Does anyone know of anywhere to go collecting in southern Ontario?

I'd recommend you first try and learn what good bonsai material is.

hahaha, you funny. You cannot just go out collecting. Besides the need for permits, you need to know what to collect, and how to then get the collected plants to stay alive. It is NOT easy to collect yamadori.

And if you think that people in the know are going to share their collection spot on a forum you really have no clue about collecting trees.

Find a local bonsai club & talk it over with the members. They may give you insights about collecting trees in your area, and they may also advise you to learn bonsai before collecting.
There was a brief reply about beginners & collecting trees here .

I have been collecting yamadori in Texas, for the Ashe Juniper, in the Austin area and though it is a difficult one to transplant due to the nature of the soil in which it grows, sprawling roots and rather brittle roots, thus requiring a larger than normally collected amount of accompanying original soil, the survival rate has been pretty good. The Ashe Juniper were collected on private property with permission and assistance from owner. We have also collected from Gila National Forest in S. W. New Mexico, after obtaining the requisite 'transplant' permits, which by the way are really easy to obtain from National Forests, generally, and very reasonable in price. We collected the brachyptera subspecies of the Ponderosa Pine due to our desire to find a subspecies that would be more conducive to a warmer climate like we have here in Knoxville. The gist of all this is that Yamadori collecting and successful transplant survival is not that difficult if one does one's research, gets permission and permits, respects the environment and most importantly respects and honors the trees. Researching the species and subspecies you want to collect is extremely important. I personally have been reaching out to more experienced bonsai enthusiasts to ask hard questions on each species I am interested in, for example I did that regarding the Ashe Juniper.

And here are some pictures of the Juniperus ashei I collected from the Austin, Texas area. Still trying to figure how to upload pics properly. :huh:

gary-BE196 wrote: Still trying to figure how to upload pics properly. :huh:

Keep images small. I stay under 1000px on a side. And I compress to below 1Mb per image, often much smaller.

Thanks for that information .

gary-BE196 wrote: The gist of all this is that Yamadori collecting and successful transplant survival is not that difficult if one does one's research,

I still think that someone who doesn't know how to recognize good bonsai material, doesn't see what doesn't work for bonsai, and doesn't know what a fukien tea looks like, should not be collecting yamadori.

One would assume that those prerequisites are in place.