The Last of Twelve

Botanical Name: Juniperus virginiana

Common Name: Eastern Red Cedar

Story of the Tree

In the 1970s, Carl and Shin Young field-grew this tree at their Seiju-en Bonsai Nursery in Lodi. Shin Young was known for creating dramatic bends; Carl authored The Art of the Chrysanthemum. Around 1980, twelve Kusamura members each purchased one of these trees — and today, this is the only one still known to remain in the club.

John Planting owned the tree for decades, refining it with Tosh Saburomaru. In October 2004, bonsai master Yasuo Mitsuya of Japan selected it for a club demonstration; Dave Curbow won it at the demo and gave it to his wife Rita, who has a special fondness for junipers. Mitsuya refined it again in a 2009 workshop Rita attended. Over the years she continued developing it in workshops with John Planting and Steve Iwaki.

In February 2022 Rita repotted the tree in its current pot and added the rock to suggest a wider trunk base. In 2024 the last jin was added in a workshop with Bjorn Bjorholm. As its name suggests, the Eastern Red Cedar is native to eastern North America — an outlier in species, but deeply rooted in club history.

Exhibited by Rita