Mike wrote:

Hi All,

I have the opportunity to go out of the city into the western
Pennsylvania or the pocono's as they call it. I wanted to look for a
good bonsai tree to fit the nice Bonsai pot I have. I am going to be
looking for something with a nice, thick trunk, and not something that
is a stick in the mud

snip

Thanks

Mike.

Mike:
Welcome to our obsession. As someone who learned the hard way about how to collect
trees in the wild (I killed a lot) I learned that having information about what you
see in the wild is important. Some species of trees respond favorably to being
collected, others don't. Some can be radically root pruned and put in a pot
directly from the wild, many not. It might be better to think of collecting a tree
and allowing it to develop not in a pot but in a low wooden box with drainage
holes, then after a few years put it in a pot. It's better to think of finding a
pot to fit a tree than to look for a tree to slap in a pot.

The reason it's usually better to think about not putting a tree right in a pot is
that there are very, very few trees you will find in the wild that will look good
as bonsai. They need to be worked on. And, you will discover when you work on
trees that you are working on yourself as well. You will learn how to be patient.
As a couple of others have already said in not so many words, this isn't an instant
art. Since we work with living material it takes time, sometimes lots of time.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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