I have always been obsessed with the natural world, with life. As a child I immersed myself in the fields and streams of the Moutere valley. I would drop into some aspect of the ecosystem and voraciously devour any information that I could find (pre internet). Insects, birds, mammals, fish, rocks and plants were all of keen interest to me. I kept various animals and grew an increasing number of plants. I started experimenting with bonsai in my mid teens and early twenty’s. I only had a handful of trees as I was busy exploring and adventuring with my three fast growing boys. Sometimes when we were up a river or on a mountain somewhere I would smuggle a nice rock or two into their packs to be retrieved when we got home. I formally studied biology in my late twenties and really dropped into evolution. To me, to understand evolution is to understand the world. Well everything except why there is a there there at all which just hurts my brain. So I’ll let others work on that. As I got older and my children left home and procreated (grandad x 1 so far) I started to add to my bonsai collection. Thinking ahead and having a nursery I started to put down lines of trees and experiment with New Zealand natives as bonsai. I now have around a thousand bonsai in various staged of development. I am self taught and I continue to learn and evolve my understanding and techniques and my trees get better and more interesting each year. Wishing you all great enjoyment on your bonsai journey.

Che