I thought I would mention this Spanish Bonsai Blog that I’ve been following for a while. I’ve just added it to My Favourite Blogs sidebar.

I understand that reading translated Spanish can be a bit of a chore, Google Translate is far from perfect! But sometimes its worth the effort.

If you click on the image link below you will be taken to a recent post about the collection of yamadori in Spain. It is an honest look at the devastation, dare I say rape, of collecting sites in Spain. I have collected yamadori myself, always in manageable numbers with permission. I understand the temptations to go mad and take risks with trees, I’m not blameless in this either. However, the wanton destruction of top quality yamadori as described here is totally unacceptable! Non-collectable trees should be left for everyone to enjoy in-situ.

This isn’t just a Spanish thing either, it’s happens everywhere when there’s money to be made. In my view, it’s bonsai’s dirty little secret. I have no doubt that some day, some news reporter on a slow news day will twig on to this and it will make National News. ‘Bonsai Butchers ruining the environment’, or words to that effect.  What a sad day for bonsai that will be! 😦