by George Buehler

How would you like to purchase a Yatsabusa Elm? How about a Balkan pine? These are just two of the species that will be available at Greg Hollander's Tiny Tree Farm. Our field trip this month will be a short drive over to the Evansville area where we will visit Hollander's Tiny Tree Farm and then visit Dave Bogan's greenhouse. Directions can be found on page two. In view of the gas prices, I would strongly suggest that people car pool or truck pool. We will meet at the Ramada Inn at Zorn and River Road at 9 AM to form our car pool. Those of you who will be driving alone, please see directions where we will meet up before going to Greg's. For those of you who will be driving in a car, a number of us will have trucks or SUV's and can transport your purchases back to Louisville if you don't have room.

Greg Hollander does not make his living growing trees for bonsai. This is something that he started several years ago, and it has grown into his getting an Indiana nursery license. He grows most of his trees from seeds or cuttings. At any one time you may find several hundred starts or trees at his nursery. You can get trees in several size nursery pots, some put into bonsai pots or pick one from the many he has planted in the field.

Every year he plants trees in the ground to let them mature. If you find one you like during our field trip, Greg will mark it and hold it until next spring, at which time he will dig it up for you to transport home.

Prices that Greg charges are very, very reasonable. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. On top of the reasonable prices, Greg says that he will also have a sale on a number of items for our visit. In addition, Greg will hold one drawing for all who attend for $50 worth of trees (and based on some of Greg's prices, that will be a lot of trees). There also may be some free starters since Greg wants to reduce his inventory. Greg also plans to have refreshments and light snacks when we arrive. To help Greg plan on how much refreshments to have available, please let me know if you plan on taking this field trip (228-8545) so that I can let Greg have an approximate number. This will not be a firm commitment, just to give us an idea on the number to anticipate.

I think Greg has done everything possible to make our field trip an enjoyable and beneficial field trip

Our next stop will be Dave Bogan's greenhouse (there will be nothing for sale at this stop unless you can convince Dave to sell you one of his collection). Last month I reported that Dave had about 300 trees in his collection. Well, to maintain accuracy, Dave said that he didn't have that many trees. He only had about 200 and also stated that some were pre bonsai - not all finished trees. Anybody who can maintain (and water) 200 trees, whether finished or pre bonsai, has my admiration. I know I am looking forward to seeing Dave's setup and learning from his vast experiences.

Don't forget that our next show will be at Hidden Hill Nursery on October 1. I hope to get the October newsletter out early next month so that I can give you more information; but, just in case, this will be a one day show at Hidden Hill in Utica, IN. Look back at your Sept 2004 newsletter for directions to Hidden Hill Nursery. The nursery opens at 9 and we should have our trees there by about 8. We plan on having some stands to sit the trees on, and Hidden Hill has a rock garden area where some trees can be placed. This is the first time we will hold our show at Hidden Hill, so we don't know what to expect. However, it should be a fun day, so get your trees ready for exhibiting. Bob Hill (the owner and a feature writer for the Courier Journal) is just as humorous in person as he is in the paper, and he is knowledgeable in plants and plant care.

July and August were tough months for my trees. I still can't believe the number of days without rain as well as the record number of days in the 90's. I'm sure that our trees have been under stress, and hopefully you gave them more watering attention (and perhaps shade) than usual. We will have to wait until next year to see if there is any permanent damage.

I attended the Midwest Bonsai Society's Fall Show this month. They have a great venue in the Chicago Botanic Garden. There were about 16 workshops, 11 vendors and quite a few attendees in this three day event. The Botanic Garden has a fantastic Japanese garden and a lot of tree varieties. If you get to Chicago, I recommend that you allow some time to visit the garden.