Guerilla gardening...

Collected California coastal live oak in reused water bottle

I believe wholeheartedly that everybody irrelevant of where they live should grow some kind of edible plant some time in their lives. Of course some people absolutely are not able too, but the vast majority can. What does this have to do with bonsai bro? I will tell you. Bonsai is a specialized branch of horticulture. All of the same things that apply to bonsai apply to raising food stuffs. There will be some modifications. Growing bonsai can be more difficult than growing food. Another similarity is guerilla gardening for bonsai and growing vegetables.

Collected Epiphyte

No, this may not be what you may expect. What it is is that sometimes we have to use the things that are at our disposal and not necessarily things we go out and buy. There are different levels of guerilla gardening. I started by collecting seeds. I loved collecting pods and what nots. I would try to grow some. Some would grow, and some would not. Later I would cut jugs open and grow strawberries in them. When I got into bonsai I was able to harvest epiphytic ficus. At my place of employment the gardeners for years have hacked and tried to poison them. They were unwanted, well, not really because I wanted them. I would come to work early, or after work I would cut them out of the trees they were growing out of. I was able to collect some very nice trunks with lots of potential. Sometimes the gardners dumped the pots after they planted some annuals. Yes, I collect those too. When I can't find some pots and I need them i cut open the water bottles that I drink at work. I punch holes with a hot wire.

Collected Wisteria seeds

Discarded Stone pine

Collected Cork oak acorn

I have collected seedlings when I knew they would be mowed. I still collect seeds. I found a California coastal live oak in front of an industrial building. The acorns get crushed by the cars. I try to save as many as possible. I collect wisteria pods in the fall. Where I collect them they get cut off and thrown away.  This last year I collected italian pine trees, aleppo pine trees, and rosemary. They were bought as mini christmas trees. Then after the holidays they were discarded . I thought to myself, what a waste. Some can be made into bonsai now, some will have to wait.

Collected Epiphyte

I am always on the lookout for construction sites. They will always clear a lot before building. Sometimes you can get permission and rescue old bushes. Most will die, but the ones that don't will probably be able to take pruning and root cutting.

Some people don't have an interest in bonsai. They should still grow things. Herbs like rosemary, and parsley are easy and don't need that much space and light. Growing plants gives us a peaceful feeling. Eating plants that we grow gives us satisfaction. Seeds for fruits and vegetables are inexpensive. You can use a two liter bottle of a soft drink to grow herbs. Cut the top off and place on the ground or hang off of a fence or tree.

Collected Kapok seeds

The point is to be creative. To use ingenuity to solve problems. To use the things around you so that you don't have to buy more things. Cheers.

Bonsai, what should they look like (philosophical questions)

My philosophy on bonsai. There seems to be some controversy in the world scene as to what direction bonsai should go. One camp says that bonsai is what came out of japan and that if it does not look like that it is not bonsai. Another camp says that bonsai is living art and that bonsai can change with interpretation.

I have studied art formally. I was born in santa Barbara and have lived most of my life in Los Angeles CA. I have travelled to Argentina, Mexico. I lived in Nashville Tennessee for a few years.I grew up in the 90’s. Why am I sharing all this? My experiences shape how I think. Bonsai is fun and I would never argue with anybody over it. However, I have made up my mind as to where I will take the bonsai that I make.

I believe that if you make bonsai, at least here in the U.S. you are an artist. You are making living sculptures. All the things I learned about art I apply to making bonsai. Therefore, I believe bonsai has to keep evolving. In japan for the most part the elite bonsai makers are shokunin. Loosely translated shokunin is craftsperson. Yet it means more than that. Shokunin is reserved for the most skilled be it bonsai, pottery, etc. A craftsperson is not an artist. A craftsperson usually stays within the parameters of their work and they excell until they become masters. An artist is one who pushes the boundaries, and most important satisfies his perception of art. It is art because an artist says it is. Art is not born from public consensus. Has the artist made good art? That is a personal opinion derived from the person's experiences. Time is the moderator.

I truly believe that bonsai evolving is for the best. If how we shape trees does not change then the art form is dead. Take a look at the many styles of bonsai. Look at the depiction of bonsai in ukiyo-e. Bonsai has been evolving since the chinese brought it to japan. Why should it stagnate now?

The rift in philosophies comes from the naturalistic bonsai. A great many people say that bonsai is the miniaturisation of  trees as they look in the wild. Yet if you look at bonsai today you can honestly say that bonsai do not look like trees in nature. Bonsai are in fact idealized. I have been in nature. Nature is harsh, it will take your life if you are not prepared. Nature is full of life, but it also kills and maims. Only the strongest survive in nature.  And yet, some of that unforgiving quality of nature is added to some bonsai in the form of dead wood, the twisted trunks, and holes that are carved into the trunks. Why? Because that is the diffrence between what makes a good tree from an exceptional tree. The tree has a story to tell. The tree got crushed, it got punished and it survived. Now the tree has a story to tell.    

Mr. Walter Pall makes a distinction between natural bonsai and naturalistic bonsai. He says that to plant a tree in a pot and let it grow is a natural bonsai. To shape the tree to resemble a true wild tree is naturalistic. Naturalistic is still a mimic of the wild. A naturalistic bonsai is shaped and styled. A naturalistic bonsai though does not follow the same conventions of japanese and japanese looking trees.

Humans are part of nature. I strongly dislike when people make a separation. Like ants and bees even like prairie dogs humans have the capability to change their surroundings. Is a beaver dam unnatural? What about a honeycomb or coral reef.  All materials come from nature even plastic. Humans can not make something from nothing. I believe some law of thermodynamics says so.  We do idealize and romanticize things though. We tend to forget the bad and remember mostly the good. All this is reflected on how we make bonsai.

What are we to do? Which side is right and which side is wrong? I believe that the most important thing for the hobbyist is that we receive enjoyment when making bonsai. Does it satisfy the artistic, horticulturist, OCD side in us? Does it bring us joy as well as frustration? Does it fill our souls? That is what is the most important. We cannot say that one style is bonsai and the other is not. Nor can we insist on showing a naturalistic bonsai at a japanese exhibit. There has to be some sort of respect. You do not have to like every kind of bonsai, but you can not say a nursery stock plant potted in a bonsai pot is not a bonsai. Nor can we denigrate the so called cookie cutter styles of japanesque bonsai.    

For some to make a bonsai that is just like classical japanese bonsai is the epitome of beauty. To them I say well done. To some making trees into cutting edge works of art is beauty. To those I say well done. The future of bonsai will come one tree at a time. Only time will be the arbiter of what bonsai is.