A Trip to an English Bonsai Nursery,
by Jean Charing
First let me say that I am a novice when it comes to bonsai. I joined the club only a few years ago and I am now thoroughly enjoying my hobby. Until late last September my only opportunity to view live bonsai had been the Toronto Bonsai Club's Show and club meetings when members brought in their trees. So it was with excitement and anticipation that I looked forward to my visit to Herons Bonsai Nursery owned by Peter & Dawn Chan in England. Their nursery, located in Sussex, is just a few miles off the south side of the M25, the London orbital, hidden from view down a small country lane.
The September afternoon was intermittently hazy and sunny, but dry and most pleasant. Since the fall is not the busy season for a garden centre visit, I made arrangements for my visit via email and was rewarded by warm welcome from both Peter and his wife, Dawn. I had the whole place to myself and they allowed me free run of the nursery, greenhouses, their small park with large koi pond and the sales barn which contains an unbelievable display of pots. There were literally, thousands of them stack several layers high on shelves from floor to ceiling, row upon row. Peter also runs a Japanese landscape design business which supports the bonsai nursery. So, he also sells a large selection of Japanese stone lanterns and basins, some of them weighing in at over four tons. Not something you can bring back with you on the plane.
But back to the bonsai, I felt like a kid let loose in a candy store, but not allowed to sample and buy. Oh, the agony! Paul says the best time to visit is in the spring and that maybe true, but I was rewarded with many trees in full fall colour, especially the maples and Paul has many as you can see from the photos below. Maples are his favourites, but he carries many species of trees, everything from cold hardy wild pines to tropical Ficus, native material to unusual imports. A good portion of his stock is imported, especially the maples, but he also grows a considerable quantity of his own material and even has some collected material from the moors. Needless to say, I spent a glorious three hours wandering around, taking pictures, dreaming and wishing we had something like this at home.
Enjoy the pictures below, but to really appreciate the maples you should check the website to see just how glorious the maples were in their fall colours. Also it is easier to distinguish between the different trees when you view them in colour.
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