SCENES FROM THE HUNTINGTON’S NEWLY EXPANDED CHINESE GARDEN
The $25 million addition to Liu Fang Yuan — the Garden of Flowering Fragrance — recently opened it’s newest sections to the public. The Chinese Garden now covers 15 acres. Many of the buildings are not yet open, like the Studio For Lodging of the Mind, which will house Chinese art; the Jade Café; the Court of Assembled Worthies and the Flowery Brush Library, which will offer calligraphy: and a number of others. Penjing are on display throughout the garden, but the largest collection is at the Verdant Microcosm, with it’s white walls and artistic cutouts. I highly encourage a visit. You must register online, every other Tuesday for the next two weeks. Here are some photos from my recent visit. Ernie
MEMBER’S TREES: ERNIE WITHAM
My grandkids bought me a bonsai one year for my birthday. It consisted of a rock mountain and a juniper in a green glazed pot. It was probably already pot bound, but I kept it the way it was for a couple of years. Finally, I knew I had to repot it. I also had another rock mountain that I purchased at Bonsai-a-Thon years earlier, and several other small rocks. And I had a slab that I got from Susanne Barrymore. So I decided to incorporate all these elements, including another small juniper from a cutting I had. The rock was cemented into the pot and took a bit of persuasion with a hammer and screwdriver to remove. I used muck to hold the larger rocks in place. I positioned the original tree between the two peaks and the other small juniper behind the peak on the left. I used red scoria as the soil and later robbed moss from a bunch of my other trees to make the landscape. I have since done some trimming and wiring and I have kept the moss quite wet so that it would root. Interestingly, I went out this morning and birds had dug through all the moss looking for breakfast. I quickly replaced it and I’m now thinking of adding a small scarecrow. Ernie