Jun 24 2017

Yosemite

Next day we took the short journey from the Taneya Lodge to Yosemite Park gate. We were early enough to beat the rangers to the booth 🙂 A drive upwards lead to Tunnel View and our first breath taking view of Yosemite Valley and it’s wonderful waterfalls, mountain views, and of course trees.

We made it down to the bottom of the valley and walked to Yosemite Falls. You can hear these Falls from all over the valley with water crashing down 2425 feet. We then took a hike up to Mirror lake. A beautiful walk through the woods accompanied by the mozzies! A walk back down and a quick lunch saw us visiting the meadow area to watch those crazy enough to climb up El Capitan.

To finish our day we drove out of the valley and made it Glacier Point for some stunning panoramic views of Yosemite. All that was left was to head back to the Lodge and swallow a few beers and toast some S’mores at the fire pit.

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Jun 23 2017

Giant Redwoods

After leaving Monterrey we headed West and down a little to take in the Giant Redwoods of Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park. This was an ‘add on’ to the trip as I had hoped to see the Giant Redwoods in the Maraposa Grove when we reached Yosemite. However, the Maraposa Grove was still closed and the only way I’d get to see some BIG trees was to drive a little more and hit up these guys.

The weather turned the closer we got to the park and it was a little wet and misty for our visit. At one point we drove up through the cloud on hairpin bends with 10 feet visability. Nearly as stressful as driving in the Bay area! 🙂 We broke through the cloud level and within a few bends we saw our first big Sequoiadendron Giganteum. I pulled over and got out for a first look and a hug. A special moment walking up to these trees for the first time. They make you feel insignificant and short lived.

We travelled on to the visitors centre at Sequoia National Park and took a walk to see some of the bigger trees and then over into Kings Canyon National Park to see some more. General Sherman and General Grant got a visit, the first and third largest living things in the world. I’ll be honest, a few of the other big boys nearby were better for me. Better shape, more character, hollow trunks etc. Everyone’s a critique.

Very hard to capture the awesomeness of these in a photo on a grey day. However, here are some of the shots I captured.

Jun 22 2017

The Amazing Point Lobos and That Other Place

When I was planning this trip of a lifetime I was in contact with many people about the best places to stop to see old growth trees. I managed to see most of them with a few escaping until the next trip of a lifetime. 🙂 One of my pointers was from Ryan Neil who said I HAD to make it to Point Lobos State Park for the Monterrey Cypress. Boy was he right! The Allan Grove in the Park is a magical place to walk and the photos just don’t do the wonder of the place justice. It’s a quiet spot, not to many people there on the paths so at many points you were on your own and able to soak it all in. The trees really tell a story of life on that coast with deadwood and character in abundance. Some amazing wild flowers and coastline as well, a great accent for the trees. Interesting to see the rust fungus on so many of the Cypress.

Now, the other place, which officially is called ‘the 17 mile drive’, is a, you guessed it, a 17 mile private road around the headland at Monterrey over looking the sea and Pebble Beach Golf Course. You pay $10 for the privilege of taking this drive and getting to see the famous Lone Cypress on the rock and the Ghost tree. As a tree person I found the lone tree a bit disappointing after Point Lobos and the Ghost tree was a dead one nearby. There were literally hundreds of better Cypress across the Bay at Point Lobos and entry to the State Park was also $10. The park also offers up much more in the way of scenery. So there you go, tourist tip of the day. Photos of all below. Some general shots from the park as well showing the coast and the Sealions on the rocks. I’ll put the Lone tree last for you to compare.

Jun 21 2017

Highway One

On our ‘Must See’ list for the West Coast was Highway One. Sadly due to a damaged bridge and a landslide, a major chunk of this iconic route was closed to us. We had stayed in Pismo Beach for a night and the next day we set off up Highway 101 straight to Monterrey with the plan to come back on ourselves down Highway one as far as we could go until we hit the road closed signs. What a good call this was, with some spectacular scenery to be seen. We made it as far as Big Sur before the road block stopped our progress. We stopped there for lunch to support the small local businesses that are struggling due to the road closures. We then turned and headed back towards Monterrey. My wife was keen to see Bixby Bridge and it was worth the trip just for that. Here’s some of the shots I captured along Highway one. The Highlight of this coastline was Point Lobos Sate Park, and the Monterrey Cypress, but more on that in the next post.

Jun 19 2017

Fuji Bonsai

After visiting Huntington Gardens I made the short trip over to Fuji Bonsai, Roy Nagatoshi’s place. There was a Saturday morning workshop in full flow but I was still made very welcome by Roy and the folk taking part. Below is my usual gallery. Hard to make out individual trees in most of them. The sun was shining strongly and the trees were really packed in there. An abundance of California Junipers many of which had been grafted. A stand out Pomegranate with a hollow trunk too.

How anyone grows trees in this heat and amount of UV light is beyond me. You’ll see many trees with the soil covered to help keep the heat off the roots. Species variety is limited here to what can stick the conditions. The guys were great, chatting away to me about conditions in this area, pretty much the opposite of what I have here at home! A great selection of starter trees as well as you’ll see in the photos. At this point I was starting to dream of Juniper deadwood at night 🙂

Jun 16 2017

Huntington Gardens – Chinese Garden

With so many photos to share, I’m going to break them down a little as I go. My visit, although brief, to Huntington Gardens, was a fantastic experience. Design wise the gardens are one of the best I’ve seen and everything looked in top condition. I got to visit both the Chinese and Japanese Gardens within Huntington as well as the Bonsai Exhibit, but more on that later. First up is the Chinese Garden. It was early in the morning and as the cloud cleared as I snapped away. Beautiful water features surrounded by bridges, buildings and great landscaping including some quality rock features. The detail in the paths alone impressed me.

There was a small display of bonsai/penjing , pretty much an after thought tucked away at the side of a path. A missed opportunity to create a Penjing display worthy of the garden. The Chinese Garden in in for a massive extension in the next few years. Perhaps a chance to rectify this? Here’s a gallery of what was on offer. The toad is real 🙂

May 28 2017

Bonsai Saturday

Yesterday I managed to fit in some bonsai here in LA. I had the opportunity to visit Huntington Gardens for a few hours and gallop around the Chinese and Japanese Gardens, and of course take in the bonsai display. Well worth a visit. I only wish I’d have had time to give the whole place a look over.

Next stop was Fuji Bonsai, Roy Nagatoshi’s nursery, cram-packed with trees and a great welcome from the guys and gals who were there for the Saturday morning workshop.

I then popped over to see Robert Pressler at Kimura Bonsai as he’d got in touch and kindly invited me to visit. I have loads of photos from all these places, but hotel wi-fi doesn’t want to play, so you’ll have to wait until I get back home, or a get better connection for the full run down.

May 28 2017

2017 Upstate New York 44th Exhibition Photos

Valavanis Bonsai Blog

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The 2017 Upstate New York Bonsai Exhibition opened yesterday and there was a great crowd. But better, Melvyn Goldstein from Cleveland, Ohio, brought 13 masterpiece satsuki from his collection to share with us. A special area was designed for this display which everyone enjoyed and appreciated the amount of time necessary to create these bonsai, maintain them and also display them with distinction. A few days ago he suddenly realized that all the Azaleas would not fit into the van he rented to bring them five hours from Cleveland, Ohio! But he has a good friend, Aaron, who also drove another vehicle to bring all the blossoming Satsuki for us to enjoy, and our members appreciated Mel’s effort and artistry.

Our club, now in its 45th year has approximately 120 people and represents a wide range of members, from rank beginners to award winning experts and professionals. Therefore all members…

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