My renewed interest in bonsai has me appreciating my surroundings more than ever. Today, while fishing with the kiddos, I explored the woods for Yamadori. My neighborhood is on a bay and there are lots of some sort of juniper in the area. I found a tree that recently got knocked over and thought that I may be able to hack off a secondary portion of it. After thinking about it more I realized that I’d have to chop a lot of the tree and almost all of the foliage. With the power of a juniper being in the foliage I realized that I’d just be killing the tree.
I found a second tree that actually may work. However, it’s a bit tall. I was wondering how I could get branches on the lower portion of the trunk. Is grafting the only option or is it possible to get buds to form on the trunk?
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The longer you look, the more you’ll learn. I pulled too many trees in my early bonsai years. Trees that I look back at and wonder why I ever thought they would be good bonsai. It was hard for me to learn patience when collecting. I have been going out with a friend who is new to collecting trees. If I let him, he’d pull every tree he sees. Instead, I’ve taken the time to teach him which trees are truly worth collecting. His trees are better looking and he’s been happier for the advice.
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Haha, I understand that for sure. I’m typically an inpatient person and picked up bonsai as a way to teach myself patience. Instead I want to surround myself with billions of trees in various stages of development and refinement. It’s the only way to satisfy my need for instant gratification. 
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I actually have recently found a very nice juniper…in someone’s yard lol. I’m going to offer to replace it for them this spring.
