Jamie, you are on the right track by looking at your climate. But also look at what you can change about your climate. You can't change the temperature but you can protect your trees from excessive cold. You can't really decrease humidity but you can increase it. But mostly look at what you are willing to do. Also look for species that grow in similar climate to yours from around the world, and if you can find other bonsai-ists in your area ask what experiences they have had with species you are interested in. Good luck, and I hope you find just the right one. Don.

thank you for your insights

i dont get an overly cold weather spurt generally it gets to mid teens celcius at its coldest period, during the rest of the year it is quite warm generally ranging from 20c-35c all year round. the humidity is what goes up and down. i have a lot of ficus, ond other tropical or sub tropical and some temperate trees. elm, juniper go well here but maple wont work at all.

people in my local are around 1-2 hours away some grow JBP others dont, its a ranging climate.

thanks for the mikawa option thats what i was after in terms of ideas, i know JBP  will grow here i just dont have the experience.


jamie

Conventional.
http://bonsaistudygroup.com/japanese-black-pine-discussion/shohin-cascade-jbp/
http://bonsaistudygroup.com/japanese-black-pine-discussion/shohin-jbp/15/

here is one of the JBP i will be getting, i havent got it yet but its on its way. its not a yatsasuba just mikawa.

height 25cm reducable to 18cm
trunk 3cm

thanks john

i agree with the bark that it needs to age up, it is just starting to now so it will be there in the next few years i think

now i just need to learn how to keep it alive!

Disgustingly enough I just  do not have the hang of this species.  At all.  I've bought a JBP from Don Blackmond, a specimen from Brent, and bought 2 at the weekend workshop with Boon at Frank's place in Topeka last year and of them all the only one that still lives is the one I bought from Frank last year that I did not repot.  I'm going to do a conservative repot of my surviving JBP in about 2 weeks and if it fails I'm not going to touch them again.  Boon literally hand walked me through my last repot, I'm about $700 down on JBP with nothing to show for them.  I think it's just too much of a climate differnece, our weather is very extreme in it's highs and lows.  I also had a ponderosa from Andy Smith but I think that was totally my fault klling it, it was still in the collected duff and I watered it the same as my trees in a much more porous mix.