We get to visit so many wonderful places while we are shooting A Growing Passion. People welcome us into their gardens and businesses with open arms. One of the really interesting stories we’ve explored is that of Bonsai Sensei, Phil Tacktill.
Phil grew up in New York, in the city where everything was urbanized and there was no room for a garden. As a young man, however, he was fascinated by growing and decided to try his hand at growing “those little trees.”
Soon, Phil was consumed by Bonsai, the Japanese art of creating miniature trees and shrubs in containers. Bonsai plants are beautiful and fascinating in that they are carefully shaped to replicate their full sized counterparts in nature.
For Phil, Bonsai was a hobby that became an obsession. In fact, before he and wife Janet Wanerka retired to Solana Beach, Phil had a well-known Bonsai nursery in Long Island where he sold plants and taught classes.
The day we interviewed Phil in his Bonsai collection, he was dressed in the classic Bonsai smock with a cap on his head. As he explained Bonsai to us, Phil made it clear that Bonsai is an art, not a craft. And, as an art form, it is important to learn the rules, then to push those rules.
That approach is evident in Phil’s collection which includes many traditional Bonsai plants and some very non-traditional Bonsai plants like succulents. Phil’s succulents are beautiful and sculptural, if a bit unconventional. And Phil is so eloquent that its a pleasure to listen to his explanations of how he creates Bonsai, why he creates Bonsai, how to care for Bonsai, and so on.
Don’t miss this segment, which we feature in our episode on container plants.
And by the way, Phil is active in Bonsai & Beyond, which meets at San Diego Botanical Gardens in Encinitas on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 6pm. Meetings include potluck dinner, plants and materials, a raffle, and classes in Bonsai art form.
Additional meetings with hands-on workshops are the first Sunday of every other month in Room 104 at Casa del Prado in Balboa Park. Phil also speaks and lectures across Southern California.
Watch for him at the County Fair, at Master Gardener seminars, and at other plant events.
Our town of Fallbrook is having a Fall Street Faire on Oct.6 a Sunday along with the Gem and Mineral crowd. It is our second year staging a Ag Fair and family fun. We picked October to enhance weekend events to spotlight our October Scarecrow Days. There will be over a hundred scarecrows residing in Fallbrook in the month of October. Some of our Scarecrows will be featured at the San Diego Fair.
Would love to have you participate in our Main Street event on Sunday Oct.6th. For more details give me a call.
Nanette Noonan
760-731-4843
Hi,I have Chinese Elm which I bought back in April’12 from anheotr online nursery and has been growing well indoors, until about November when slowly by slowly all the leaves dropped off leaving a completely bear tree. I have recently re-potted it as I felt the soil for which it was originally planted in was too compacted and had white insects in the soil. I completely washed away all soil and had a look at the root system cutting back if necessary and re-potted in a Akadama soil mix. I have also preformed a cambium test on a couple of the branches and they are both showing a dark green underneath the bark. Is there anything else I can do for it at present or will I have to wait till nearer spring to see ?
The best thing to do is to contact Bonsai & Beyond, Hedy. This group of Bonsai lovers meets monthly at the Ecke Building at the San Diego Botanic Garden. They have a Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/Bonsai-Beyond-165815056785463