Not all Bonsai come from seed which may have had a better chance if it did not fall into this kind of gardners hands. Many Bonsai are built up on Yamadori, plants found anywhere out there, which did not grow up normal anyway, stayed small for any reason. You can find them in streets, gardens, graveyard dustbins, hedges and any other wooden plants to be rooted out. Mom’s calling: “There’s an oak in my salad patch!” They got a new life.

Another interesting thought: many trees can grow new roots on a cut branch, and one method to get a Bonsai is to do so. Nevertheless it’s still the same tree. Same DNA and everything.
Isn’t a tree kinda immortal with this?

Bonsai will never become a big tree. But with some luck and good hands of their new gardener people also will stand stunned and look in disbelief on what is a model of a big, beautiful, well grown tree, Lord Gods wonderful work at its best.
http://www.artofbonsai.org/galleries/zhao.php
(The one with the horse is my favorite)

Fiona

So, there are two choices: make the best of the situation and
grow, or die.
Those, who get the opportunity to grow big by getting enough space and food, will do so immediately. But at least they can give the chance to the next generation.
Those who are dead, will not do anything.

BTW: the more colorful the leaves show in autumn, the better the year has been for the tree.
The American Oak, also called Red Oak, will get less and less red in autumn the older the tree gets. As a Bonsai the color stays in age. Whilst the wild one stays lifelong on always the same ground, the Bonsai gets a new fresh ground and a root cut every few years.

A wild growing tree will grow as big as it can, so one day it might become just too big for the material to hold, and it breaks down. So a tree can die of its own pure size and weight. Such thing surely will not happen to a Bonsai.

There’s a complacency – and pride – about being involved in specific areas for a long time, which sometimes needs to be challenged.

On the plant side of things I find Bonsais intriguing but not particularly appealling. Having said that many plants – and people – benefit from regular pruning, encouraging growth in the areas desired by the gardener rather than the plant. In some cases this increases fruitfulness, in others it’s a question of control. Now – like an un-pruned bramble – I’m rambling, so I’ll stop.

Thanks again.

Sorry rambling now.

Love P