Finding Yamadori Bonsai Trees in the Wild in Colorado

Four years ago my wife bought me my first bonsai at Berkly Horticulture for $12.95. Somehow that little lime glow juniper is alive and kicking. In the time since we've "rescued" maybe two dozen spruces, firs, pines for between $5 and $50 from Home Depot, Lowes and WalMart, from 50% off to 80% off of the normal price. Heads up, November is the best time to buy fruit trees, they are on huge discounts.

Well, one of the natural progressions in the world of bonsai is to dig up trees from the wild and put those formerly wild trees into pots. Since we own a small plot of land, we have dug up trees on our property. However, as we have been out hiking this summer two new sources presented themselves.

First, four wheel drive roads. It's somewhat common for trees to start growing in between the two tire tracks, until they grow to around one foot tall, in which case they are cut or knocked down by the four wheel drive vehicles. So you end up with these small trees that have already had their tops knocked off, and frankly aren't wanted, they are a perfect target for a yamadori bonsai.

Second, ski runs are typically trimmed to make sure that nothing is very tall on them and even one foot of snow will cover everything. So again, they end up with these little trees that are less than a foot tall, and probably 10 years old, and look at least as tough as nails due to intentionally being covered with snow for six months of the year. 

Now, standard disclaimer that on National Forest land you nearly always need a permit to harvest a tree (just like the ski resort has a permit to trim the trees) and on private land you will need the land owners permission to take trees as well. However, the upside to both of these locations is that as far as yamadori goes they are wildly accessible. You don't need to go off trail up a steep mountain to find a tree, you can actually just get out of your four wheel drive vehicle and dig up a tree in the middle of the dirt road. 

Here is a directory that you can purchase with permit details for many national forests:  https://humblebonsai.com/ 

Now a note on trees that you shouldn't bother trying to dig up, ones on the sides of cliffs. Every time I drive through Glenwood Canyon, or any other steep cliff and see the trees that are seemingly growing out of the rock, don't bother. I know Karate Kid 2 had that cool bonsai seen rappelling on the side of a cliff, but just don't bother. We had one of those on our property that we tried to dig up and the roots are nearly impossible to remove. You can get the trees out, but when you dig out the roots what happens is the tiny roots, which are the roots that actually transport water into the tree, get torn and then it's much more likely that the tree will die. Leave those trees to grow big on their rocky ledges, and enjoy looking at them in nature. Instead, opt for the trees that are actually possible to dig up and are likely candidates to be plowed up or cut down anyway. 

Come Visit Us!

 

Our Guest Room

Come visit my wife and I this year!

That's what I want to say today. I haven't blogged in months for a variety of reasons. The world can seem big and heavy and hard at times. Have you seen the news from Minneapolis? The stock market hits record highs, and yet our grocery bill stresses our budget. I'm reading a book on how to beat cynicism with hope, and one of the things it suggests is work on building relationships with people. 

Last summer, I got stressed one day and I stopped reading all of my text messages. Yes, I'm more or less not engaging with people that I care about and that care about me. It's weird. And unfortunately even as of this writing I have nearly 100 unread text messages. That used to be the most reliable way to get in touch with me, but lately, unless you are on a very short list (some days just my wife), it might not work. 

My wife and I have slowly been working on making our house into our custom home. We have two green houses in the back yard, we put in a patio, we put the book shelves into the guest room, she has started zero scaping our front yard for pollinators and to save water. One of the clear things that emerges as we have put work into our house is how infrequently we have guests stay over and spend the night. All of our local friends just drive home of course, but both of us have friends and family across the country, and it would be our pleasure to host some guests and save people some money. 

I know I'm not alone. I've had friends for years that don't respond to many text messages, and when I hit that point last summer that I stopped even opening them all, I got it, there is a lot going on in the world, and it takes some energy to open the message and read it. It feels like there is an obligation, that I might let the person down, so if I just avoid it, I don't have to deal with that. Of course, that's not true, I need connection in my life. I need to go rock climbing after work with my friends, even if that stresses the budget too.

Last fall my wife and I did an East Coast road trip, from Maine to Georgia and every state in between, and we saw a total of 22 different friends or family members on the trip. It was excellent on the days that we spent in other's guest rooms! Colorado is a great place to visit, and we're only 20 minutes from Boulder. So let us know if you come out, we can save you some money and spend a few evenings chatting. Despite my lack of action building relationships over the past year, I do want to continue being friends with my friends.