A visit to Peter Macasieb’s shohin garden

Seeing photos ahead of time didn’t adequately prepare me for the literal wall of bonsai that greets visitors at Peter Macasieb’s garden.

Peter Macasieb’s garden

Peter has been a fixture in the Southern California bonsai scene for years. I’ve been wanting to see his collection up close and was excited to learn that I’d have the opportunity to visit on a recent trip to the area.

Peter’s wall of bonsai

Peter Macasieb

One thing that makes Peter special is that he creates many of the shohin he works with from scratch. Just across from “the wall” are several benches of young junipers, pines, and zelkova, among other species, that he’s been working on for years.

Pines and junipers

Young zelkova

Peter uses this material for workshops he hosts locally and at events like the California Shohin Seminar. As a grower, Peter is doing a fantastic job creating material that the shohin community is hungry for.

Peter’s Tokonoma

The sheer size of Peter’s collection makes it easy to miss how many different species he’s growing. It’d be fun to visit in winter to see the deciduous trees without leaves.

Zelkova

Japanese maple

Based on the material Peter’s currently working on, it looks like there will be a lot more special trees to see in his garden the next time I visit.

Shimpaku juniper

Olive

See an in-depth video tour of Peter’s garden on the Baikoen Bonsai Club’s YouTube channel. You can get in touch with Peter on FB or IG.

News & Updates

[Links to black pine videos]

• I recently had the opportunity to work with volunteers at the Huntington who were working on decandling. Check out videos of us covering decandling basics and pine cutback basics.