On 08 Feb 2003 03:38:25 GMT, (Iris Cohen) wrote:

A lot of dwarf conifers are used in bonsai. I guess some bonsai purists
might consider that "cheating" too.

Not lately. It is a common practice, even in Japan.

I read an article in Smithsonian magazine a few years ago about people who
would collect severely stunted trees from the wild and use those in bonsai.
That might be considered cheating as well.

Not at all. That is the way bonsai first started. There are specialists who do
nothing but collect prize trees, establish them in pots, & sell them at high
prices. The ambition of every salivating bonsai artist is to have at least one
collected tree, preferably one he's collected himself.

snippage

Ha, this reminds me of my sixth grade math teacher Mr Suzuki, back in
the late 60s he expressed his worry about his father climbing the
cliffs by the Horseshoe Bay Ferry in BC Canada. His dad was an avid
Bonsai fanatic (according to my teacher). The story and the image
stuck in my mind always, along with an appreciation for the art.