Do I peek at and slow down for, what goes out on the curb? Will I pull over when the home owner or landscaper is doing a remodel? Yes, yes I do.
Can a whole year pass without seeing a single free tree? Yes, yes it does. Today on an unnamed other forum a family member described a shrub that was being removed from the family plot at the cemetary. Its not often that a bonsai hobbyist gets a specimen as old as the one being taken (100+ years)
Its certain I'll never be able to afford a stump that old. But I might be able to save one. you can't always buy your way to bonsai bliss. Sometimes its up to the hunt.
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Gnome
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Tom,
I once found a pretty nice Boxwood stump out for the trash. When I stopped to look the homeowner told me I was welcome to it. Unfortunately it must have been out too long and it slowly faded away.
Last year I made a promise to myself to seek out a better class of stump. Yesterday I dug a Rose stump that is nearly the size of a beer can at the base. We'll see if this one fares better.
Norm
I once found a pretty nice Boxwood stump out for the trash. When I stopped to look the homeowner told me I was welcome to it. Unfortunately it must have been out too long and it slowly faded away.
Last year I made a promise to myself to seek out a better class of stump. Yesterday I dug a Rose stump that is nearly the size of a beer can at the base. We'll see if this one fares better.
Norm
Rose is in a class by itself. Its not that happy with its feet getting worked on. It may tolerate a pruning or three.
You wanna be on the look out for mini rose, in fact the mini-er the better. I'd donate a kidney for Pedro Dots, little three; Ti, Mi, and Si.
They are ankles and knees mini-er than any other...
You wanna be on the look out for mini rose, in fact the mini-er the better. I'd donate a kidney for Pedro Dots, little three; Ti, Mi, and Si.
They are ankles and knees mini-er than any other...
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applestar
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OK so what are "typical good finds" that you should stop for 
and what are "screech and stop if you recognize it"?
I'd say raggedy azalea is pretty common, what are those evergreens that grow leaves in sort of flat planes and have tiny pine one looking things? Those get overgrown and get trashed a Lot it seems. I'm thinking it starts with an "H" or maybe a "C"....
and what are "screech and stop if you recognize it"? I'd say raggedy azalea is pretty common, what are those evergreens that grow leaves in sort of flat planes and have tiny pine one looking things? Those get overgrown and get trashed a Lot it seems. I'm thinking it starts with an "H" or maybe a "C"....
I just pull over. They don't usually call the cops if you just look.
Pull over and look over real good nationally:
Vaccinium, blue berry, rabbit eye, farkleberry, huckleberry, high-bush and low-bush blue berry. These like acidic soil, tolerate damp feet, inherently have smaller leaves, they back bud well enough. tend to have small feet in their own right. I've rehabbed wilted dried out stumps, torn out of their bed and abandoned.
Box, any model of box wood is worth a trial.
Sugar maple, The trunk should probably be no bigger than 2" at the base. Yes unpruned the leaves and internode are too big. Both can be fundamentally reduced. The is the free tree you practice layering and thread grafting or other wiring projects on. Its tough enough to survive novice growers efforts.
Not everybody gets it right between azalea and rhododenron. If the leaves are small in your estimation it may not make any real difference. All back bud like champions.
White oaks, take the ones near you. they slow down less than red oaks (who slow down to glacial speeds) in pots. Your growing a white oak for your children. Your growing red oaks for your great-grand children.
Larch, any larix if it grew as a landscape plant in your neighborhood, will probably grow as a potted tree. It and bald cypress are seasonal trees, and both back bud like a champion. FWIW I used to propagate bald cypress to become bonsai, and probably sold eight out of ten as landscape trees in New Hampshire. and no there is no "northern hearty" bald cypress. Alas there is no, "southern hearty" larch.
Less common trees that sometimes make it to the curb, bitter sweet, Apple, crab apple, quince, pear, peach. plum, alder, and spruce. Some of these only kinda work, or only grow well for a few years.
IMO if there is a tree work risking leeches and wading around in spume up to your chest for, its alder. It naturally lives with wet feet, buds back superbly.
Trees I might (now) pass on are most birches. By the time you have a grey or paper birch showing mature bark, its in its last year or two in a pot.
Pull over and look over real good nationally:
Vaccinium, blue berry, rabbit eye, farkleberry, huckleberry, high-bush and low-bush blue berry. These like acidic soil, tolerate damp feet, inherently have smaller leaves, they back bud well enough. tend to have small feet in their own right. I've rehabbed wilted dried out stumps, torn out of their bed and abandoned.
Box, any model of box wood is worth a trial.
Sugar maple, The trunk should probably be no bigger than 2" at the base. Yes unpruned the leaves and internode are too big. Both can be fundamentally reduced. The is the free tree you practice layering and thread grafting or other wiring projects on. Its tough enough to survive novice growers efforts.
Not everybody gets it right between azalea and rhododenron. If the leaves are small in your estimation it may not make any real difference. All back bud like champions.
White oaks, take the ones near you. they slow down less than red oaks (who slow down to glacial speeds) in pots. Your growing a white oak for your children. Your growing red oaks for your great-grand children.
Larch, any larix if it grew as a landscape plant in your neighborhood, will probably grow as a potted tree. It and bald cypress are seasonal trees, and both back bud like a champion. FWIW I used to propagate bald cypress to become bonsai, and probably sold eight out of ten as landscape trees in New Hampshire. and no there is no "northern hearty" bald cypress. Alas there is no, "southern hearty" larch.
Less common trees that sometimes make it to the curb, bitter sweet, Apple, crab apple, quince, pear, peach. plum, alder, and spruce. Some of these only kinda work, or only grow well for a few years.
IMO if there is a tree work risking leeches and wading around in spume up to your chest for, its alder. It naturally lives with wet feet, buds back superbly.
Trees I might (now) pass on are most birches. By the time you have a grey or paper birch showing mature bark, its in its last year or two in a pot.
I knew (and forgot) that when you chop a box hard, you must needs leave a living terminal twig on the end of each branch you hope to regrow. As a result I have a massive stump with one lonely live branch, for one of my trees.Gnome wrote:Tom,
I once found a pretty nice Boxwood stump out for the trash. When I stopped to look the homeowner told me I was welcome to it. Unfortunately it must have been out too long and it slowly faded away.
Last year I made a promise to myself to seek out a better class of stump. Yesterday I dug a Rose stump that is nearly the size of a beer can at the base. We'll see if this one fares better.
Norm
Ask me in a ten years or so if it ever recovered.
Years ago I was at a nursery way down in So. Jersey near the Delaware Bay and in the back, all over grown were some low growing but really full plants. As I approached them I realized that they were chamaecyparis obtusa nana!!!!!!! There is no way I could have afforded to buy those plants. I'm guessing that they were 20 - 30 years old, very tight and lush despite their present circumstances.Gnome wrote:Tom,
I once found a pretty nice Boxwood stump out for the trash. When I stopped to look the homeowner told me I was welcome to it. Unfortunately it must have been out too long and it slowly faded away.
Last year I made a promise to myself to seek out a better class of stump. Yesterday I dug a Rose stump that is nearly the size of a beer can at the base. We'll see if this one fares better.
Norm
I asked the guy working there about them and he didn't even know which plants I was talking about till I showed them to him. He said that they were used, "way back, to take cuttings off of, but we haven't done that for years." I asked him how much he wanted for them and he said, "if you want to dig them out, you can have them." I was speechless, which for me is totally unusual........almost impossible. They became two of my most cherished plants.
It's amazing what people are willing to give away if you just look around.