Nina disagreed with Colin thiswise :


I simply don't believe this, Colin. Give me some time to
come up
with examples, but offhand, what is wrong with parsley
crataegus,
shadblow, and beach plum? Huh? Huh? Huh?


Colin's retort went this way (into which I insert some cogent
commentary ;-):

Er - I confess I don't know shadblow (sounds like a sinus
infection) and I
did mention that there were some good fruiting species here.
The crataegus
in the US, however, do not provide the same contorted, flakey
barked, dense
twigged material as c. monogyna does in northern Europe. If it
does - I
wish someone would show me where!


You might take a close look at the parsley haw (Crataegus
marshallii); it has much the same aspect. Crataegus constitutes
the largest single genus of woody plants in North America with
150 species, plus or minus (E. Palmer, Arnold Arboretum -
retired, and one of the few persons brave enough to take on the
taxonomy of this confusing group). Most of them hybridize
readily, adding to the confusion. The problem with these,
however, is that large specimens of almost any species of haw are
danged hard to dig successfully. That is, perhaps, why you see
so few as large bonsai. They also are armed and dangerous! Some
of the N. American hawthorns rival the various Mimosa (including
the catclaw) for armament. One of our Tallahassee club members
has an excellent large hawthorn bonsai (those who went to BCI
Orlando this year saw it). He has ID'd it as the parsley haw,
but _I_ have my doubts and think it may be C. flava, the yellow
haw. C. flava, has very rough, furrowed gray to black bark. He
disagrees with my diagnosis, so . . . it remains a very nice
hawthorn bonsai of about 36 inches. I probably have somewhere a
poor picture of it from one of our local shows. I'll look.

Shadblow is a regional common name for another fairly large group
of small trees -- the Juneberries or Serviceberries (Amelanchier
species). Lovely clusters of white flowers in the spring, small
leaves, blue berries that the birds don't allow to stay long
enough to enjoy (visually or gastronomically). They are, I
think, best as small bonsai.

Beach plum I don't know, but there are 8-10 very nice wild plums
in the eastern U.S. which should do well if one is willing to put
the effort into a tree that won't live more than 20 years. One
of the best is the Chicasaw plum, P. angustifolia.


Actually, I agree I was a little harsh. I am intrigued by the
willoww oak
(Quercus phellos). It looks and, from what I have read, sounds
like an
excellent species, but I have never seen a bonsai version.


You need to hang around the Appalachian mountains more. Aside
from the tropics, this area (both sides of the mountains, but
primarily on the east and central slopes, has the greatest
variety of native tree and shrubs species of anywhere else on the
planet. A large number of these would be suited for bonsai if
anyone here would think about them and get their minds off
emulating Japanese trees with Japanese species. Most of these
will be deciduous, but there are a few eastern conifers that may
have possibilities, too. This is a sparsely settled area, with
few bonsai growers. (I seem to recall that the Arboretum
collection in Asheville, N.C., had some nice bonsai from
Appalachian species.) The western US is the home of the greatest
variety of conifer species anywhere -- many of which are suited
for bonsai, and many of which are represented by some pretty nice
potted trees in North American collections.

Several American Celtis species, especially C. laevigata, the
American hackberry, are perfect for bonsai. ABS New Orleans had
a large one, that ranks in my mind with the top bonsai I have
seen. It is Guy Guidry's tree, if I recall. And remember the
red-barked sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum), I showed you in the
woods next to my house? And then, there's the American hornbeam,
which has better fall color than any of the others -- IMHO.

Anyway, not to get defensive, we do have the trees (I've been
pushing people to use natives for years); we just don't have the
bonsaiests to do them justice. Maybe it will take a very
talented Brit to help us see the potential in them -- but he's
gotta go out and learn our trees, first..

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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