horticulture

I sat down this morning to talk with Ben Willis, a local Aptos resident who has a really interesting and apparently quite fun hobby: bansai trees. Ben is the vice president of the Santa Cruz Bansai Kai Club, and he loves his Bansai! We talked for a half hour or so, and I learned a ton of really interesting stuff about Bansai trees. It turns out, there’s quite a bit to know about this tradition which dates back more than a thousand years. Towards the end, we discussed the Santa Cruz Bansai Kai club, and the Santa Cruz Bansai Show 2015.

Ben Willis, Santa Cruz Bansai Kai

Santa Cruz Bansai Kai Show March 2015

The Santa Cruz Bansai Kai Bonsai Show is this weekend, March 28th and 29th from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM, at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, better known as the MAH. There will be a demonstration each day at 2:00 PM. The event features plant and tool sales, a raffle, refreshments, and much more. Tickets are just $5 each at the door, which also gets you entrance to the entire museum.

The Bansai Show has been running for 27 years, and it’s a great place to learn more about Bansai Trees, and perhaps start down the path of the Bansai enthusiast.

The Santa Cruz Bansai Club meets on the third Thursday of every month at the Live Oak Grange. In addition, the club meets every second Wednesday at the Aptos Grange for members-only “Wednesday Workshops.”

Mother’s Day is right around the corner, and for the 38th year in a row, the Cabrillo College horticulture department is having it’s annual Mother’s Day Plant Sale. Each year, they sell a huge selection of plants, flowers, culinary and medicinal herbs, succulents, vines, vegetable starts – you name it, they got it! This year they have over 1,000 varieties to choose from.

All of the plants being sold were grown by Cabrillo students, with proceeds from the sale going to fund the Environmental Horticulture Facility for the upcoming school year.

The “presale” begins on Friday, May 9 from 3 to 7 PM, and you must donate $25 to get in on the presale. On Saturday May 10, hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

While you’re there, check out their state-of-the-art facilities including the greenhouse complex, shadehouses, lab classroom, horticulture learning center, and community room. Agriculture plays a significant part in the Aptos economy, and it’s interesting to see how the future of agriculture is being shaped in our community.