The trunk needs to be in scale with the leaves. So you may need to plant the largest volunteer you can dig up in a very large pot and your finished bonsai may be several feet tall. But yes, you can make a bonsai of almost any tree. Zack

I really want a small bonsai, is there anything that's native to the area that you would recommend? I have a few flowering dogwoods, a redbud (though I don't think that would work very well), a red oak, and a southern pine. Will any of these work for a bonsai, and if not, what others would work for a small bonsai for zones 7a-b (I'm exactly on the transition line)?

White oaks don't tolerate having their roots tampered with very well. It's almost impossible to transplant one not to mention how they would react to the removal of the tap root as well as the root pruning it would take to develop a satisfactory bonsai.

The other species you mention would also be difficult. redbuds have a relatively short life span as well as being prone to trunk rot. Dogwoods have a far reaching root system due to their being an "under" tree, which makes them difficult to extract enough of the roots to keep them viable. Red oak would be hard to get addiquate leaf reduction on & southern pine, like other pines has to be removed with the rootball in tact, not to mention the problem of needle reduction.

In your area,& I'm assuming you're interested in species native to your area, I would recommend Carolina Hornbeam, Hophornbeam, Red maple (sometimes called swamp maple) eastern red cedar (which is really a juniper), or if you have any swamps in your area, Bald Cypress.

I think the most suitable eastern oak for bonsai is southern live oak (quercus virginiana). It is hard to find small, yet interesting trunks in the wild. The best place to start looking would be at the local nursery for smaller starter landscape specimens. They're usually cheap and can be cut back hard to size to begin bonsai training.

I have a large (9 inch diameter, 28 inches tall) collected live oak from Texas and a smaller nursery-grown tree (about an inch in diameter). The smaller tree was just started as bonsai last Feb. It will wind up being about 15 inches tall or so. It cost about $14 at local nursery in Texas. There were about 100 others there, some for $5...

I'll just pipe up to mention that the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) grows into a fine, tall tree even when it's far from having its toes in the water. Many of our local bonsai clubbers grow bald cypress here, and there are some fine specimens.

well I have an oak, and its turning out just the way I want it, I have it in a 8x8 and I'm turning it into a semi cascade, the tree is around 4 ft long.
what do you think??
PS this is only my 4th bonsai..../Users/locadode/Desktop/S2500030.JPG