I would love, for example, to get a
couple of JBPs. However, I can't afford anything really old and I'm not yet
patient enough to wait for 20 years for the thing to get thicker than a
pencil.

Well, how about a JWP? I bought a gallon-sized one in 1996 (for about $30), and it's beginning to look a bit like a bonsai now.

Here's a question that Colin Lewis, consultant to the Arnold Arboretum collection, ought to answer: Would a growth retardant be any use in a "finished" bonsai? Some of the Arnold trees, mishandled for many years, have no latitude for further growth. The
Chamaecyparises in the collection, since they don't bud back, are in an end game, and it's difficult to imagine how to fix them (although Colin is doing a splendid job).

Nina, who has no finished bonsai, just big fat overgrown potensai.

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