Bonsai nursery east. Of Los Angeles

Doe anyone have recommendation on bonsai nursery to visit while in town?

"East of Los Angeles" is a pretty big area (like 90% of the country), where are you going to be and how far are you willing to go, because there are several good nurseries in the area.

- bob

Good point,
I am staying in Monrovia and flying out of LAX.

I have been at the San gabriel nursery in a past trip and that is about it.

I am always on the lookout for small pots by local potters and shohin size tree I can put in my suitcase or carry on.

St

San Gabriel is nice, I picked up a tree there earlier this month.

Not too far from there is the Huntington Botanical Gardens, which has a nice bonsai collection.

The rest of the places are further away, but worth the trip. Here's the Google map I made for my last trip down there.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=208218618313556299121.0004bc3de3dbd0773fb34&msa=0

- bob

Thanks Bob, that is a great map!
If only one stop fitted on your schedule, would you choose house of bonsai or Chikugo-en?

St

I would pretty much recommend every single one on that map, been on all of them in the past, and they are all great spots to find something to take home. House of Bonsai its the nearest to me, so I go there more frequently than the others.

If you can only make one stop it would have be be Chikugo-en. They're closest to the airport maybe 15-20 minutes and have awesome shohins and pots.

I agree with Bob. Chikugo-en is the place to go. I visited last year when I was out there. The Ishi's
took good care of me. And if you like Koi there is a cool Koi store around the corner.

Given that Bob Pressler is the owner of Kimura nursery, the fact that he is recommending you go to one of his competitors says something very positive about both that nursery and about Bob.

- bob