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I
became a retail nursery officially in September 2002.
Since the late 1980’s I have been a grower of Bonsai
stock trees.
Firstly on my brother-in-law’s lychee property, then at
Morayfield when we moved here in 1993. At that time I
had about 60
Bonsai trees of my own and realised that in my lifetime,
they would never achieve the aged status I was seeking.
The trees
that appealed to me the most in the books I read were
the trees that had been collected from the mountains. (Yamadori).
Since the
mountains west of Brisbane (the Great Dividing Range)
don’t yield the much sought after Pines or Junipers I
was craving, I decided I would have to grow my own wild
trees that I could then work on after they had achieved
some
age and potential. The good old fig tree could always be
rescued from gutters, fence posts and rocky areas. I
read some
books where I learned that in Japan and China, they have
fields of trees growing that are especially developed
for the
use in the art of Bonsai. This is what encouraged me to
become a grower of suitable trees.
I have been
lucky enough to see some of these fields in Japan in
1993 and again on a recent trip to China. Selby (the
long suffering, but still smiling husband) and I have
been members of Bonsai clubs since 1983. Selby’s main
interests lie
in Suiseki, (rocks of interesting character) orchids and
gardening in general. Our nursery is surrounded by our
Aussie
garden with a hint of the orient. I am grateful to these
clubs because over the years they have brought overseas
artists
to our shores and these people have shared their
knowledge and experiences with us. They have been a
great place to
meet like minded folks, many I count as friends.
The nursery
has grown out of this passion, friends gather here to
share our love of Bonsai and we all learn from
each other. This passion and knowledge we are happy to
share with you so you too can enjoy the art. My
philosophy is
that ‘you are here for a good time, not a long time’ and
doing the art of Bonsai takes me to a good place inside
myself.
I hope this makes me a better person
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