Exactly 25 days. That’s how long it’s been since we landed back home from the East Coast and Montréal. It was wonderful to be home, to sleep in my own bed and spend time with my own trees – but the road is calling again. And honestly, my dear readers, I sensed you were looking for more too 😉

So – back to California it is!

This time it was work that brought me here: a full week of workshops with my team in Santa Clara. But as always, before I pack a bag I check what’s happening around. A quick chat with Jonas, and his advice was clear: take the opportunity and go visit Peter Tea. A three-hour drive from San Francisco. Worth every mile.

Let me do the math for you. Tel Aviv to New York – 12 hours. A 4-hour connection. Another 6 hours to San Francisco. Then 3 hours on the road. That’s 25 hours – one for every day I was home. Which is exactly how tired I am writing these lines.

And yet, as tired as I am, I’m in pure euphoria.

Who is Peter Tea?

Peter has been on my list for a long time – he’s without doubt one of the big names in American bonsai today. He grew up in San Jose and learned his foundations with Boon Manakitivipart through Boon’s Bonsai Intensive program – the same school of thought Jonas comes from. In 2009 he won the Joshua Roth New Talent competition, and shortly after he did what so many dream of and few actually do: he moved to Japan to apprentice at Aichi-en in Nagoya, under Junichiro Tanaka.

Yes – the same Aichi-en I visited just this June.

Echoes of Aichi-en

Walking through Peter’s garden, I felt it immediately. The resemblance is there. The way the trees are organized on the benches, all facing the same direction, like a disciplined audience. Many deciduous trees, several planted on rocks. And then – a tree that stopped me in my tracks. Aichi-en’s story begins with ume: Mr. Tanaka’s great-grandfather founded the nursery by planting a thousand of them, and the famous apricot is still the garden’s symbol. Here, thousands of kilometers away in California, I saw something very similar. A quiet tribute, or just a student carrying his teacher’s garden inside him. Probably both.

A rare invitation

Peter doesn’t open his garden to everyone. But Jonas came along to help, and Peter and his team were incredibly kind – he was happy to host me and walk me through everything.

We talked a lot about his journey. What he took from Boon – the fundamentals, the technique, the discipline – and how he expanded and deepened it with Mr. Tanaka at Aichi-en. Two teachers, two continents, one path.

Then he walked me through junipers. So many junipers. Varieties I honestly didn’t know existed. And he showed me some of his award-winning trees from the Pacific Bonsai Expo – trees that make you stand still and just look.

“Are you still in love?”

Before I left, I asked him the question I ask myself sometimes: after all these years, are you still in love with this?

His answer came without hesitation:

“Every single morning I walk into this garden, I remember how lucky I am. I get to spend my life doing the thing I love most.”

I’ll be carrying that one with me for a while.

I’ll be back

This won’t be my last visit. Next time I’m in California, I plan to come back for a one-on-one workshop with Peter. There is so much to learn from him – and I have a feeling one day won’t be nearly enough.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have 25 hours of sleep to catch up on. 🌳✈️