"Alan Walker" wrote in message You're doomed,
Dude! Might as well accept it. The first
step in our program (My name is Alan, and I'm a bonsaiholic.) is
to set aside your denial and admit that you have an obsession
that has a big hold on you. Join your local bonsai club. They'll
reinforce your obsession and normalize it for you. ;-)

Laughing my a** off here. "Normalizing" the addiction is what I'm afraid
of. Much as I plan to control acquisition of new material, my wish list
stretches far... fukien tea, two finished _literati_ black pines, olive,
ginkgo, a collected bald cypress, a banyan style ficus. And if I ever move
to a cooler climate, God help me.

Most of the time it won't seem like a job, more like
something you just need to do. ;-)
Welcome aboard, Sport!

Thanks, Alan.

Kevin
***
A path is made by walking. - Chuang Tsu

From: "Theo"
Kevin it depends upon many factors time place skill and money
you can do a retirement hobby with 2-5 plants or a million dollars
business if you can invest and have land or premises to stock and sell
and all teh connected items ..

Besides the bonsai, for quite a few years I've had a pet tortoise (redfoot
tortoise or _Geochelone carbonaria_). A friend remarked that I like slow
things. Thing is, I don't want so many slow things I have to move fast. :-)

Thanks for the moderate note, Theo.

Kevin
***
A path is made by walking. - Chuang Tsu

"Jim Lewis" wrote in message
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.

Unfortunately, his site is temporarily down, but I got'em bookmarked. Since
I don't plan on having alot of bonsai, I plan to get the finest pots around.

[...]
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.

I've been at it four years and have just one bonsai in a pot, a semi-cascade
bougainvillea that has the look of a bonsai but doesn't seem finished. The
rest (7 bald cypress growing for a forest planting and 2 black pines) are in
training.

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.

Ha!

***
A path is made by walking. - Chuang Tsu

"Kitsune Miko" wrote in message

Some helps rests in picking a specialty,
or limit yourself to local plants.

Makes sense, Kits. I do think I found my specialty. I like attractive
trees grown in small pots... :-)

Kevin
***
A path is made by walking. - Chuang Tsu

--- KevinH wrote:

"Kitsune Miko" wrote in message

Some helps rests in picking a specialty,
or limit yourself to local plants.

Makes sense, Kits. I do think I found my specialty.
I like attractive
trees grown in small pots... :-)

Kevin
***

Kevin,

Then unfortunately there is no hope for you!

Kits

=====
****
"Expectations are resentments under construction."

Anne Lamott

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Mike Page++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

Kevin:
Become like a doctor! Specialize!!!! In my experiences I have had well over a hundred different trees, and I am now down to 40 tropicals and 15 Maples, Cottoneaster, etc. I am still going to reduce my tropicals to about 30, and eliminate most of my "outdor trees".

It is more rewarding to work with a few trees that you get to know "intimately", than try to figure out the characteristic of so many different species. Just my personal thoughts on the matter!

Good luck!


Carl L. Rosner - near Atlantic City zone 6/7

www.carlrosner.com
http://www.yessy.com/arteacher3725
http://rosner.becanz.net

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Mike Page++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

On Feb 6, 2005, at 9:17 PM, KevinH wrote:
snip
"Normalizing" the addiction is what I'm afraid
of. Much as I plan to control acquisition of new material, my wish
list
stretches far... fukien tea, two finished _literati_ black pines,
olive,
ginkgo, a collected bald cypress, a banyan style ficus. And if I ever
move
to a cooler climate, God help me.

Most of the time it won't seem like a job, more like
something you just need to do. ;-)
Welcome aboard, Sport!

Thanks, Alan.

Kevin
***
A path is made by walking. - Chuang Tsu

Consider this--what I'm finding after a little over six years is that
it takes having a lot of trees in order to have a few good ones.
Others who have been in this longer might have some thoughts on this
too. This is just my experience thus far. I don't have a ratio, and I
would think it might be different for each person.

Part of this may come from the initial stages of the addiction of
picking up anything that looks halfway decent, then looking around
after a few years and realizing that you have half a yard full of
mediocre trees.

I'm also thinking that working on some trees helps me work on my better
trees. Maybe it's a matter of visualization. Don't know.

Just a few random thoughts.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Mike Page++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++