Walter,
this is a special find. This group is especially fantastic. I'm
surprised by the amount of material you are acquiring from Japan
recently. Is there a specific reason for this? Or is this just a case
of coming across world class trees and getting them while available?
As usual, I'm filled with envy.
Regards,
Brian
Brian,
What is happiness? Among numerous answers I always found this one good:
happiness is a child's dream coming true. A child's dream? Well, as probably every person who started to get interested in bonsai I looked at the then available books and magazines thirty years ago. There I saw all these incredibly beautiful and impressive Japanese trees and could not believe that this was for real. Oh how much did I wish to own a tree that came close to these. This was impossible for several reasons: The trees were not available, they were in collections and not for sale; if they ever were for sale they cost as much as a good car or more. And then came the problems of importing. Later on I learned together with many to work with indigenous trees and have some hope of creating trees of the quality we once thought was unattainable to us.
So why the surge or Asian trees again now? A few tings have changed. First these trees are now available as many collections are on the market. These trees are still expensive, but much more affordable then they were. At the moment a killer tree from Asia costs as much or even less than a European killer tree.
And then for me personally some things have changed: When I was closer to death than to life four months ago I fond that my time is more limited than I wanted to believe. I simply cannot continue to start with outstanding European material and try to create masterpieces. in our climate this takes twenty years usually. I don't have that time. If I get a tree that already is a masterpiece or was a masterpiece and is only neglected then I can let this tree shine within a very short period again. While I would love to get very good already established affordable European trees they are hardly available. They simply are in collections and not for sale or unaffordable. So I can fulfill my old dream because it's possible to have these Japanese trees now which were unattainable. This does not mean that I give up working on European material. I just do this in parallel now.
Regards,
Brian
Brian,
What is happiness? Among numerous answers I always found this one good:
happiness is a child's dream coming true. A child's dream? Well, as probably every person who started to get interested in bonsai I looked at the then available books and magazines thirty years ago. There I saw all these incredibly beautiful and impressive Japanese trees and could not believe that this was for real. Oh how much did I wish to own a tree that came close to these. This was impossible for several reasons: The trees were not available, they were in collections and not for sale; if they ever were for sale they cost as much as a good car or more. And then came the problems of importing. Later on I learned together with many to work with indigenous trees and have some hope of creating trees of the quality we once thought was unattainable to us.
So why the surge or Asian trees again now? A few tings have changed. First these trees are now available as many collections are on the market. These trees are still expensive, but much more affordable then they were. At the moment a killer tree from Asia costs as much or even less than a European killer tree.
And then for me personally some things have changed: When I was closer to death than to life four months ago I fond that my time is more limited than I wanted to believe. I simply cannot continue to start with outstanding European material and try to create masterpieces. in our climate this takes twenty years usually. I don't have that time. If I get a tree that already is a masterpiece or was a masterpiece and is only neglected then I can let this tree shine within a very short period again. While I would love to get very good already established affordable European trees they are hardly available. They simply are in collections and not for sale or unaffordable. So I can fulfill my old dream because it's possible to have these Japanese trees now which were unattainable. This does not mean that I give up working on European material. I just do this in parallel now.
