INTRO TO BONSAI CLASS: REGISTRATION CLOSED
Saturday, September 27th, 2025
10:00 - 11:30 AM. $25/per person
Class will focus of the basic principles of Bonsai design. Sensei Lavigne will bring a variety of trees in different stages of growth, including one in "raw" form in to demonstrate how to get started in bonsai practice. This class will take place in one of the outdoor classroom spaces at Arching Oaks. Ages 10 and up welcome.
Saturday, September 27th, 2025
10:00 - 11:30 AM. $25/per person
Class will focus of the basic principles of Bonsai design. Sensei Lavigne will bring a variety of trees in different stages of growth, including one in "raw" form in to demonstrate how to get started in bonsai practice. This class will take place in one of the outdoor classroom spaces at Arching Oaks. Ages 10 and up welcome.
Your Instructor: Adam Lavigne
Adam Lavigne is a multi-faceted artist based in Florida, best known in the bonsai community for his imaginative styling, teaching and storytelling. With roots as a painter, sculptor and guitarist, he brings a creative flair to every bonsai he designs.
"Art Meets Horticulture" Adam is passionate about design elements like line, movement, and dynamic tension- bringing what he calls artistic expression into every tree, not just traditional forms. Adam bridges the artistic and horticultural worlds, infusing bonsai with personality, creative freedom and technical solidness. Through teaching, leading and sharing, he has shaped both individuals and communities- gaining respect for his thoughtful approach and quirky sense of humor.
To find out more: check out Adam's Art and Bonsai Blog (adamaskwhy.com). The site hosts detailed styling guides, photo narratives, sketches and insightful commentary. It has been praised for combining "why" and "how" of bonsai design.
Adam Lavigne is a multi-faceted artist based in Florida, best known in the bonsai community for his imaginative styling, teaching and storytelling. With roots as a painter, sculptor and guitarist, he brings a creative flair to every bonsai he designs.
"Art Meets Horticulture" Adam is passionate about design elements like line, movement, and dynamic tension- bringing what he calls artistic expression into every tree, not just traditional forms. Adam bridges the artistic and horticultural worlds, infusing bonsai with personality, creative freedom and technical solidness. Through teaching, leading and sharing, he has shaped both individuals and communities- gaining respect for his thoughtful approach and quirky sense of humor.
To find out more: check out Adam's Art and Bonsai Blog (adamaskwhy.com). The site hosts detailed styling guides, photo narratives, sketches and insightful commentary. It has been praised for combining "why" and "how" of bonsai design.
Bonsai (Japanese: 盆栽, lit. 'tray planting' pronounced bone-sigh) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots. The Japanese "bonsai" produces small trees that mimic the shape of real life trees adhering to Japanese tradition and principles.
Purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation for the viewer, and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity for the grower. By contrast with other plant cultivation practices, bonsai is not intended for production of food or for medicine. Instead, bonsai practice focuses on long-term cultivation and shaping of one or more small trees growing in a container.
A bonsai is created beginning with a specimen of source material. This may be a cutting, seedling, or small tree of a species suitable for bonsai development. Bonsai can be created from nearly any perennial woody-stemmed tree or shrub species that produces true branches and can be cultivated to remain small through pot confinement with crown and root pruning. Some species are popular as bonsai material because they have characteristics, such as small leaves or needles, that make them appropriate for the compact visual scope of bonsai.
The source specimen is shaped to be relatively small and to meet the aesthetic standards of bonsai, which emphasizes not the entirety of grand sceneries but rather only the tree itself. When the candidate bonsai nears its planned final size, it is planted in a display pot, usually one designed for bonsai display in one of a few accepted shapes and proportions. From that point forward, its growth is restricted by the pot environment. Throughout the year, the bonsai is shaped to limit growth, redistribute foliar vigor to areas requiring further development, and meet the artist's detailed design.
Purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation for the viewer, and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity for the grower. By contrast with other plant cultivation practices, bonsai is not intended for production of food or for medicine. Instead, bonsai practice focuses on long-term cultivation and shaping of one or more small trees growing in a container.
A bonsai is created beginning with a specimen of source material. This may be a cutting, seedling, or small tree of a species suitable for bonsai development. Bonsai can be created from nearly any perennial woody-stemmed tree or shrub species that produces true branches and can be cultivated to remain small through pot confinement with crown and root pruning. Some species are popular as bonsai material because they have characteristics, such as small leaves or needles, that make them appropriate for the compact visual scope of bonsai.
The source specimen is shaped to be relatively small and to meet the aesthetic standards of bonsai, which emphasizes not the entirety of grand sceneries but rather only the tree itself. When the candidate bonsai nears its planned final size, it is planted in a display pot, usually one designed for bonsai display in one of a few accepted shapes and proportions. From that point forward, its growth is restricted by the pot environment. Throughout the year, the bonsai is shaped to limit growth, redistribute foliar vigor to areas requiring further development, and meet the artist's detailed design.
