From: Steve Jones

When you get a chance ... gives us Brits an idea of how it goes in the "land
of opportunity"


Well, apart from the fact that some nasty American fungus kiled my larch,
and the summer was so darn hot that one of my pines has suffered, and the
winter here is brutally cold and three times as long as in the UK....

Nah - these are teething problems. Truth is that I am far busier than i
thought possible. I have abslutely no regrets whatsoever about making this
move.

The level of enthusiasm, the desire to learn, the warmth of the people are
all at least as good as in Europe, if not better. The only downside is that
American society as considerably more regimented and conformist that in
Europe (heads down, duck the bullets!). For example, people here want to
work by calendar dates rather than by sniffing the wind and following nature
- and they seem to want to follow rigid formulae rather than be creative and
break the mould. This isn't just bonsai, but it is more prevalent in
bonsai, probably because of the way bonsai has been taught in the past.

Interestingly, once my students discover that they are allowed to do
something a little off the wall, they are delighted and nothing will stop
them.

The material in America (on the eastern side, at least) is not as good as in
Europe. There are fewer suitable species, and those that are most suitable
are conifers - jack pine, pitch pine, ponderosa pine (if you have the
patience) and some junipers (although all American junipers have a nasty
habit of producing too much juvenile foliage). Virtually all te deciduous
trees have leaves twice the size of their European counterparts. Perhaps
that explains the near obsession with Japanese and Chinese imported species.

There are some exceptions: Ilex vomitoria, which grows further south is
fantastic, really! Swamp cypress (also in the south) and some of the
fruiting species are great. Generally, the easiest material to find is in
front yards or in parking lots - yews and junipers mostly. They are
constantly pruned to little balls or flat-topped bushes, so they have lots
of inner growth. I have dug out a couple of real beauties!

Then, of course, there's Florida - where I honestly learned to appreciate
tropical species. Seeing them grown outside in a climate that suits them
was a real education for me. In fact, there are a couple of species -
noteably ficus nerifolia and bucida spinosa - that I really wish I could
grow effectively here in the north.

Soooo - there you have it

Colin

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