to The Bonsai Learning Center's Nursery Tour Part I. This is the entrance gate to our garden. Just inside the entrance you can see a red Japanese maple. The Center is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Year round.

Here's a better shot of that Japanese Maple just inside the entrance gate. The green spreading plant which you see on the ground is a single, one gallon Japanese garden juniper which was planted in that location just 5 years ago.

To the right of the entrance you can many of our growing benches. The benches were designed by one of our students in Minnesota and provide a handsome staging area for finished bonsai. All trees with the exception of material in growing cans, are kept off the ground.

A close up of the Japanese Garden juniper seen in the previous photo. This juniper was collect as a foundation planting and has been in training as a bonsai for almost 20 years. We live on the grounds of the nursery and our private residence can be seen in the background.

Here's a view of a shade house which we built about 2 years ago. Many of the more tender species of bonsai require some protection from the very hot North Carolina summer sunshine. The shade house has a covering of 50 percent shade cloth.

Just to the left of the new shade house are pedestals which contain three of the juniper bonsai in our personal collection.

Here's a bit closer shot of the shade house. The tree in the foreground is a Yapon Japanese holly which was collected as a foundation planting. When we acquired the tree 5 years ago, it did not have any branches.... but it did have a dynamite trunk which measures about 8 inches at the base.

A view inside the shade house (on a sunny day). Many of the Japanese maples and azaleas are kept in this area as are several of the plantings on rocks.

Another shot of the shade house interior. In the foreground is a Trident maple forest grouping on a stone slab. in the background are two Ginnela maples.

One of our favorite personal bonsai is this Japanese black pine (mikawa variety). It stands about 18 inches tall and has been in training as a bonsai for almost 25 years. A kusomono grass planting is sitting in front of it.

Here's a shot of the garden in fall. The tree in the foreground is a Trident maple which has since been transplanted into a much shallower container. The tree measures 7 inches at its base. The pot shed and studio building can be seen in the background.

Here's another shade house which we use to protect tender trees from the summer sunshine.

A Chinese flowering quince in fall color. Behind it, a forest of collected Black Hills spruce and another Trident maple.

This is simply Japanese blood grass planted in a low tray. The figurine with the boy and the water buffalo give the feeling of a rice patty in southeast asia.

We call this "the swimming pool," but its actually two water tables which hold about 2 inches of water each. We made them ourselves using regular pool liners and plywood from Home Depot. The higher table drains into the lower one, which then drains into a large Chinese water pot which contains the pump that circulates the water back up to the higher table.

Another view of the water tables with the pot shed in the background. Please note that we do not sit the bonsai directly in the water. They are all on stones or bricks which allows them to benefit from the high humidity of the water pool, but does not allow them to become waterlogged.

Our Japanese pussycat is made of hand cut granite and hides amid a clump of dwarf bamboo which grows at the base of one of our bonsai benches.