Help me ID this tree!

If you have ever needed to ID a bonsai that: wasn’t correctly labeled, didn’t have a label at all, or that you collected, then help might be a click away. If your an experienced bonsai artist, you may be able to help others ID their plants. MyPlantID.com

My Plant ID began in January 2008 as a plant identification service. People from all over the world sent us photographs of their plants and we identified them for free. The demand was overwhelming. When we realized that we couldn’t keep up with the amount of daily submissions, we knew something had to change. At the same time, there was a large number of plant enthusiasts who contacted us, eager to help identify. The result is www.myplantid.com. With you help and curiosity, we hope to build myplantid into the premier plant identification website and forum.
Features:

* Identify plants online.
* Search by leaf features (arrangement, shape, margin, vein) and location.
* Submit plant image and let users identify it.
* Organize and keep track of all your garden plants online .
* Contribute by identifying plats of others.
* Registration required, free.

Jim Smith Bonsai

Orlando Bonsai had a post on it’s blog today about Jim Smith’s Bonsai nursery. This nursery has been providing wholesale bonsai material since 1979. If your wife is looking for a beach location and your wanting to do a little scouting on the side, check out Vero Beach, Florida so you can swing by Jim Smith’s.

View Larger Map

My Bonsai RSS Bundle

I have created a Google Reader RSS bundle for those that like to read Bonsai blogs. If you click the link below, then subscribe to this bundle (you’ll need a Google or GMail account), then you will automatically subscribe to the 33 bonsai blogs that I have been able to find in Google Reader. Just go to http://www.google.com/reader to read the updates every day. Here’s the link: Google Reader Bonsai Bundle

If you use another reader, here is the OPML file to import: Bonsai Blogs OPML File

By the way, I have been having problems with my RSS feed. It showed errors if you looked at it in Google Reader or Feedburner. If you received a lot of updates in your RSS reader today, this is why.

The Behr Bonsai Scholarship

Passing along information about a good cause for bonsai and for education.  Behr Appleby passed away in May of this year and contributed a lot of knowledge to the bonsai community.

Bonsai Vault has established a scholarship fund in the memory of Behr (Grampz) Appleby (1948-2009) to skilled students / enthusiasts of bonsai seeking a education to improve their art and the bonsai community as a whole. The scholarship will be awarded to an individual(s) for the purpose of achieving a more advanced level of bonsai.

The concept of this scholarship is to encourage and support budding bonsai artists in the fashion Behr showed and demonstrated through his commitment to the art over many, many years. In turn, any individual(s) receiving this scholarship must, with in one year of the award, demonstrate to the Behr Bonsai Scholarship Fund the knowledge that they have acquired. This demonstration of knowledge must be displayed in four distinct different ways.

Here’s more information and a button to donate:  The Behr Bonsai Scholarship

Here’s the forum thread showing the balance of the fund:  Scholarship Balance and Contributions

bonsai scholarship

Indian Hawthorn

As a groomsmen’s gift for my best man, I had bought this tree in hopes of giving it to him to grow eventually into a bonsai. Fortunately, I found a great bald cypress at a good price instead. The bald cypress will be much easier to take care of for a beginner bonsai artist because it’s so tough. This indian hawthorn will have to just stay in my collection while I explore the possibilities of where it should go and it lets me know where it wants to go. Some have very large leaves and multiple trunks, but this one has a nice single trunk and smaller leaves than many of the other varieties. Should stand up to the summer heat and be easy to take care of. It’ll either be a great bonsai specimen one day, or an excellent addition to my garden :)