Jeff: Take Jim's advice. MORE is not equated with BETTER in bonsai. Strike
a balance between your desire to have a surplus of trees and your urge to
create some good bonsai.
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Isom, Jeff (EM, PTL)"
To:
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2003 4:03 PM
Subject: [IBC] How much is too much?


Don't you guys think this could be a natural progression? I'm just
starting
and I've got this constant desire to get more trees - not just to have
them,
mind you, but because I know it's going to be years before I have any
"good"
trees and I want to maximize my opportunity to HAVE some really good
trees.
I'm not nearly educated, practiced or arrogant enough in the art of Bonsai
to assume that every tree I work on is going to eventually be a
masterpiece.
So, by getting as many as I can and practicing on them, increasing my own
experience and "hands-on" knowledge, I think (hope) I'm also increasing
the
likelihood that at least a few will be "Ooooh, Ahhhh" trees someday. A
few
years from now, when I know a lot more and the trees I have are more
developed and further along in the process - yeah, I'll probably reduce
how
many I have. Then again - someday, I may get to retire and I'll have more
time to spend with them....

Jeff Isom
Cleveland, OH / Sunset Zone 39

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Lewis ]
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 10:31 AM
To:
Subject: [IBC] How much is too much?


Michael wrote:


Most importantly, you should have the TIME to work with each
tree at the highest level.

Quantity should not be confused with quality.

YES!

snip

And wrote:


How much is too much? Clue: the number of trees is MUCH lower
than one would imagine.


It takes a while for most of us to realize this FACT. You can
have a gazillion ho-hum trees, a hundred OK trees, or 25-30 nice
trees.

I've only made it down to the OK level ;-) but now that I have a
few whose potential I'm beginning to see, I've become a lot more
ruthless in culling trees off my shelves. I just today planted a
Chinese quince out in my yard. It had been in a pot for several
years and, frankly, was a bit boring there (and probably bored
itself). It'll be happier with more root run.

I don't know if mame count. ;-)

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


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****
++++Sponsored, in part, by Evergreen Gardenworks++++

************************************************** **************************
****
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Evergreen Gardenworks++++
************************************************** ******************************
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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++