A friend of mine once explained that when collecting native junipers, there are basically three types of trees- little young one’s, big old one’s and little old one’s.  The little old one’s are the rarest and the one’s we seek for bonsai.  While the little old one’s where what I was seeking during my last collecting trip, I could not help but spend time studying the big old one’s as well.  Here are some pictures of the big old one’s from that trip, hope you enjoy.

Cool Pinyon Pine with Jin top.  I have not collected one of these yet, but would like to in the future.

Skeleton of an old tree.  Check out the Cork Screw of the lowest branch!

Here's a close up

Paint Brush sometimes grows near CA and Sierra Juniper.  I would love to grow this as an accent plant.

I debated collecting this thing below.  It's a big twisted ball, a strange juniper that we named Freak Show.

Here's a little Sierra I collected.  I really love the deadwood on this tree, especially that hole near the center.

This turned out to be one of the easiest to collect so far.  The tree had one larger root growing down in between a granite crack.  It also had a nice pad of feeder roots growing on top of a flat slab of granite.  I was able to use a large flat chisel and get under the root mat and then cut the root going into the crack with the chisel.  Then I lifted the whole tree up with a nice flat pad of fibrous roots.  I wish they were all this easy to collect!

This trees fine mat of roots was not growing in much soil.  However there was a thick pad of moss I removed from the surface of the soil before taking these pictures.  I believe the moss helped to keep the roots from drying out too quickly, just like we sometimes use chopped spagnum moss on the surface of trees to keep them from drying too fast.

Here some pictures I've taken of Sierra Junipers while hiking around the mountains.  It seems like the older I get the more I appreciate beautiful areas like these.  After being cooped up in an office during the week the mountains seem to refresh my mind like nothing else.

I took the picture above after hiking several miles.  I remember being really tired and possibly slightly delusional because I thought it looked exactly like a dragon.  I guess that's debatable, but I still love the beautiful deadwood and like the picture.

Some more potential accent plants to display near my collected trees.  I like how these flowers look next to the granite.  Anyone know what type they are?

One of my favorite plants that I will try and grow this year.  I hear this flower referred to as Indian Brush and know there are several varieties.  It's really interesting to me that this is actually a parasitic plant and partially lives off the roots of other plants.  I have some seed and am going to try and grow it with some other native plants.  Has anyone tried growing this?

This isn't the greatest picture, but that's me checking out this massive Juniper that is still alive and growing.  I wonder why it grew into that U shaped arch?

Another waterfall after the first snow melt.  Hope you liked the pictures, thanks for checking it out!!!

I wanted to share some pictures of trees i've taken up in the Sierras. The widely distributed Ponderosa Pine or Pinus Ponderosa is well known by many N. American Bonsai enthusiasts. Their trunks can have great character and movement with deeply fissured bark, all characteristics that we love in Bonsai.

Click any of the pictures to get a better view.

It always fascinates me to see how different the bark can look on these trees.  To the right of the picture above shows a close up of some deeply fissured bark.

Ponderosa Bonsai created by mother earth.

When I first learned of Ponderosa Pine I figured they were similar to Japanese Black Pine because of the bark.  However the more I learn about Ponderosa, the more I compare it to Japanese White Pine.  Both Ponderosa and White Pine are high mountain pines.  They both grow naturally with Jin, Shari and Twist because they face harsher growing environments.  For Bonsai these characteristics are more desirable on White and Ponderosa compared to Black Pine.  They are also similar in care and needle reduction.

The plants growing along side these trees give me great inspiration for accent plants.  I hope to see more natives like these being displayed along side our Bonsai in the future.

Taken on a beautiful day for a hike

Crazy shape and bark!

Close up of same tree as above.

I walked passed this pine which had been growing in a granite crack for several years.  I felt that this picture illustrated why collecting these pocket trees can sometimes be easy and other times be very challenging or impossible.  For whatever reason, the granite broke off on one side exposing the roots and taking away the support for the tree.  As you can see the tree has grown one very long root which continues back and further into the crack.  There are some feeder roots near the base of the trunk, but often they are not enough to support the tree if it was collected.

It's fun finding these naturally made waterfalls after the snow melts in the Sierras. Hope you liked the pictures and Happy New Year!!!