Native Southeastern Trees

by Randy Davis

A while back, I asked our members what they would like to see in this newsletter. Mike Schmidt replied (actually the only reply) that he would like to see something written on the native North American trees used as bonsai. I have been thinking about this and realized that none of my bonsai collection were native trees. I searched the literature and the internet and could not find much information. There is some information on the bald cypress, and one can assume that the information on species such as the Chinese persimmon can be related to the American persimmon. I didn't want to present information that I couldn't verify.

Recently, I was reading the October issue of the Nashville Bonsai Society newsletter and Randy Davis presented the following table on native material that can be found in Sourtheastern US and used as bonsai. He lists the general guidelines that can be applied for pruning, wiring, and the appropriate time of year for collection. For those who don't know Randy, he is a horticulturist who made a living as a landscape designer in western Kentucky and operated Lynnwood Gardens in Boaz KY which had thousands of hard to find pre bonsai trees. He also has an outstanding personal collection of bonsai. Unfortunately for us, Randy had a medical condition that caused him to give up maintaining Lynnwood Gardens as a bonsai supplier. However, he continues to be active in both the Nashville and the Evansville clubs and periodically writes articles for those clubs.

For those of you who want to collect native material, this table will serve as a good starting point in normal upkeep - ED.