Boon’s garden

Bay Island Bonsai’s annual barbecue last weekend offered ample opportunity to wander through the marvel that is Boon’s garden. There are trees everywhere representing different sizes, shapes, styles and varieties of bonsai.

 Boon’s garden

Small and medium-sized bonsai

As Boon’s garden is not open to the public, BIB events and Boon’s Intensives are among the best ways to visit. One tree worth checking out is one of the larger specimens in the garden, a massive Sierra juniper.

Big juniper

As many of the trees in Boon’s garden are collected, rebar is a common sight. Collected trees often go through significant transformations, and rebar is a useful tool in this transformation.

Rebar on a juniper

Accent plants fill many of the gaps between trees, as do a variety of fun non-bonsai-related specimens.

Pitcher plants

Pine foliage is never far away.

Pine foliage

Likewise, trees at every stage of development. Some of these are in their first bonsai containers awaiting initial styling.

Olives

Other trees are fresh from the field.

Black pines

After spending enough time in Boon’s garden, these undeveloped specimens begin to resemble trees we’d like to show. Here’s a black pine that’s about 20 years old after no more than 10 years of training.

Black pine

Of course, there are many refined bonsai too.

Red pine

Shimpaku saikei

In all, there are more trees than one can rationally catalogue in a day. I hope you enjoyed this glimpse!