BCSB Bonsai Display at Lotusland
The bonsai display in Lotusland’s Japanese Garden is a collaboration between Lotusland and the Bonsai Club of Santa Barbara. All trees in the display belong to Club members and are maintained and rotated by the Club on a regular basis. Below is a description of the trees currently on display.
Juniperus Chinensis Shinpaku – Informal Upright by Mark Britton
This ‘Shinpaku’ Juniper was grown by Keith Moore for 10 years from cutting, purchased by Mark Britton in 2023, brought back to health and restyled into its current state. It quickly became a favorite due to its branching, taper and illusion of scale.
Ficus Longifolia – Informal Upright by Jeff Sczechowski
Root Over Rock Style Willow Leaf Fig (ficus neriifolia)
This tree belongs to long-time Bonsai Club of Santa Barbara (BCSB) member Susanne Barrymore. Susanne started her bonsai practice in 1960. She was a student of the great John Naka who is renowned as the “Father of American Bonsai.” In 1971 she was one of the founding members of the Bonsai Club of Santa Barbara.
Susanne has created several exceptional trees over the years, perhaps most notably the grove of elms on permanent display at the National Bonsai Museum in Washington, DC. She also has a Zelkova grove on permanent display at the Huntington in San Marino. Both groves are planted on artificial rock slabs that she made by hand. Susanne also painted beautiful Japanese Sumi-e ink scrolls, several of which are currently on display at Legacy Art Santa Barbara on State Street.
Unfortunately, Susanne is no longer able to care for her bonsai at the age of 93. She entrusted this root over rock willow leaf fig to the club for its regular care and maintenance. Root over rock was one of her favorite bonsai styles.
I don’t know the entire history of this tree but I’m estimating that she created this composition 10 to 20 years ago with a tree that was 2 to 5 years old at the time.
Jeff Sczechowski
Sageretia Theezans- Informal Upright by Jeff Sczechowski
Sageretia theezans (sageretia, mock buckthorn, sweet-plum or Chinese sweet plum) is a subtropical evergreen shrub from the family Rhamnaceae, native to southern China. It is widely used for creating bonsai. Planted in a landscape, it can grow 7 to 10 ft high. In late summer yellowish white flower panicles can develop, followed by small blue fruit. The bark is quite smooth and dark brown with irregular patches peeling away in mid-summer, leaving light brown spots of young bark. It has been used in traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of hepatitis and fevers in Korea and China
I obtained this tree from the estate sale of the late great Bonsai Club of Santa Barbara President and accomplished painter, Tom Post, in 2019 and repotted it in 2020. Tom, may your memory live on in the worlds of art and bonsai through your paintings and your trees.
Tom likely acquired it from another bonsai practitioner, a nursery, or created it from a cutting. The estimated age of the tree is 10 – 15 years old.
Jeff Sczechowski
Blue Atlas Cedar- Informal Upright by Ernie Witham
This Blue Atlas Cedar Cedrus atlantica originally belonged to Gus Land, a longtime member of a Northern California club. Upon his death, his daughter inherited all his trees, most of which she donated to the California Bonsai Society. This is one she kept and cared for years until she asked me if I would take it in 2022. I nursed it back to health and longtime bonsai instructor, Ann Erb, helped me to reshape it. I repotted it in 2023 in this old Japanese pot.
Shimpaku – Informal Upright by Wally Kunimoto
The trunk is juniper San Jose, that I purchased from a nursery that was in a 5 gal. container about ten years ago (total age of trunk is at least 17 years). Most nursery grown plants have the base of the trunk covered with soil. To get a better view of the rootage at the base (nebari), I pulled it out of the container, removed the soil to expose the rootage and transplanted it such that I could see the nebari and trunk movement.
The foliage on the San Jose juniper seemed OK but I felt that a finer foliage would enhance the bonsai. So about seven years ago I scion grafted about seven kishu shimpaku to the major branches.
If you look carefully, you will notice a few places with a black tubing at the graft. A wire is twisted over the tubing. This was done to assure that the graft is not broken as the heavy wire was wound around the branch to bend it into position.