I have recently had the pleasure making the acquaintance of Norwegian bonsai enthusiast Jan Olav Olsson. Jan is relatively new to bonsai but is already making great strides with his bonsai collection and making his own bonsai pots.

Jan has been collecting Pines in the Norwegian mountains for the past 18 months and has kindly allowed me to show some of his inspiring collecting images here at Bonsai4me.com.

The specific location of the mountains in Norway where Jan goes hunting and collecting yamadori, are of course a closely-guarded secret. Not only is permission required to collect trees in these areas (that are often protected by gun-carrying landowners!) And there is a need to protect these areas from 'bonsai tourists'; ill-equipped and inexperienced enthusiasts, traveling to mountainous areas on a day trip to rip trees out of the ground without thought or care for the tree, its survival or the surrounding environment.

The Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) found growing in the mountains are often many decades and even centuries -old and exist in a harsh environment where growth is slow.

Jan tells me that there is not a lot of snow these days but the winds that blow across the mountains can be very harsh. Jan's grandfather remembers that in the past, the mountains were colder, there was a lot more snow and the winters were longer.

Most of these Pines have such slow growth rates that even after a century or more, they may only reach a matter of a metre or less in height. Many feature natural deadwood (jin and shari) where the combined forces of wind and snow have damaged trunks and branches. Jan has been walking these mountains since he was a child and has of course become very familiar with these harsh but breathtaking landscapes.

This superb natural 'bonsai' can be seen growing in a shallow layer of vegetation on top of a large rock, its struggle to survive these very harsh conditions are obvious to see!

Being able to find a tree with good qualities for bonsai growing on top of a shallow layer of 'soil' is not easy but when it produces a very shallow and compact rootball, the actual collection of the tree relatively straightforward. Being able to recover the entire rootball in such a way with such little disturbance greatly increases the chances of the tree's ultimate survival.

Jan tells me more about these amazing trees; "The pines are growing in dents and cracks in the mountain. They live in a compost of old needles, sand and moss. The soil is often very compact and the rootball is very shallow. It is like they spend their life in a natural bonsai pot. Imagine putting a seed in a pot and let it grow and produce its own soil for 70 years, add some snow and hard wind and voila!"

"When collecting I try to find trees with no tap root. These trees can often be lifted straight up and very few roots have to be cut. I wrap the rootball in moist moss from the area around the tree and pack everything tightly in a plastic bag.
Once home I put the rootball in water while I build the wooden container. I make the container after collecting the tree because I want to make it as small as possible or at least a close fit for the rootball. I cut as little as possible of the foliage, this I have found is much better for pine and often they just continue growing with little or no signs of stress. I know this is a much discussed issue on the internet, but pines with their foliage more or less intact suffer far less than the ones 'cut to balance the root ball'.
I put the tree in a container and add a very well draining soil mix of 20% garden center soil and 80% 2-4mm grit."

And to end this article, here is just a taste of some of the superb yamadori bonsai that Jan has already added to his personal collection. Most are still unstyled but their natural form, character and beautiful are truly inspirational.

Stunning mature bark texture and natural jin like this can never been replicated by man!

Jan has now teamed up with fellow countrymen Rune Kyrdalen and Nils Arne Haagensen to write a blog 'Norwegian Wood' that covers their observations of bonsai in Norway.