>>Ben: Welcome to Appalachian Bonsai!
I'm here in the Tampa are of Florida with Mr. Joe Cain of Artisans Bonsai.
How are you doing, Joe? >>Joe: I'm good. How are you, Ben?
>>Ben: Doing great!
We just stopped in while in town visiting family,
and Joe has an amazing setup that is
in current operation, so I don't want to keep him too long.
We're going to walk around and see some of his business.
>>Joe: Thank you.
[bluegrass music]
>>Joe: This is an event we had last week with Mauro Stemburger,
and Pedro Moralez is coming for school next month.
Nacho Marin's coming in August.
>>Ben:You've got a business that's rated really well
through Facebook and your online page. Nothing but good word.
>>Joe: Yeah. We've got good customers.
We're right in the middle of this transition.
We've got a bunch of stuff we're getting ready to repatriate,
and some new stuff coming in from Puerto Rico.
The beautiful thing is, this well water turned out to be excellent, which is very unusual here in Florida.
So, everything is really greening up.
Over there at the old building, we started getting a water scale on the leaves, and you'll see trees out here with it.
We've got a tupelo out here that's completely stripped, just trying to live but can't.
Once we got into this water, leaves are stripped and coming out. All the other trees have just taken off!
>>Ben: I was wanting to talk a little about your collection. You've got plenty of it out here.
>>Joe: Yeah, collecting is great. I love it.
>>Ben: I collect many of my trees from the forest, but some people aren't around forests.
They live in the cities like here. You do a lot of urban collecting.
>>Joe: Yeah
>>Ben: How are you able to do this?
Are you finding places going out of business, people's yards, neighbors, getting permissions? >>Joe: Yup, yup.
A lot of these trees here,
we got free from a nursery, in a container likes this,
with the trees growing through into the ground.
It was a huge container, and they were almost dead.
Crepe myrtles we get from people's yards.
That's a crepe myrtle.
And this one here, with roots that look like a hand.
I love doing bald cypress. Especially here in Florida.
They tend to grow really tall,
be the lead tree in the forest, then hit by lightning.
>>Ben: Takes the top off & makes flat
>>Joe: Takes the top off and the branches grow to get over the forest. It happens all the time here in Florida.
>>Ben: You've got the bougainvilleas here.
>>Joe: Yeah, bougies.
>>Ben: It's amazing. My dad is looking, and he says, I've got that growing in my yard. And that one.
People don't realize they can use it for bonsai.
>>Joe: Yup
That pine came originally from Japan a long time ago.
They said it's about 100 years old.
>>Ben: What kind of soil mixtures are you using, especially for your bougies and Florida climate?
>>Joe: We just use lava rock, Turface, and pine bark.
There are other mixes, too, which we're carrying.
We have a place here in southern Florida with a good supply of 10-12 different components.
>>Joe: Out in the Puerto Rican forest,
there are nias. We've imported a lot of those.
This is a crepe myrtle I got for free.
You can tell it had some termites.
>>Ben: They did a good carving job.
>>Joe: They did a great carving job!
This looked solid,
but I knew it was dead because of the color.
Then I intersected all the holes they made.
So, I love that one.
We're getting ready to preserve everything.
I love this vein going around both sides.
One died off, but the other is coming around.
It's interesting.
There's a natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa) that came from someone's yard.
A lot of this, people are just ripping up from the ground.
They just want to get rid of it. You don't even have to buy it.
We just defoliated and wire this one.
Now it's starting to pop back.
I need to treat the dead wood.
There's a lot of good collecting places.
>>Ben: You mentioned some lantana fields you have access to.
>>Joe: Yes, those are some really nice trees.
I have some trunks like this.
I've got a big one over here.
Ignore or edit out the mess!
>>Ben: You're in the process of moving. I see all these trees to move...
So, everyone, just ignore the mess. It's almost cleaned up.
Look at those lantanas.
Big beautiful flowers.
Look how big and pretty. Wow.
>>Joe: A podocarpus.
It's about 88 years old.
This is going to be my new top.
I'm going to whittle this down some more.
I haven't finished the back, just basic blocking in.
Then I need to treat it before termites come. But...
>>Ben: Boy, that is something.
>>Joe: This is going to stick out of the ground as dead wood,
in a crescent pot.
The new top will come up and cross some of this.
But, I want to take that down a little smaller.
>>Ben: Ooh! These are nice.
Is that a crepe myrtle?
>>Joe: It's a roble. From Puerto Rico. It's a flowering oak tree.
>>Ben: Pretty!
>>Joe: Yeah, we've got two big ones.
That's a nia.
A tamarind.
>>Ben: You do have a lot of tamarinds here.
>>Joe: Yeah. This is, uh...
>>Ben: Is this where you have scale from your old water source.
>>Joe: Originally, yes. This isn't as bad as it has been.
>>Ben: But, you've got a new water supply.
>>Joe: Yeah, it's excellent water.
It's starting to really show in the growth all of a sudden.
This is a limeberry (Triphasia trifolia).
Those grow wild in Puerto Rico.
Another roble we just defoliated, so it's coming back nice and green.
This a jagueo. It's just starting to come back.
They really can't stand the cold at all.
>>Ben: The name of it again? >>Joe: Jagueo >>Ben: Jagueo?
Puerto Rican tree?
>>Joe: Dominican Republic. It's kinda rare and hard to get.
>>Ben: A nice big one. Looks like a Parsons juniper.
>>Joe: Yeah, a big parsonii. Needs to be styled and potted. That one's another free tree.
Get them big and old. It's happy. It's growing a lot of berries.
>>Ben: Yes, it is.
>>Joe: That's another free tree.
>>Ben: Free.
It's free.
Free means you have to dig it up
and care for it the rest of its life.
>>Joe: Exactly.
>>Ben: All of this operation is being moved over to this nice area over here.
There's some cleanup and more work to do, but those trees are on their way.
[bluegrass music]
>>Ben: Some good tridents.
Wow. Where'd you get that rock?
>>Joe: This is my partners. He got this from Japan.
>>Ben: Very cool.
A little orange... Japanese orange, you say?
>>Joe: Yeah. Here's a little green one.
>>Ben: Another orange?
>>Joe: Yeah. They're slow growers, so this is an old tree.
Buttonwood (Conocarpus) You don't see much buttonwood, do you?
>>Ben: No. I've never seen one in person.
That's pretty.
You have all different sizes,
from big huge bald cypress to little tiny maples.
>>Ben: So, I hope you enjoyed this video.
Mr. Joe, I really appreciate you letting us walk around.
>> Joe: Yeah, no problem.
>>Ben: Where can we find you on the web?
>>Joe: At www.artisansbonsai.com
>>Ben: And you also have a Facebook page
>>Joe: Yes. Its... all I know is it's Artisans Bonsai!
>>Ben: It's Artisans Bonsai, down in Tampa, Florida.
You're definitely going to find them. They're a well-rated bonsai operation.
I think you're going to enjoy what you find.
Anyway, thanks for watching. Visit us on Instagram,
leave comments in section below.
I'll leave links to Joe Cain's operation Artisans Bonsai down in the description.
>>Ben: Thank you! >>Joe: Thank you!