Dear Scooter,
Your post started OK when you said that it might take 10 years to
produce a
good bonsai; but then you drifted a bit when you implied that it's
better to
buy a good bonsai to start with and save the 10 years of effort. I
learned,
over a period of 45 years in bonsai, that the beauty in bonsai is in
the
process, not the result. Watching your tree develop over 10 years is
far
more important than enjoying one which someone else has created.

*********
I believe you misread me. I was saying it was going to be 10 years
either way, so why not start with good material and end up with a
better product? I didn't particularly mean buying premade bonsais
either, just starting from promising stock.

Thanks for your comments though. I agree that process is most of the
fun