Hello from Washington State

[Cilrah]

Hi there. I’m totally new to Bansai and might’ve picked a hard tree to start with. I got a 12” Jacaranda tree for my first project. First challenge is going to be the environment here in Washington. I know it’s going to be an indoor tree for most of the year. Does anyone have an experience with starting a Jacaranda? Thanks for any help that you can provide.

 

[pandacular]

Welcome! Washington is a great place to do bonsai, as there's tons of excellent resources and a really strong community here. I don't have experience with tropicals, but my house plant ficuses stay outside until the end of August usually and they THRIVE with our long summer days.

What part of the state are you in? We've got some pretty diverse climates, so it will help others here if you add a location (it can be approximate) and USDA hardiness zone to your profile.

 

[Cilrah]

Welcome! Washington is a great place to do bonsai, as there's tons of excellent resources and a really strong community here. I don't have experience with tropicals, but my house plant ficuses stay outside until the end of August usually and they THRIVE with our long summer days.

What part of the state are you in? We've got some pretty diverse climates, so it will help others here if you add a location (it can be approximate) and USDA hardiness zone to your profile.

Hi Pandacular. I’m in Port Orchard, on the peninsula just across the Narrows Bridge. I agree with you there’s a lot of resources here in Washington, especially Elandan Gardens. Dan Robinson has some amazing trees there, some as old as 1200-2000 yrs old. If you haven’t been there check it out.

 

[pandacular]

Dan's presence on your side of the Sound reverberates through the community, you're very lucky to be so close! I would recommend learning as much from him and his students as possible. There's someone else on here from your part of town who has studied with Dan and worked on his trees; I'm forgetting their handle, but hopefully they'll pop up in the thread.

I haven't been to Elandan Gardens yet, but I will as soon as I have a free weekend day to myself!

 

[Cilrah]

Dan's presence on your side of the Sound reverberates through the community, you're very lucky to be so close! I would recommend learning as much from him and his students as possible. There's someone else on here from your part of town who has studied with Dan and worked on his trees; I'm forgetting their handle, but hopefully they'll pop up in the thread.

I haven't been to Elandan Gardens yet, but I will as soon as I have a free weekend day to myself!

I sat and talked with Dan for like an hour. He’s more than a wealth of knowledge. And, his trees are out of this world.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

Hi there. I’m totally new to Bansai and might’ve picked a hard tree to start with. I got a 12” Jacaranda tree for my first project. First challenge is going to be the environment here in Washington. I know it’s going to be an indoor tree for most of the year. Does anyone have an experience with starting a Jacaranda? Thanks for any help that you can provide.

Hello and welcome! Do you have pictures of the tree to share?

 

[Cilrah]

Hello and welcome! Do you have pictures of the tree to share?

Thanks and I’ll post a picture in the morning

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

Welcome fellow Washingtonian. I'm not a tropical guy but i do like me some Japanese Maple and Azalea. Anything really that will survive the winter outside.
I've seen Dan at a club meeting but have yet to make it to his place. Very interesting guy. If you have some room outside have you thought of starting some hardy plants? During the winter they just sleep and seeing them come to life in spring always feels refreshing and new. Good luck with your tree.

 

[pandacular]

there's a lot of puget sound people on here, we should make a board at some point

 

[Cilrah]

Here’s my little Jacaranda tree. Any ideas on where to start?

 

[Kievnstavick]

Welcome aboard!

I am up in the Bremerton area as well as a handful of other people on here. I am a student of the Ridgeways, who themselves were students of Dan.

I grow tropicals from seeds that I collected in Hawaii while I was there for work. I don't have any experience with Jacaranda unfortunately.

 

[Cilrah]

Welcome aboard!

I am up in the Bremerton area as well as a handful of other people on here. I am a student of the Ridgeways, who themselves were students of Dan.

I grow tropicals from seeds that I collected in Hawaii while I was there for work. I don't have any experience with Jacaranda unfortunately.

Hi Kievnstavick. Were you working in Hawaii or stationed there. I was stationed in Hawaii back in the 80’s for almost 3 years. I’m going to learn all i can from Dan while here.

 

[Kievnstavick]

I was sent there to work for a few months. I work for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

 

[Cilrah]

Okay cool. I was wondering when the Regan was coming to Bremerton, id love to see it come in. I would have joined the Navy but there was only an Army recruiter in my hometown, so i did 23 yrs in the Army.

 

[Kievnstavick]

That's not information I can provide for you, unfortunately. National Security of fleet movements and all. I can tell you of a ship is there or not, but not when they plan to arrive or leave. I am a machinist anyways, so I don't pay too much attention to what boats are here unlike the crews that actually work inside them.

Just keep an eye out. The local businesses and news papers tend to mention it ahead of time (despite that being classified information).

 

[Cilrah]

That's not information I can provide for you, unfortunately. National Security of fleet movements and all. I can tell you of a ship is there or not, but not when they plan to arrive or leave. I am a machinist anyways, so I don't pay too much attention to what boats are here unlike the crews that actually work inside them.

Just keep an eye out. The local businesses and news papers tend to mention it ahead of time (despite that being classified information).

Oh ya i totally understand that and wouldn’t expect you to. I also understand about information pertaining to ship movements, no different then unit movements in the Army