AusBonsai

Ok so I guess were in FRONT of the 8 ball when it comes to keeping our wild flora alive!

I'm really new to this. Thanks for all of the informative replies......


Oh and I knew that about Yosemite but I knew there would be unprotected places in the U.S with the same amount of stuff. I wasn't aware that it was so bad in Japan etc. After listening to you guys I'm not so excited to go collecting now.....

Always keep your eyes open, and know what will work and what won't. Our mate Alpinart recently scored some large junipers from an urban environment that will look wild and strong when sorted. Kcpoole has also found similar stuff. Just don't dig anything straight - look for something exciting in the trunk.

Gavin

Looking at some of those foreign blogs with pics from 'yamadori expeditions', I always feel a bit like they are too quick to rip up something that has weathered many more years than they have, and there seems to be a bit of respect lacking or something. Whisked off home to be whittled down with a big power tool... dunno, that doesn't grab me.

Last year I climbed up Mt. Eliza in the south west of Tasmania, and on the way up I saw heaps of stunted little pines. I was absolutely coveting the little beauties, but the fact is, had I taken one, I'm sure it would be sitting dead at the bottom of my compost heap by now.

Of the now famous yamadori Japanese bonsai, especially the junipers, a lot had died after collection. See for example Bonsai Today issues: 31, 34, 35, 38 etc.

Way back in the 19th century, collecting trees for bonsai had been well organised. They event set up something like a (worker) union to oversee the "operations". In one of the issue that I read, I cannot remember which one, after collecting a juniper, a few years later, the gentleman sold for and he effectively built a very nice house with the proceeds.

I suspect, given the current understanding and awareness of the environment, the now Japanese government would restrict such aggressive diggings.

(Although killing trees to extinction is not a modern act. An American author [sorry, I cannot quote accurately], has documented that the Native Americans, thousands of years ago, had actually burnt forests down to regrow in order to attract new species of animals so they can hunt. In the process, certain species of trees had become extinct, a new species appeared.)