by
Michael Rusnak
Sure,
the trees are leafing out, the pine candles are extending and even a
few blossoms. But that's not all.
I
want to alert all of you bonsai enthusiasts to what is becoming the
real excitement of spring—it is the time of the year when so many
of my neighbors tear out their shrubs. While not every shrub might
be bonsai candidate, many are, and you can get some good material
this way. With some imagination—see this video by Gram Potter at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt52abVVpVo
—you can often put something presentable together.
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| Three developing junipers from the neighbor's trash |
Throw
away shrubs may be my favorite type of material to work with. As many authors have pointed out, there are a
number of reasons that make them a great find. First, the price is
right, and since you got the material for free, you don't have to
have reservations over ruining a large dollar investment. Second,
if it is already on the curb, the digging labor out has already been
done for you, so it takes only a little time to pot it. Third, since
these shrubs have growing in the ground around your neighbor's house
for many years, they often have heavy trunks. They may also have
been pruned back on multiple occasions, which means branches and
foliage that is close in to the trunk. So they can be good stuff.
Plus as a bonsai guy, I have developed a real respect for plant life,
and the remarkable things they do to try to survive, giving it a whole new life as a bonsai. So there is
also something about life here as well.
 |
| Juniper just after pick up |
For
four years in a row now I have stumbled across some great trees that
have been torn out at just this right time of the year. In three of
the four, they are trees I have spotted out on the curb alongside the
trash. Four years ago, I picked up four overgrown junipers from the
curb, three of which survived, and that at this point have developed
it respectable outlines for fine bonsai. Three years ago, I found a
magnificent “bird's nest spruce with a fat folding and slumping
trunk that would have looked incredible had it survived.
 |
| Privet breaking out |
The
next season, I helped a neighbor tear out a short 30 year old privet
hedge. I got 4 great privets. Two
survived, and still are regaining their health after a couple of hard
winters. For
those of you new to bonsai, privets make wonderful material—for
many of the same reasons they make good hedges. When healthy, grow
vigorously, responding well to pruning. In addition, they have neat
small oval leaves, can break buds from old wood. A privet stump can
also offer so many bulges, knots and hollows. A
well-conceived one, like
this inspiring
privet progression series posted on Bonsai4me by
Harry
Harrington
can make a bonsai that looks magical.
Last
year, I picked up two clumps of overgrown azaleas that yielded 12
plants. Eight survived, and two should look remarkable in a few
years. The photo shows one that will make a
cool clump style once it
puts on some more leaves.
 |
| Azalea clump-good material |
 |
| A tug of war with the trash man |
This
year, it took me only 15 minutes to score (plus another 30 to pot).
That was great, but the window almost closed on me. I was out for a
run early this morning and spotted a pile of large privet hedges
piled up on the curb. When I tried to pick one up, I noticed the
neighbors had neatly tied and bundled
them in the pile, so I couldn't
just grab one. As I jogged home, I realized, I could grab my big
cutters, go back, and just cut out the stump. It worked great. I cut
across all of the long branches and pulled a terrific fused privet
clump with a good
 |
| Another discarded shrub lives |
helping of roots attached. I put it off to the
side, and chooses another. Just as I was cutting along came the
trash truck and two guys got out and started tossing privet bundles
into the truck. I started cutting frantically to free a real good
one. “I'll be done in a second,” I said the the guy who was now
picking up the same hedge I was cutting. He had one end of the bundle
of hedges and I had the other. “I'm going to give this one a whole
new life.” One more cut and it was free. Two fine stumps which I
took home, hosed them down thoroughly and put in large post of wood
chips and grit. Hopefully, they will survive. But for the 45 or so
minutes of time invested, it was well worth a try.
So
although there are some successes and some failures, such finds can
be great starter material. Keep your eyes open and go for it. This
is something to be on the look out for, in the sense that these are
opportunities, and opportunities that only come along once and then
they are gone (into the trash heap).
 |
| I cut this arborvitae our of a road ditch nearly 20 years ago |
Lastly,
for me, most of the fun of bonsai is in the process, the process of
making something out of nothing—and in this case, someone else's
throw away. Such plants tend to be five year projects, as the tree
may need to regain health and replenish some of its growth, but that
five year process, also builds a partnership in creativity between
you and the tree itself. Such a partnership is what makes make
bonsai a unique art form. You and your rescued plant might just
surprise each other, beginning a project and a new life together, and
create a delightful bonsai along the way.
