We are now in Sylvania

 

We are now in Sylvania

Times available by appointment only

Call or e-mail us to visit our farm to make your selection.

Make and Take your own little tree September 16, 2023

$53.50

Saturday

September 16, 2023

Make and take home your own little tree as you learn the history and techniques of growing beautiful Tropical Bonsai with expert Luigi Trapani.

Make and Take a Bonsai Class at Bonsai Beginnings (Tropical Trees)

Register

Cost: $53.50 per person- includes soil, wire, and use of bonsai tools.

Then purchase the bonsai tree and bonsai pot of your choice at the class

Various aged trees appropriately sized pots are available. 

Bring a picnic lunch. 

Sunday 17 June 2018

Schefflera arboricola

Hawaiian Schefflera

 Umbrella Tree

Coastal Bonsai Study Group

Our next Gathering

Sunday 17 June 2018

2:30 PM

 under the Oak.

Median Last Freeze Dates for Southeast SC and Southeast GA

The National Weather Service in Charleston SC has resumed the

frost and freeze program for Southeast SC and Southeast GA.

Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar munching on a Serissa

Caterpie munching on a Serissa

Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar is green with eyespots.

Serissa are a popular bonsai subject

Serissa grow best in high light and thrive in sunny, warm locations. Better lighting conditions will result in more frequent flowering. Serissa does well in partial shade. Best results are from plants that have sun in the mornings and shade in the afternoons. Expect any Serissa to drop its leaves when temperatures fall to near freezing.

Among the most popular of the Chinese tropical plants, the wild Serissa, also known as “Tree of a Thousand Stars” is known for thousands of small white flowers, and characteristic raised roots. Most Serissa Imports are the Thousand Stars.

USDA Zones 7 - 11

Serissa as a Bonsai, trunk in dragon shape, ca. 16 years.

The dragon is a symbol of happiness in Buddhism, the shape of a dragon is often found in the design of bonsai.

A Japanese Boxthorn (Serissa japonica) bonsai on display at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the United States National Arboretum.

According to the tree's display placard, it has been in training since 1951. It was donated by Shu-ying Lui.

Growing Season 2016 Ends

Patchy Frost Last Night!

Angel Trumpets

Brugmansia

Eggplant

Solanum melongena

aubergine

collards

Brassica oleracea

Now to enjoy the Winter Crops

Collard greens

Brassica oleracea

And Flowers:

Camellia sasanqua

Solidago blooming!

A golden reminder that it is time to prepare for the First Freeze

Dates (1981-2010)

Savannah Airport

• Average Date: November 28
• Earliest Date: November 1

Solidago short-day plants that bloom in late summer and early fall.

Ruellia simplex and Solidago blooming

Trumpet shaped flowers are blue Ruellia simplex

First Freeze Dates (1981-2010)

Savannah Airport

• Average Date: November 28
• Earliest Date: November 1

First Day of Autumn

Pyracantha fruits are turning

Autumnal Equinox
Fall Equinox


10:49 AM EDT
Saturday, September 22, 2012
in Savannah

The September equinox occurs the moment
the sun crosses the celestial equator 

Persephone returns to the underworld

We celebrate the Autumnal Equinox with the ritual of making repairs to the winter home of the cold sensitive trees............... on average, our risk of frost is from November 24 through March 1.

Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)
Goldenrod (Solidago) 

Sasanqua
Yuletide

Our frost-free growing season is around 268 days.

Getting ready for winter
New Benches
4.0

PVC Hoop House

Ficus Burtt davyi "nana"

The level of available potassium in the soil will increase a tree’s frost resistance. 

Bonsai Beginnings: Freeze Protecton











Autumnal Equinox rituals celebrate the seasonal change

Zinnia

Zinnia

Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana) 

             

8:15 in the morning of August 6, 1945

Hiroshima Peace Memorial

Hiroshima Survivor

The Miyajima white pine (Pinus parvifolia)
was donated to the United States as part of
Japan's Bicentennial gift to the American people..
The Yamaki Pine has been in training since 1625, and is the
oldest specimen in the Japanese Bonsai Collection
at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum
at the U.S. National Arboretum

Spanish Moss bursting into flower now!

Tillandsia usneoides
Family: Bromeliaceae 
(bromeliad or pineapple Family)

Spanish-moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
 tiny  green blossom

Tillandsia are epiphytes. A type of air plant that needs no soil because water and nutrients are absorbed through the leaves. The roots are used as anchors only. They are not parasitic!

.



fragrance of the tiny
Spanish Moss flowers
is most noticeable in the
night air, from April to July



Spanish moss grows on the trees 

here in Savannah and Port Wentworth

Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is a flowering plant that grows upon larger trees, such as the Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana), Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum), pecan (Carya illinoinensis)



Live oak (Quercus Virginiana)
with Spanish moss




Spanish moss on pecan trees





Spanish-moss
(Tillandsia usneoides)





























seed capsules appear after flowers



 Warm and sunny weather causes the capsules of the Spanish-moss (Tillandsia usneoides) to begin splitting open, releasing the dandelion-like seed into the air.

The capsules split open and

release the dandelion-like
seeds that will float away

    

Bamboo shooting! The season has begun

31 March 2012
bamboo shoots

Spring is bamboo shooting season for most temperate bamboo, and I have been looking for the first pointy shoot poking through the soil. Today I saw several beautiful bamboo shoots poking out of the ground. For the next month new shoots will appear daily. I harvested a few wayward shoots and tonight they were sauteed......

Canned Won't Do: Spring Brings Fresh Bamboo Shoots
by LAURA MCCANDLISH

 Black Bamboo shoots are
poking out of the ground

About Black Bamboo...

The Black Bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) is an attractive bamboo, with black stems, and a running habit. Black Bamboo can grow to heights of 15 to 20 feet tall and can grow to 35 feet with 1" diameter canes. New shoots are bright green and turn black over a year and a half. A culm will grow to its full size within a month  and will never grow larger. Newly planted rhizomes will produce some tiny culms the first year. Then each year the culms grow taller and have a larger diameter. New culms are very soft and can be easily cut or crushed by hand, but it will grow tougher with time. 

 This is Phylostachys nigra  'Black Bamboo' 

Tom Barton: Home again: Bamboo Farm reclaims part of its past from Smithsonian

Posted: March 15, 2012 
Savannah Morning News