Ok to Display Bonsai After it has Died?

[MC Mixin Bricks]

Is it normal to keep diplaying a bonsai for a time after it has died? I got the idea years ago but never heard of anyone else doing it. Another idea I had was to grow a tree from seed up right next to one that had died. All of this in the bonsai aesthetic. I would like to hear every and anyones opinion on this strange new subject.

[Gnome]

MC Mixin Bricks,

I do have a few of my failures hanging around in order to remind me of what I did wrong. I also have a folder on my computer called 'Mortuary' I think you can guess what's in there.

Another idea I had was to grow a tree from seed up right next to one that had died.

This may interest you.

https://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATLarchTanuki%20page1.htm

Search on the terms 'Tanuki' as it is called in Japan or 'Phoenix Graft' as it is known in the west.

Norm

[Rosaelyn]

It may be less common, but it is not unheard of. A few years ago, one of the members of my local bonsai society had his art class draw a deceased hornbeam of inspiring form...

https://www.annarborbonsaisociety.org/newsletters/2008/Apr2008.pdf

The article is on page 7 of the newsletter.

[Marsman]

/Que Monty Python
Shopkeeper: No, no sir, it's not dead. It's resting.

[url=https://s956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/marsman61/Fun%20Stuff/?action=view&current=300px-DeadParrot.png][img]https://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/marsman61/Fun%20Stuff/th_300px-DeadParrot.png[/img][/url]

To your point, I've seen some very beautiful dead trees. Great ramification and nebari. My teacher has some out in his compost pile that make me cry. I wish my living trees looked as good as his dead ones. He has one forest tray that's as dead as the Norwegian Blue in the Python skit referenced above. I think it looks very cool and I would display it. Looks like a forest after a fire raged through it. (It just brings a tear to his eye.)

[Victrinia Ridgeway]

Google... "preserved bonsai tree"

Really large ones are offered on the internet for as much as $1800. (insane.)

Even small ones will run about $100.

They can cost more than they were worth when they were alive, because people want the image without the respondibility or the skill.

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

[TomM]

In our local club a wise-woman used to tell us not to throw out a dead bonsai for at least one year. "It might just surprise you !!". And sometimes she was right. We have seen a few miracles. But having said that she also embraced the concept of a DEAD TREE CONTEST. Once a year we brought together our collective group of the the current crop of casualties. We discussed the problems, the "lessons learned", and yes we voted on a winner. NO, there was not a talent or swimsuit catagory. But there was a winner which had a live ivy attached to, and covering a large, and very skeletal Chinese elm.
Note - the contest was held at our December holiday luncheon. No worry about bringing the trees out in the cold. They were already dead !!!

[djlen]

This is why the make chocolate and vanilla I guess.
I don't think I could keep a tree of my own once it expires. I just take it hard and there's a sense of failure and loss when I lose one.