Page 23 - BSAM 2016 Q2

will have both the character and root system to make a bonsai. With junipers I estimate 1 out of 1,000. It’s better to spend your time looking for a tree that will survive transplanting than working hard and long on one that probably won’t. In general, the easier a tree is to collect the better the chances it will survive.
e nal consideration is appearance to the pub- lic, which includes both how the collecting site looks when you are nished and how you present yourself while collecting.
It’s a no-brainer that if you let someone dig a few trees from your backyard and they le it full of holes, piles of dirt, trash and let their dog run loose you would not invite them, or anyone else, back to dig trees again. e same sensibility should apply to any collecting site you are lucky enough to visit.
I try to leave every collecting site so that no one can tell I was ever there. is is not very hard to do, but it’s easy to forget to do. However it takes only moments to ll in the depression le by a collected tree with dirt and gravel and then scatter pine needles and moss back across it so that it looks natural again. I never leave garbage, not even a gum wrapper, in the woods.
Gates should always be left as they were found, either open or closed. Just because livestock are not in sight does not mean they are not there. Vehicles should stay on existing roads and trails and certainly avoid leaving ruts across wet meadows or pastures.
I also try and stay out of the public eye and park my truck away from heavily traveled roads. I have several reasons for this. First, I don’t want to broadcast to just anyone where my favorite collecting site may be. Sec- ond, people driving by might misinterpret what I’m doing. ey might assume that I’m doing something I shouldn’t be and call the sheri , or they might assume that since I’m doing it anyone can, and stop and start
digging up trees of their own. And this has happened. Neither of these things is desirable.
Really it all comes down to treating the trees, the land and the landowners with respect—the same re- spect you would want. It’s not much to ask, but it will do a lot for the hobby we love.
Andrew Smith is a forester and bonsai collector/artist working in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Smith operates Golden Arrow Bonsai, now in its 21st year of business, specializing in collecting yamadori pre-bonsai specimens from the mountains of the American west. He attends several major bonsai gatherings every year and gives talks, demonstrations and workshops featuring collected conifers, all over the country.
Top left, top right and bottom;
After digging up and bagging this interesting ponderosa pine, the hole is lled in and covered, leaving behind little evidence of human activity.
I try to leave every collecting site so that no one can tell I was ever there.... it takes only moments
to ll in the depression left
by a collected tree with dirt
and gravel and then scatter pine needles and moss back across it
so that it looks natural again.
April/May/June 2016 | BCI | 21