Things are starting to grow again!

It's always exciting to see new growth coming onto your plants.  :)  I've been working so hard on the hardscaping that I haven't had much time to update or put any special care into any particular plant.  But now that the yard is mostly done, I can refocus on cultivation.

This baby agave americana variegated kept a red edge on it's leaves.  Unusual, and very nice.

This is my Shohin Bonsai bench.  Mostly traditional bonsai material with the exception of the fockea edulis.  Two of my rooted cuttings are doing well also.  One was a crepe myrtle from the tree in the front yard.  The other is a boxwood cutting.  Everything is super green.

Our E.G. Waterhouse camelia has petite bright pink flowers.

These are flowers from our Coral Bells Kurume azalea shrub.  The shrub is still a baby at barely over a foot tall.  It's a toughie but still alive!  :)

This is a flower from our Goldmine nectarine tree.  The flowers are very similar to cherry blossoms, peach, and purple leaf plum.  It'll be tricky to compete with the animals for some fruit.  Last year we lost.

My first Japanese Black Pine.  New candles are coming up.  I will work on energy balancing on this guy soon.  April is feeding time.

This is my third Japanese Black Pine.  I bought it specifically to grow and train as bonsai.  It was originally about 5 feet tall.  I chopped it to about 20".  It's got some movement going on in there.  I like it.

Squirrel 1 - Me 0.  Now we know who's taking one bite out of every avocado and running off.  He isn't scared of us at all.  I think he might have eaten the few we had last year nectarines too.  I think he's threatening me with his stiff tail.

This wisteria was a bonsai inherited by me from my Dad's original collection.  A family friend adopted it when my Dad was no longer able to take care of his plants.  I didn't have the space to take any plants at that time.  It turned out that the family friend was too busy to take care of it also.  That was when I adopted it.  When I first received it, it was just a bunch of tangled up vines that were about 5 feet long.  I didn't do much.  Just a little trimming and fertilizer brought this tree a long ways.  It's had a tough past but hopefully it'll be on it's way to recovery now.  Wisteria has a very strong and pleasant fragrance.  I really love this tree it was moved very close to the house so that we could enjoy it more.

Here we are enjoying a wonderful weathered Saturday afternoon after a good lunch at Porto's.  :D

Our Howard McMinn Manzanita is flowering tiny white flowers.  :)  Yay!

At 6" off the ground, they seem a little low for humming birds, but who knows!

Huntington Library's Bonsai-a-Thon

We just went to the Huntington Library's Bonsai-a-Thon event with a couple of friends this Saturday.  There was a bazaar where you can buy trees of all kinds, tools, pots, and books at decent prices.  There were how to workshops which filled up too fast for me to get into.  I thought there was going to be a bigger exhibit but there was only a small room with about a dozen trees.  They have a much nicer collection in their Japanese Garden which is still in construction, scheduled for reopening in April this year.

I actually took more photos of the Suiseki stones than I did of Bonsai.  This little stone below was $600-$650 and is just a little bit bigger than my fist.  It was my favorite stone there.

These were nice too but probably out of my budget.

After the event, I felt a little inspired so I went to a nursery near there and bought four stones for $17 total.  I'm not sure what makes a stone $3 versus $600.  Maybe I will find out one day.  The first two stones are about half fist size, the bottom two are fist size.

I also went home and turned a gift Nana Juniper from last year that was in the form of a house plant into a semi-cascade style bonsai.  This is how it looked like when I received it last March.

This is it in a growing pot.  I'm going to let this grow for a while without wiring it just yet.

California Cactus Center Nursery, Pasadena, CA

California Cactus Center is an awesome nursery in Pasadena.  Their nursery is organized and clean.  It's a good idea if you're a succulent lover to take a day to visit the Huntington Botanical Gardens Desert Garden before you visit CCC to get some ideas on how you can design your residential xeriscape!  However if you aren't sure if a plant is okay to use in landscaping, the friendly staff members will be happy to answer all of your questions.

There selection of succulents is gigantic here, but why not buy something you can't buy at your local Home Depot or Lowes?  Like this Aloe ramossissima.  :)

I was afraid to ask them how much some of the plants were because I think their prices are on the high side.  Perhaps there is a high demand for succulents and cacti in the area and people in the local neighborhood have deep pockets.  Nevertheless, this is a great place to get some inspiration for succulent dish gardens.  We love succulents because they offer a very wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.  Look at this nice Discorea elephantipes:

They sold a couple of these plants that were a small fist size for $99 each.  The cauldex has fissured textures and makes you just want to touch it.  This guy will grow a vine, which sometimes people may consider putting it near a trellis so that it can climb up.  This is very slow growing so big ones are very expensive if someone is willing to sell them.

The plant below is called Euphorbia lactea variegata.  Now, I take it back.  On your lucky day, you may be able to find this at Home Depot for a very reasonable price.  Keep your eyes peeled.  This plant is a beautiful organic modern sculpture built by nature.  It looks very much like a piece of sea coral.

You can buy this at Home Depot but I just included it just for kicks.  This funny cactus is called Old Man of the Mountains (not to be confused with Old man of the Andes which is more green with curvy spines).  The rest is up to your own interpretation.  ;)

Try to say this ten times fast, "Operculicarya decaryi", from a 3/4 top view.

Now we are getting into a controversial area in the subject of Bonsai.  There is a term coined by Rudy Lime called S.M.O.L.A. which stands for succulents as a medium of living art, which brings us to a very interesting subject matter.  This is a recent phenomenon that can be called "American Bonsai."  The good news is that if you forget to water any of these succulent Bonsai for a couple of days, they will be A Okay!  In fact some prefer to be watered very little compared to traditional Bonsai in a well draining soil.  This is great news for Southern Californians.  The tiny leaves make this awesome plant look like a giant tree!  Here is a side view:

 The word "caudiciform" simply means large form.  These plants are also sometimes called "fat plants".  Some are very slow growing and some aren't.  I will now bombard you with one of my favorite caudiciforms called Fockea crispa and Fockea edulis.

These plants are rare so they are quite expensive!  I love the outer-worldly look of these plants and their movement.  I had to haggle the price down so that I could afford to buy a couple small ones shown below.  The awesome thing about CCC is that if you buy a pot and plant, they offer to pot it for you free of charge or if you feel inclined, you can do it yourself right there at their potting station, which is what I did. 

Fockea crispa looks the same as Fockea edulis except the edges of it's leaves are wavy.  Fockea edulis is considered to be the more rare plant.  CCC also has very nice pots, rocks, and toppings to dress your arrangement up.  Don't forget that the plant will take the shape of the pot over time so if you want a wide bodied plant, put it in a wide pot.  If you want it to grow the body downwards more, put it in a deeper pot.  Each time your re-pot these guys (each year or two), you can raise them a little bit to show off more of the fat body.  If you tilt the planting angle at every planting, eventually you can end up with a "reclining nude" style.  Take that traditional Bonsai!  :)  It's fun isn't it?

Overall, whether you buy something special or not, this place is definitely worth a visit because of their wonderful succulent Bonsai displays and rare plants.  To be honest, if you do plan to buy something, I recommend that you know what your Home Depot and Lowes stocks so that you don't pay premium for common succulents.  Do your homework and save more money!

Fuji Bonsai Nursery in Sylmar, CA

This is the best Bonsai nursery I've seen so far. It is owned by Roy Nagatoshi who has been working with Bonsai for forty four years. He teaches class worldwide and started learning Bonsai from his father. His classes are on Saturday and Thursday mornings starting at 9am and can go on as long as 2pm sometimes or whenever the last person is done working. Roy is a very friendly guy, not pushy to make a sale, and very informative and enthusiastic to chat even when he is in the middle of working on a tree. I felt bad about interrupting him with a bunch of questions but he was always smiling when he answered my questions. He was preparing six grafted Junipers to use as material for the 34th Golden State Bonsai Federation Convention. He had a genuine enthusiasm to meet other Bonsai enthusiasts so he kept the conversation alive by asking me some questions in return. There is a nice Bonsai Gallery in the front.

This is a very nice example of one of his root over rock style for Japanese black pine.

Having visited many Bonsai Nurseries, I notice that there is a shortage of stock of Japanese black pines. That is not the case here as you can see. Roy will not sell a tree if it is in a fragile condition or is in the process of recovering from work done. For example, today he had some nice boxwoods but the branches were very short and leaves sparse so he told me that they will be ready for sale in a year.

Seeing beautiful bougainvilleas like this one makes me want to grow some myself especially since they fit nicely into the drought tolerant group of plants. It's amazing how a vine can turn into a tree!

Some of his trees like this boxwood have a 2 feet wide diameter at the base of the trunk. Boxwood is a commonly acquired plant but it is spectacular when you can transform it into a $275 Bonsai. :)

Roy has an incredible collection of California Junipers. We all want one but they are extremely difficult to obtain. Some of these trees are over 200 years old and cost $18,000 if someone is willing to part with their precious tree. The natural deadwood gives these trees a very rough and ancient look. In my dreams I would buy one and never sell it.

Roy's Dad did grafting work on this California Juniper about 30 years ago and you can't see the scar any more. It's completely healed over and looks very natural. Most of these junipers have been grafted but there is one that is 100% pure California Juniper that is gigantic. Why didn't I take a picture of it? Perhaps, next time... I don't think any of his California Junipers are for sale.

There is a plethora of chinese elm here, but this is an exceptional example of rock clinging style mass planting. This stone is about 3 feet wide by 4 feet tall with tons of elms planted onto it. Very impressive that it is sustainable.

This nursery has the best selection of pomegranate pre-Bonsai material I've seen. The pomegranate I bought from San Gabriel Nursery looks like two straws coming out of the soil. It's quite sad in comparison. This is one of the most incredible Bonsai I've ever seen.

Finally, this is a one of the fine examples of Yaupon Holly Bonsai. Roy has a bunch of these little guys and they look great as small to medium Bonsai. I fell in love with them so I just had to get one.

I bought a 3 gallon Shimpaku Juniper for $45, a 1 gallon Yaupon Holly for $30, and a bag of All Purpose slow release granule Fertilizer 12-12-12 fertilizer for $8. Roy told me to put two teaspoons every 2 months for the 3 gallon juniper and 1 teaspoon for the Yaupon Holly every two months. The visit was very pleasant andI will definitely make an effort to come to his class sometime soon.

Kimura Bonsai Nursery

I visited Kimura Bonsai Nursery in Northridge, California today. They have some nice starter stock there and some trees that particularly interested me.

This Operculicarya Decaryi caught my eye because of the nice size of the trunk. I'm glad to see that they have succulent Bonsai material even though this one is not for sale. I can't wait until my plant grows bigger. :)



The Yew since I have to train a Niwaki at home...



And, these two Atlas Cedar because I killed one and I really like the dense foliage. :(. I am looking for pre-Bonsai material so these were not a buying option although they were nice to admire. One was blue and one was green but now that I look at the pictures, I'm not sure which was which. I like the blue one more. Some day, I will buy another one.




I also really liked their Cork Bark Elm which I didn't take a photo of but I just couldn't justify spending $85 on a medium size starter stock at the moment.  Bob Pressler is the owner there.  He offers Bonsai classes and also does landscaping so he is very knowledgeable and willing to answer questions.  He has a twisted trunk Pomegranate pre-Bonsai material that were cuttings from John Naka's tree.  There is a nice large bonsai display area in the front of the nursery which is a great place to look for inspiration.  There is a very good supply of Junipers as pre-Bonsai that is tempting to buy there like the San Jose Prostrata and the Foemina.
This is their webpage:

Kimura Bonsai Nursery

Has links to his Bonsai blog which is very well updated and to his landscaping portfolio page with nice photos.
I am currently growing pre-Bonsai material and nursing my Dad's Bonsais back into shape. The only bonsai that looks presentable is my Bougainvillea that I bought late last year.  Here it is:

Dad's Bonsai regathered

When my Dad had his stroke in February of 2006, his Bonsai collection was scattered among family and friends. The first one I inherited was from my Aunt on March 5th, 2011 when I visited her house. She gave me a plethora of plants, and the first of my Dad's Bonsai that I brought home was the Ficus Insipida below. I am waiting for the other two companion plants to leaf in order to identify them.

Besides my Aunt, a family friend offered to take care of most of my Dad's other bonsai trees. However, soon after he took them, his life got too busy and couldn't afford to give them consistent care. My Sister called him to ask if he could allow us to take one back since I was learning how to grow Bonsai. In the end, he decided to give us most of them back. We took ten trees back from him and my sister kept two. I offered my brother to take any that he likes but he didn't want to yet.

My Sister and brother in law drove eight of my Dad's trees to my house on June 25th. I ran out and bought some lumber and concrete blocks to make two 10' benches.



The bonsai has arrived. They were in my side-yard here but I've already moved them to the backyard where they are not visible from the side yard. I also built a new side yard gate that is 6' tall and put a lock on it for safety measures.



Ficus Insipida is below. This is the first one that I received from my Aunt. This was when the journey of gathering my Dad's Bonsais began.



The two little brown stumps are hard to ID with no leaves. My best guess is Cyphostemma Simulans or mestoklema tuberosa. It's a shot in the dark but it's hard to tell with no foliage.



The first thing was to do identify them. This is what I came up with. There could be some error because a lot of Ficus trees look similar to me.

Ficus Palmeri below:



The two little plants are Ficus Petiolaris and their roots seem to be attached to the Palmeri.



Below is Ficus Microcarpa.




Ficus Benjamina, also known as weeping fig is below.



This is a Holly tree but I'm not sure which kind exactly.



Finally an easy one; Wisteria. Same one in my earlier post of Dad's Bonsai. :)



And another easy one; Olive.



These are big bonsai! A couple of them are about 3 feet tall and wide. The smallest one is the Olive, which is about 18" tall. I cut them back a little since these photos to make them a bit more compact so that they can fit on the bench without too much over-crowding.

Ficus like lots of sunlight. I put the trees in an open space with full sun so the soil dries out quickly in the summer. I water the small pots about three times a week and the deeper pots twice a week. On very hot mornings, i give the leaves a light mist. There is new growth on every tree even though they are shaggy looking. They are very established and hardy plants so it's only a matter of time before they will look more consistently maintained. Once they are more healthy, I will change the soil, re-pot, and start fertilizing. It's exciting to be the care-taker of some of my Dad's plants. I am glad to be up to the task.