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Beginning with Bonsai Today no. 92 I had seen an ad for a bonsai nusery in Modesto California. The ad said Blueoak Nursery. A mere 1.5 hours drive from my house. I had planned on taking in this nursery at the earliest oppertunity, but due to the holidays I was not able to make it. The ad reappeard in issue 93 and I though "good" this is a good thing. I see ads come and go, and I thought that two issues represented about 5 months so that was reassuring.
Issue no. 94. Full color ad and half a page. This guy must be serious. I could not put this off any longer. A quick phone call to Brad Coleman verifying his address and hours. I intended to talk for a mere minute. I talked for nearly an hour. This guy is a wonderful man. Has many great ideas for the future, and wants to make me a part of them. That was a great bonus. We will be working on a private bonsaiTALK picnic/workshop this spring. I have taken many photos and will post a few here. If there is interest for more I can post them.
The nursery is outside of Modesto, about 10 miles. It is located on a wonderful piece of property on the Toulemne River. There is a canal that feeds a creek on his property and there is a dam regulating the small creek that runs through the picnic/workshop area. The nursery at the present time is run by Brad and his small son. His son, Blake is quite the salesman himself, selling my wife several handpainted mexican articulated gourds.She bought these as gifts for co-workers. We arrived at the nursery around 9:30 in the AM after stopping for breakfast in Merced.
We were greeted by some wonderful trees while walking up to the nursery, he has a parking lot outside of the actual nursery. The trees had signs that had been carved with a router sometime after the war. The house there was brought in after the war also. All the trees on the property have signs telling yoiu what the trees are. This tree was a curly willow. As I approached the inner nursery I was greeted by Brad and his son. I also was greeted by a rather huge yellow lab, but his tail was wagging and he was a real lover. This huge fountain was at the entrance and was covered by junipers, rather large junipers at that.
As we started in, Brad told me about the property and what I could expect to find here. We were by ourselves at thsi point, so Brad was able to walk and talk for a while. We started out by taking in the pot house. Pot house, I can here the snickers already, yes this was a house, equiped with kitchen, bathrooms and everything.