Seeing photos ahead of time didn’t adequately prepare me for the literal wall of bonsai that greets visitors at Peter Macasieb’s garden.

Peter Macasieb’s garden

Peter has been a fixture in the Southern California bonsai scene for years. I’ve been wanting to see his collection up close and was excited to learn that I’d have the opportunity to visit on a recent trip to the area.

Peter’s wall of bonsai

Peter Macasieb

One thing that makes Peter special is that he creates many of the shohin he works with from scratch. Just across from “the wall” are several benches of young junipers, pines, and zelkova, among other species, that he’s been working on for years.

Pines and junipers

Young zelkova

Peter uses this material for workshops he hosts locally and at events like the California Shohin Seminar. As a grower, Peter is doing a fantastic job creating material that the shohin community is hungry for.

Peter’s Tokonoma

The sheer size of Peter’s collection makes it easy to miss how many different species he’s growing. It’d be fun to visit in winter to see the deciduous trees without leaves.

Zelkova

Japanese maple

Based on the material Peter’s currently working on, it looks like there will be a lot more special trees to see in his garden the next time I visit.

Shimpaku juniper

Olive

See an in-depth video tour of Peter’s garden on the Baikoen Bonsai Club’s YouTube channel. You can get in touch with Peter on FB or IG.

News & Updates

[Links to black pine videos]

• I recently had the opportunity to work with volunteers at the Huntington who were working on decandling. Check out videos of us covering decandling basics and pine cutback basics.

A couple of years ago, Andrew Robson and I hosted a Winter Shohin School in Milwaukie, Oregon featuring headliner Daisaku Nomoto from Japan. The event is coming to Northern California next month!

The 2026 Winter Shohin School will be held at Lincoln Park’s Harrison Recreation Center in Alameda, California, on January 31st and February 1st.

Daisaku demonstrating shohin juniper creation
(photo by Aki Yamakawa)

Attendees will learn shohin display basics on Saturday and get a chance to practicing setting up displays with their own trees.

Student display practice
(photo by Aki Yamakawa)

Andrew and Jonas setting up a display
(photo by Aki Yamakawa)

Sunday will focus on creating shohin bonsai. In a change from the last two events, we’re providing trees for ten workshops! Material will include pre-bonsai hand-selected from Bonsaify specifically for development as shohin. Species include winterberry, cork elm, black pine, olive, chojubai, narrow leaf ficus, crabapple, and zelkova.

Zelkova

Black pine

Crabapple

Olive

Willow leaf ficus

Winterberry

Registration is required for entry – the event is not open to the public. Registrants may participate in all lectures and workshops and shop with our vendors. Space is limited to 50 attendees.

To register online and to see more photos of the workshop trees, visit the Shohin School registration page.

News & Updates

[Northern California Sale & Auction]

• Now’s the time to participate in next year’s Mammoth Fundraiser hosted by the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt. To submit trees for the auction or to sell (or donate) material at the sale, visit the BGLM website.

[Online Bonsai Competition]

• Be sure to vote this weekend in the Bonsaigers’ X 2025 online bonsai competition on Instagram. This year’s judges include Walter Pall, Todd Schlafer, and Matsusue Koji. Each judge gets one point per round, and the winner of the popular vote gets two points. We’re two rounds in with a couple more rounds to go. The next round of voting opens this weekend – join in via the Bonsaigers’ stories in Instagram.