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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
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