:-D
I keep on an average of 20 and next spring will thin them out, over
10 specimens IMHO is slavery not a pleasure ...
I already gave away as many as 40 in 25 years the problem is that
5 go out from the main door and 10 comes inside from the back door :-D
I never exceeded 26 guests !




Jim Lewis wrote:

On 5 Feb 2005 at 14:55, KevinH wrote:


I'm planning the trip to the World Bonsai Conference in D.C. and now have
this strong sense of foreboding. Thanks, Dale! :-)


Well, I can't visit Dale's booth -- ever -- without buying a
pot, and wishing I could justify a few more. So don't forget to
add a collection of empty pots to the growing collection of
bonsai. And then, of course, you have to fill the pots.


But I'm curious... when does a hobby, even a very serious hobby, turn into a
part time job?


If it ever becomes a "job" you better take up knitting.


Honestly, I read some of the posters here and stories of
elaborate water drip systems, vacation hell (or no vacations at all),
thefts, losses from all directions, gardens, garages, and porches brimming
with bonsai, and a lump forms in my throat.


Ours, too. But in our case we've been drooling with excitement
for weeks planning the new watering system, building that new
table, or whatever.


Will I get to the point where I
have to prune and wire my collection and think "well, there goes the week!"
Is there anything I can do to escape this?



Knitting.


What did you start with and at what rate did you acquire new material? How
many do you have now?


I suspect we all started with one tree. Some of us may still
have that tree, but we took the advice freely given here that
someone with one tree will quickly love it to death. By
extrapolation the same goes for 2, 4, and 6 trees -- or 20. ;-)

Most of us built a collection of "bonsai" -- often as many as
100 or so. Then we learned enough to take good hard looks at
those "bonsai" and see that only 2 or 3 of them could drop the
quotation marks, and we dumped them -- or moved them back into
training pots for some _serious_ work.

Our collections built up again until we took another serious
look and pared back again. By then, we had some (or more) gray
in our hair.

I've had as many as 250 trees. I'm down to about 50 now, and
plan to stay there. I still collect new trees, but I cull
ruthlessly every spring.



If I get the bonsai bug bad, is there a 12-step program to

help me or am I doomed?

It's called old age.

Jim Lewis - - God has cared for these
trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a
thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods; but he cannot
save them from fools. - John Muir on the redwoods

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