名媛直播

Hi
I'm looking to get my next 名媛直播 after enjoying my Japanese White Pine for the past year or so

I am not looking to spend more than ?100 or so and am looking at getting a Juniper which will hopefully keep improving with age. I do not have much experience so would like a tree which I can learn with but on which the difficult early training part is already done!

I came across the tree below which I am very tempted by but am not sure if this is a good route to go down so am hoping I can get some advice on this from people on here. It looks to be a small, youngish juniper which has been grafted on to some driftwood. I do really like the look of it and would hope this is something which would keep improving and give me a good project to learn from. But does this look like a good project to you?



Thanks
Freddie

To be honest, that looks particularly unnatural even for a tanuki, and the plant itself is extremely young and worth maybe ?10 at most (actually way less IMHO, but benefit of doubt being applied here).

From what I can see from the picture, the "tanuki-ing" has not even been done properly, as the part of the tree that goes inside the carved driftwood should be stripped of the live vein and only the hardwood should be in contact with it. The way it is, as soon as the juniper grows enough it will simply "pop out" of the carving.

In general I wouldn't buy it anyway, and tanuki are not really my thing, but ?97 (if you include delivery) seems an insanely high price for that thing, to me...

Do not buy from any one on Ebay unless you are sure they are a reputable trader. You would be better to look at one of the traders like Kaizen or Greenwood bonsai who are. There are also traders in the rest of Europe who are good.

Thank you very much for the response, particularly useful to know on the "tanuki-ing" as what you say about it popping out if not done correctly is really useful to know. I will not be buying, thanks again!

m5eaygeoff wrote: Do not buy from any one on Ebay unless you are sure they are a reputable trader. You would be better to look at one of the traders like Kaizen or Greenwood bonsai who are. There are also traders in the rest of Europe who are good.

Thanks very much for your reply, I will have a look at the dealers you mention and try to find some more options!

If you want a similar tanuki but better:

Just buy a sheap Juniper and driftwood in your local garden center. Read up on tanuki and spend some hours enjoying the process of creating future bonsai material. You Will spend a lot less money that way and gaining experience in the art.

Tropfrog wrote: If you want a similar tanuki but better:

Just buy a sheap Juniper and driftwood in your local garden center. Read up on tanuki and spend some hours enjoying the process of creating future bonsai material. You Will spend a lot less money that way and gaining experience in the art.

This actually sounds great and sounds a lot more fun... thanks for the suggestion - could even put them on ebay and make some money (that's a joke BTW!)

Just note that if you want to take it pure: Tanuki is not considered to be bonsai, but a "trickster" tree. In Japanese Tanuki is NOT a positive word.

leatherback wrote: In Japanese Tanuki is NOT a positive word.

Maybe tanuki bonsai is considered bad in somehow.

But tanuki is not a bad Word.
Why would they put tanuki statues in their gardens and write Children songs about tanuki if it was a bad Word.