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Here are some photos of a small portion of the trees that my bonsai teacher has. Bill Valavanis owns the International Bonsai Arboreitum in Rochester, NY. I took beginner classes from him this past spring.

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I was planning to add some descriptions and comments but hit "submit" instead of "preview"....

Comments and questions are certainly welcome. I won't be able to identify any of the trees so please don't ask me to do that. I just don't know them well enough for that.

The first shot is in his garage where he would put the stock trees that we could choose from during our lessons. Those in the black plastic pots are junipers.

MD

How old do you figure some of those trees are?

(and thanks for posting those pics!)

I don't know the specific ages of any of the trees, however when I was taking the classes and we were talking about trees, Bill did say he has some that are 50-60 years old. I also think he bought a few that are closer to 100 years old.

He has been doing bonsai for probably 40+ years so I'm sure he has many trees that are at least that old.

If anybody gets anywhere near the Rochester, NY area and would like to make a visit to Bill's place, just let me know and I'll help you out.

MD

Lovely trees, absolutely lovely. Now I have something to aspire to.

Yeah see what you can do when you own your own arboretum!!

They certainly were an inspiration to me. I look at trees in a whole different light than I ever used to.

MD

love the pictures of the bonzai trees...

all I can is....wow. Those are truly works of art.