Today I’m actually not in my garden as You can see it’s a travel Vlog a bonsai Vlog so I’m going to come away from this Type of shot and switch to more of this Kind of shot so this morning I traveled From Belfast City to Gatwick Airport Here in London as we are right now we’re In the outskirts of London in a place Called Surrey lingfield and here on this Very Street here is hiron’s Bonsai Nursery I’ve actually been here before Last year whenever I created a Documentary about Bonsai the beauty or The value of a particular tree is Reflected on the price why does a bonsai Command so much money 20 30 000 is not Uncommon and more I’ll leave a link to That in the description if you want to Check it out whilst I was filming the Documentary on my first visit to herons I filmed an interview with Peter where He introduced himself and talked a Little bit about his life but I couldn’t Make it into the final cut of my Documentary because the documentary had To be quite short so here in this video I’m going to share with you that Interview well I’m Peter Chan and I’m Known as Mr Bonsai in the UK and I’ve Been doing Bonsai since 1967. first as a hobby and then as a Business from about 1986
So I may not look it but I’m 81 years of Age and this is my third career I’m an immigrant of Chinese ethnicity But my grandfather went to India of all Places in the days of the British Empire To start a business so he was in the Carpentry business growing tea trees and Making furniture and my father was a Electrical engineer he went from India To Milwaukee to study engineering But unfortunately my father died when I Was about six years old and I followed Father’s Footsteps and I too trained as An electrical engineer from one of the Top engineering universities in India And I came here in 1990 no 1963 To work as an engineer so the first 10 And a half years I worked in the Electricity industry designing power Stations look looking after the Distribution Systems in big cities like London and the south of England Different places and from there I went On to the Department of energy as an Energy policy advisor so in the mid 70s I was working on North Sea oil and gas Projects and then electricity Call nuclear and all sorts of other jobs Related to a government Department that Looks after energy But it was while doing that job that for Various reasons I don’t want to go into That I decided that I should quit my Nine to five job and do something I
Really enjoy and of course what I Enjoyed most was doing Bonsai so I Literally chucked everything up and with A young family my children were only Like 10 and 12. I gave all that up and Started A very precarious business on this Disuse site of course now it all looks Modern but when I bought it it was a Derelict a small holding with Greenhouses which were about 40 50 years Old from before the war And then in the big storm of 1987 Everything collapsed and we started Again but despite that my sheer hard Work I’ve developed the nursery to what It is today And I enjoy doing my work and this is What gives me great pleasure and I feel A very narrow niche in the Horticultural Market growing and selling Bonsai but What is more significant in my life is That I enjoy what I do so this is the Story of my life this is the entrance Whenever you arrive at huron’s Bonsai Nursery there’s a sign as you come in Welcoming you now though they’re closed Here today I just had a chat with Peter And he said it’s okay for me to come in And film around the nursery just Immediately as you come in you see Bonsai trees and they’re just really Spectacular looking look at this one Like maple
And as it’s Autumn right now well Early Autumn look at the Autumn color that’s Coming on this beautiful Maple here [Music] [Music] See right from here Whole way up the trunk Look at this big maple it’s got a twin Trunk That autumn colors are just coming in This is a big Juniper here but it’s got The needle foliage Juniper squamada Look at that the age on the trunk This section of the nursery is all the Indoor trees Ficus would probably be my Favorite indoor species to work on as They’re a lot more tolerant to Overwatering and underwater and get all The aerial roots coming down into the Soil foreign S down here Wow look at these pots I’m gonna Detailing this one I’ve never seen so many Bonsai pots in One place [Music] Foreign [Music] So this area with the shade netting has A bunch of azaleas to get something like This the tree would need to be grown in The ground for years and years Check out this one look at the taper on
That look at that navari This looks like the the roots are Gripping the soil the pot These are some Dawn redwoods There’s just so much to show like look At all this over here this is the Heron Center Which was opened by Lord Harris of Peckham on 8th October 2011. like a Japanese garden over this way which I’ll Show you in a moment but just look at That Maple there Just imagine that earlier and you could Take off this over here is the famous Three Pines What is this [Music] Thank you [Music] The rooms in this place are really cozy Back from heroins are going to be going There again tomorrow morning for a Workshop with Peter Chan [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh This is Alcova Serrata As well see how different the colors Yeah that is a 50 year old tree In fact it could be more I’ve imported
It maybe in 1995 or so [Music] If you want to turntable there are Several turntables [Music] [Music] [Music] So we finished the workshop with Peter There and now we’re just taking the time To explore around the nursery and have a Look at all of the trees where are you From Belgium just finished Peter’s Workshop as well what do you think very Nice yeah very nice it’s very I watched A lot of videos in this from this place So I see the real life you see the trees That you see on on the internet but it’s Way more impressed when you see it in Real life yeah I think even when I at Home I take pictures of my trees to you Know see the progress yeah every time I Take a picture I think uh in real life You it looks way better and stuff and You can really see it here as well yeah It’s very nice yes how did you get Started in Bonsai uh well I started Growing a little oak tree but not it was It was supposed to be a bonsai but I Grew it in a pot so I I looked of stuff About uh you know wrong Bonsai yeah or Growing tree actually but the most most Of the stuff you find on growing trees And pottses or Bonsai based and then I Got direct more into the aesthetic of
Bonsai and that’s a that’s a Foreigns I got a few things I got this Bag here which is full of seeds because I’ve tried to get seeds for this Pine For a very long time and they’re really Hard to get this is Japanese White Pine Also known as pinus parve Flora it is Probably my favorite of all Pines but in This pine cone here the seeds are inside And the little compartments so if I Leave this to dry out a little more the Pine cone will open and the seeds will Be a lot easily accessed this is a bunch Of crab apples so it’s basically little Tiny apples so Crabapple is a great Species to use because it grows these Little tiny apples on it and they look Very much like the bigger apples that You would see in larger trees they’ve Even got that red and yellow texture on Them so inside these apples is the seeds For them and they’re edible also so I Guess you could make crab apple jam and Have little tiny jars of bonsai Jam I do Know crab apples are quite better in Taste I’m gonna eat this one I’m gonna give it A go I’m gonna go wash it first All right there it is nice and washed This is my first time tasting a crab Apple Oh my goodness that really tart Those definitely taste like an apple And then inside you can see these little
Seeds and the final seed that I Collected at herons today were these Little tiny Acer parmatum maple seeds And now moving on to the items that I Purchased first one here is a little Block on it it’s just called a universal Cleaner if I open this it’s got a Slightly coarse texture to it but this Is just for rubbing on the Bonsai tool To remove any sap that may be built up On it not to be confused with a Sharpening stone that’s different again That’s for sharpening until one of these Things will not sharpen your tools the Next item is this box right here this is Just some cut Putty for any big cuts That you make on trees we use this stuff This next item is a tool on one end it’s Got this nice shape for digging under The size of pot to get our trees that Are stuck and on the other end it’s a Pair of tweezers not a necessary but Quite a useful tool when it comes to Bonsai and because these are made of Stainless steel it’s not gonna Bend I Have a pair of tweezers that I used Quite frequently and from picking things Up and sometimes Bend and pulling things Off branches the end of the tweezers Tends to bend outward because it’s not That strong of a metal and these I can’t Even bend these with my hands so they’re Going to be great and the final item That I purchased is this book once I
Master class the definitive chapter by Peter Chan and earlier today Peter took The time to give it a sign I’ve been Reading through this book since I got Back from the nursery and there’s a lot Of really great advice in this for Someone who’s just starting off in Bonsai and even up to Advanced and it Really covers a lot of the aspects of Bonsai from like grown from seeds to Cottons air layer ends and then really Goes under specific species what kind of Seeds you can stratify and stuff like That I’m not gonna give it all away but I do think it’s great it’s just come Under that time of day now when the sun Set in Golden hour so before I left Heron’s Bonsai Nursery earlier this Evening I was talking to Peter and I’m Gonna help him film a video in the Nursery today at 7 30. the nursery is Way back that way and I took a walk way Up this road just to sort of explore the Area before we do some film and we’re Gonna go out for some food Peter’s just Grabbing the car and [Music] It came from it’s actually five rooms Very colorful red We had some Indian food last night and Oh my goodness I don’t think I’ve ever Tasted Indian food so good in my life Just so much flavor and you could tell That all of the ingredients were Super
Fresh massive thank you to Peter for Taking me to that Indian place and we Didn’t get round to film in the video Yesterday because we ended up being at The restaurant so late I’ve agreed to go And film it this morning at 9 30 and it Is currently 9 20. so I’ve got 10 Minutes to get the herons Bonsai which Actually isn’t so bad because it’s like A one minute walk from here This particular tree is over 500 years Old wow check out that maple This is a Japanese maple but 80 years Old So this is the main Workshop of herons This is the desk in which most of the Trees are styled at it’s always really Good to work with a white background so You can see the silhouette of the tree [Music] But I still have to take a decision I Can’t do that forever So that is one option There’s one branch Sticker which this one is Thicker Than This is This is the tree Peter’s working on it’s A great big squamara Juniper it’s about 40 years old right now it’s been in this Pack for such a long time I’m just Collecting some Elm seeds from this Great big Elm Outdoors here on the Nursery just gonna flip the camera Around you see here this is the the elm
Leaf here and on the tree there’s Thousands and thousands of these tiny Little seeds See here these is actually the Gruen Fields here at herons you can see some Maples here they’re already placed in The big pots just to grow them strong And if I go through this way you can see There’s just lots and lots of Maples Here that are ready to become great Bonsai so maybe this Maple that’s this Tall would be cut to here as a stump and Allowed to grow branches in the future And all this isn’t in vain this is just To get the tree the thickness that it is Now it’s great big apple trees It’s almost like an orchard here so all These are the growing Fields over here So when I said earlier in the Vlog that All the maples are manufactured and Grown from nothing here from cuttings And seeds this is all of them in Development look at the beautiful leaves On these Maples this is a great big tree That’s planted in the ground look at These little helicopters that float off The tree when they fall So that’s the house we were starting at Yesterday and there’s the three Pines These Pines like this take a lot of work Because every year the candles need to Be pruned in order to keep the tree from Growing out of control Got a plane up there behind me there’s
More Maples Check this out Seeds everywhere does some research Online to see if I can take a tree home Much like this in my bag because there’s A tree that I worked on yesterday at the Workshop I’m gonna try it there’s Nothing online that says that you can’t Take a tree like this and I said if you Take a tree and it’s not in the bag it Will count as an extra part like an Extra bag I put it in this bag like this And rearrange the branches when I get Back home [Music] How are you today yeah Past security and the bonsai trees are In this bag so we made it through and Turns out trees are allowed there is one Thing that they stopped me about which Was the cut paste then when you opened It it looked like a block of drugs so They had to test it and swab it and make Sure that it wasn’t the block of drugs But they realized that it was cut paste Because on the box it’s all Japanese Calligraphy and letters so you wouldn’t Even know what is inside it so I had to Explain what cup paste was to the guy That’s like behind the counter and it’s Really light so he’s really struggling To hear it was just a crazy experience But yeah really surreal experience Foreign
[Music] Guys have it that was my trip to Heron’s Bonsai Nursery before I end this video I Just want to say a massive massive thank You to first of all Peter Chan and all The staff at Heron’s Bonsai Nursery for The very kind welcome and amazing Hospitality I have now placed the trees That I got from herons into some pots And they’ll stay in this until next Spring so this is the little dwarf Spruce or paisia and this one is the Little Juniper that we worked on please Let me know in the comments what you Thought of this video as a bonsai Vlog And leave a like if you enjoyed it and On that thank you so very much for Watching [Music] Foreign [Music]
