West coast road trip recommendations?

[pitchpine]

Hi all,

I'm going to be joining a friend for part of his cross country read trip next month. The part of the drive I'll be along for will be Seattle south to LA, then east to El Paso. I'll be flying back home from Texas (couldn't take time off to do the whole thing), but he'll be continuing on to Boston. So thinking of using the opportunity to check out some good nurseries or collections, and hopefully pick up some supplies that are hard/expensive to come by here on the east coast.

We'll mostly be traveling down through the Route 5 corridor, but doing Route 1 for part of the way between San Francisco & LA, and with the possibility of doing sidetrips either east or west anywhere there is sufficient inducement.

Are there any must-see nurseries or public collections I should know of? And does anyone have recommendations for places to get a good deal on small-particle pumice, hard akadama, maybe even some of this "Cali-dama" stuff I've heard tell of?

Thanks in advance for any and all leads!

Laura

 

[sdavis]

recommendations include

Hi all,


Are there any must-see nurseries or public collections I should know of? And does anyone have recommendations for places to get a good deal on small-particle pumice, hard akadama, maybe even some of this "Cali-dama" stuff I've heard tell of?

Consider:
Japanese Garden in Seattle
Pacific Bonsai Collection in Federal Way, WA
Tsugawa Nursery, Woodland, WA
Japanese and Chinese Gardens in Portland, OR
Mirai Bonsai, St. Helens, OR
Garden World Nursery, Hubbard OR
Oregon Garden Conifer Collection, Silverton, OR
Wee Tree Bonsai at Garlands Nursery, Albany, OR

 

[bonsaibp]

Start at Dan Robinsons outside Seattle- then Michael Hagerdorn and Ryan Neil in Portland, then the GSBF Collection North and Grove Way in the bay area, come down 1 and the 101 and stop at Muranakas in Nipomo then down into LA where you can stop at Kimura (my place) Fuji, Yamaguchi, Chikugo-en and House of Bonsai.
Sure I missed some but this is a good start.

 

[PaulH]

Lotus Bonsai Nursery (east of Sacramento, open by appointment)
Maruyama Bonsai Nursery, Sacramento (only open in mornings)
Lone Pine Gardens, Sebastopol, CA

 

[bonsaiBlake]

Daybreak gardens in battle ground,wa. 3mi off I-5.Dave and Donna really ni e people. I posted about them. Search "finally going to a garden". They are by appt only (360)-6875641 And lokok upthe Portland bonsai village. Theres a large group of bonsai professionals in the Portland area and they offer full day or half day tours where you'll get to see and meet some of the best trees and artists in the country.