by Victor Engel, mostly
I belong to the Austin Bonsai Society. Among the best material to use for future bonsai trees is landscape shrubbery that is slated for discard. Including yours.
When a neighbor on Wooten Dr. posted that bushes were available with roots intact, I collected them and contacted members of the Austin Bonsai Society. Pictures of the bushes just collected are here.
The album starts with a hodgepodge of bushes, just transported to my yard. Then I photographed them singly, showing the parts that matter most to bonsai artists. Finally, I showed the people who collected them along with the plants they collected.
After everyone collected their plants, I went to work on my own. I kept 5 for myself, and will work them into bonsai trees, if they survive. I’ve posted some ideas of my approach on my website.
If you browse through the pictures for each tree, you will see my commentary on how I currently intend to approach the future with these plants. When there is significant damage, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a needless speed bump. We will have to grow our plants for at least a year without doing anything further to them just to see what parts will survive.
Where you come in
If you have plants they want to get rid of, bonsai people should be considered a good resource for rehoming. Not only will we take the plants off your hands, we will dig up eligible candidates for you to ensure that the roots and bark remain intact. Your plants will go on to be styled as living artwork by local bonsai artists. Ideally, the time we would like to dig up plants is in winter, when the plants are dormant.
To donate plants to the Austin Bonsai Society, contact webmaster.austinbonsaisociety@gmail.com
Unwanted shrubs? Don’t just kick them to the curb.