I recently collected an arborvitae and was told they don't make very good Bonsai. Does anyone have an opinion on that?
Some people I've talked to, say any tree can be trained to be Bonsai. I've read articles that suggest that not all trees make for good Bonsai.

Opinions?

simplysaid wrote: I recently collected an arborvitae and was told they don't make very good Bonsai.

Not the best for bonsai, but not impossible. Google some pictures.

Some people I've talked to, say any tree can be trained to be Bonsai.

Usually that are people that don't have good bonsai, like the famous mr. Levitt, who made bonsai out of coconuts.
Would you like to try making a bonsai out of this?

Auk wrote: Would you like to try making a bonsai out of this?

Yes, I'm cheating. That's not really a tree

I particularly don't think that a coconut tree would make a good Bonsai tree. But people will sell whistles as elephant calls.
I was looking at some images and saw some possibilities. I was told to pass by an Arborvitae, but I found one that had a great notch in the trunk. I potted it with hopes that I can train it over the next 5 years. The trunk is very thick with nice vertical movement. Pictures are inspiring, just not sure if I'm experienced enough to begin it's training.
Thanks

Not sure why you would not be able to create bonsai using thuja. Isee no real reason for it.

there are Thuja bonsai.. you don't see them often so guess they are not straight forward and might depend on sub species for suitability..

It would be difficult, but not impossible.

To get experience training you have to.start somewhere. No time like the present. You can train slowly or drastically, start slowly. Start.

Rob762 wrote: To get experience training you have to.start somewhere. No time like the present. You can train slowly or drastically, start slowly. Start.

Rob, I don't want to be the PITA of this forum, but why did you bring up a thread TWO YEARS old?

Because I didn't look at the date of the post I was just reading up on Arborvitae and opinions. Sorry.