and flattered that you took the time to do this, thank you.



Will
 
Maybe we can start with these example here:

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8186#post8186

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?t=630

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?t=632

These three examples all seem to have the same level of finish on them and are obviously undergoing improvement. It seems to me that each of these might benifit from a few more additional years in a box or colander. The mugo needs much development and refinement. In one of your posts you even mentioned that William said the pot was better than the tree. That would be the first clue to get it out of the pot.

Hence my comment in one of the threads: "Let me understand this, you exhibited these"?

Best regards, Al

I don't understand, some of you criticize Will for not showing something and then you criticize him for showing something?
 
I simply thanked you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to point out a sentence I used that had some toned attached to it. I am honored and flattered that you took the time to do this, thank you.



Will


I'm sorry? I am at a loss.
 
Looks like time to return to the original post. There are those who put trees in bonsai pots prematurely and then wonder why the trees do not develop, even after years. There are those who put trees in bonsai pots because they want to make some sort of artistic display of some tree that would not normally be in a bonsai pot, and there are those who put trees in bonsai pots because they think the tree is ready.

There is one other classification; some put trees in bonsai pots because the latter stage of training requires the kind of growth induced by the confinement of a bonsai pot. With Mugos and Scots Pines you will never get the small needles and compact growth growing these trees in the ground or in large boxes. Put them in a bonsai pot and the needles reduce and the growth becomes compact provided you know and understand what you are doing.
 
Mr. Will. You know in retrospect I wish I could take that post back. When you posted the three trees on the forum I made no comments on any of them, I could have, but seen no need to post any thing that would just be considered unhelpfull. You have always made it quite clear that you know what the hell your doing so I give wide birth to your posts for the most part and just let you carry on with Chris.

Then you started the thread about rushing trees into pots. My post was not intended to insult nor incite. I truely believe in your mind you have a plan for your stuff and that your post could have been an opportunity to expand on why you have taken the time to pot your trees in rather expensive pots at this time.

Whether I have done the same in the past is immaterial, as I did not start the thread nor bitch about people rushing to bonsai pots. Since you did that makes you fair game and I wished to hear your views as well as many others judging by the replies. You decided to take the thread into a negative way my making it personel about me and moving the thread totally away from your explanation.

As for years in bonsai, I know exactly when I started. It was on my honeymoon with my wife 24 years ago. I have fallen from bonsai from time to time and sold a large portion of my collection in 1994 to pursue salt water reef aquariums which I embraced as hard if not harder than bonsai. I had a back operation in 1999 and since that time have made bonsai a part of my life. Maybe the operation awoke something in me or maybe it didn't but I do know that since that time bonsai has been different than it was the previous time. Had I worked on some of those trees from the first collection till now I would have had some real stunners. The one bonsai I have had since I first started is my Foemina group. I have added to it and repotted it thru the years. Some of the best trees I have now were under way since 2001. That was when I made a consience decision that if I was going to come off on the forum as a cocky son of a bitch, I damn well better start showing some work that made me worthy of being an arrogant bastard. Like Tony Stewart the racer, he can be a bastard because he has the record to back it up. I think my trees have a come along ways in a short time. Two trees rated pretty highly in your little contest and I had only been working on them for four years. I think thats a pretty good testament to ones skill.

You have mentioned that tree that has won blue ribbons. Why was it not entered in your own contest. I had absolutely no intention of garnering any attention from the trees I entered except to have them noticed by someone of who's critique I could trust. I am sure there are plenty of people that did the same thing. You could have done the same thing. You didn't. Why? I was totally shocked that mine were in such magnificent company.

You are correct in the assumption that you absolutely do not practise what you preach. I asked you for some background in your trees and you turned it into a pissing contest. This is on you brother, I had nothing to do with this.

Regards, Al
 
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I don't understand, some of you criticize Will for not showing something and then you criticize him for showing something?

Vance, no one criticized Will for posting his trees. No one ever criticized him for not showing trees. Al simply pointed out that the thread was dealing with a subject with which the author may have been a little guilty of himself.
 
Mr. Will. You know in retrospect I wish I could take that post back. When you posted the three trees on the forum I made no comments on any of them, I could have, but seen no need to post any thing that would just be considered unhelpfull. You have always made it quite clear that you know what the hell your doing so I give wide birth to your posts for the most part and just let you carry on with Chris.

Then you started the thread about rushing trees into pots. My post was not intended to insult nor incite. I truely believe in your mind you have a plan for your stuff and that your post could have been an opportunity to expand on why you have taken the time to pot your trees in rather expensive pots at this time.

Whether I have done the same in the past is immaterial, as I did not start the thread nor bitch about people rushing to bonsai pots. Since you did that makes you fair game and I wished to hear your views as well as many others judging by the replies. You decided to take the thread into a negative way my making it personel about me and moving the thread totally away from your explanation.

As for years in bonsai, I know exactly when I started. It was on my honeymoon with my wife 24 years ago. I have fallen from bonsai from time to time and sold a large portion of my collection in 1994 to pursue salt water reef aquariums which I embraced as hard if not harder than bonsai. I had a back operation in 1999 and since that time have made bonsai a part of my life. Maybe the operation awoke something in me or maybe it didn't but I do know that since that time bonsai has been different than it was the previous time. Had I worked on some of those trees from the first collection till now I would have had some real stunners. The one bonsai I have had since I first started is my Foemina group. I have added to it and repotted it thru the years. Some of the best trees I have now were under way since 2001. That was when I made a consience decision that if I was going to come off on the forum as a cocky son of a bitch, I damn well better start showing some work that made me worthy of being an arrogant bastard. Like Tony Stewart the racer, he can be a bastard because he has the record to back it up. I think my trees have a come along ways in a short time. Two trees rated pretty highly in your little contest and I had only been working on them for four years. I think thats a pretty good testament to ones skill.

You have mentioned that tree that has won blue ribbons. Why was it not entered in your own contest. I had absolutely no intention of garnering any attention from the trees I entered except to have them noticed by someone of who's critique I could trust. I am sure there are plenty of people that did the same thing. You could have done the same thing. You didn't. Why? I was totally shocked that mine were in such magnificent company.

You are correct in the assumption that you absolutely do not practise what you preach. I asked you for some background in your trees and you turned it into a pissing contest. This is on you brother, I had nothing to do with this.

Regards, Al

Now, before this devolves further into a food fight, I would like to pile on here. ;)

Seriously, Al's post was not an ad hominem attack. When a preacher is in the pulpit, the congregation has every right to expect that he lives his life as he preaches. I learned this firsthand from both sides of the pulpit.

At Internet Bonsai Club, I told Will I would post a tree to the contest when he did. He immediately said he was going to do so. Being the guy who tries not to make claims he can't back up, I immediately backed down. Will was quite ungracious about it. Imagine my surprise when the remaining unknown trees were revealed and there was no Will Heath masterpiece to be seen!

Okay, big freaking deal. I'm over it. It turned into a great gallery of some great trees and some crap trees and a lot of trees that were very good. And I learned a good deal about the trees, the artists, the judges, and even myself as a result. So thanks.

I guess the point of this rambling is this: when someone critiques a tree, regardless of how "bitter the medicine," what's good for the goose is good for the gander. We all have to take as good as we get. And if I spout off about something that someone has evidence I have fudged the truth or my background, I am perfectly aware that it may all come out and make me the fool. It's the digital generation. Ask Miss Teen South Carolina.
 
You have mentioned that tree that has won blue ribbons. Why was it not entered in your own contest.


If you are referring to the AoB and KoB contests...are you kidding me? No matter where I placed the usual handful would cry foul because I not only am a founder and active editor on both forums, I have managed every contest except the recent one at KoB and I have wrote the rules for all of them.

No sense feeding the haters.


Will
 
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