David will be teaching a Bring Your Own workshop at Wee Tree Philomath location on April 13th. It will be from 9am to 4pm with a limit of 8 people. Cost is $85.00 each. This is an intermediate to advanced class. Please bring your own tree(s) and supplies. Supplies will be available to purchase. Sign up for one or both but you must sign up in advance. Call 929-9520 or 800-638-1098.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

David De Groot has been studying and practicing bonsai since 1972.  His first experience was as a hobbyist, because in America there are very few opportunities to become a bonsai professional.  Like most Americans, he studied informally, taking classes with American artists John Yoshio Naka and Yuji Yoshimura when they would visit his city from time to time.  Despite few opportunities, David worked hard, began writing articles for American bonsai magazines, and began to teach other hobbyists.  After 15 years, he quit his career as a symphony orchestra musician and began working for bonsai customers.  In 1989, he was chosen to be curator of Weyerhaeuser Company’s new Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection.  Today, his written articles have been published in eight countries, he has lectured throughout the United States and in Brazil, Canada, England and Venezuela, and his book Basic Bonsai Design is in its fourth printing.  David knows he still has much to learn, so he currently takes classes in satsuki cultivation from Mr. Tatemori Gondo of the Eishin Shiyoji Company, Ltd., and travels to Japan once or twice yearly to study with Sensei Yasuo Mitsuya of Tokai-en in Toyohashi.