We'd be glad to see more photos William. I had forgotten that you used to live in China. How long do you plan to stay there?

It is very green and it looks like they have lots of water. What is growing in the green houses? Educate us William; I would like to know about China.

Please do keeping posting pictures. How interesting. I would say that is gardening on a grand scale.

the only time i have for pics of the country is on sat evening and sunday and i will try to post more.
from hong kong to ningbo it has been overcast, cold and rainy, for a week. none of the factories or offices are heated. makes for an interesting day.
with over a billion people, you have to garden on a grand scale.

william- brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

a small bonsai nursery going east from sanmen.

william

Keep them coming William. Are you any where near that place with the Karst topography (funny looking hills). It looks flat with mountains in the background. Looks kind of hazy in back so I can't tell.

no karst top. in this province. maybe in hunan province. as you know, you have that topography in so. mo. and n. ark.

william

I will have to look for a map because I know so little about China. What is the food like? I'll bet it is not General's Chicken and I just made myself hungry. How do you get around there? Do you drive a car or ride on a train or are others driving you around?

William, do you speak Chinese? I was just curious how you communicate or do most of the them also speak English.

I am amazed at the patience required to do the Bonsai.

glenda- the few words i know in chinese are , few. pee jo means beer and that is the most important.i have a translator and all chinese are required to take english in school. they all can say "bye bye " for that is in their language. most do not speak english.

don't forget to plant the blue poppies within 60 days of receipt. at least that was the advise by the supplier.

william

Has anyone heard from ceresone lately or since the bad weather? Willam can you find any tomato seeds there?

notice how the trees have been wrapped in rope. guess this is to prevent suckers.

william

The trees are not wrapped to prevent suckers, they are wrapped to protect them during transportation and wildlife after transplant. The rope can prevent sun scald, and also helps reduce stress on the plants as they get established and acclimated to their new environment.

i am going to have to check this out closer. i have seen trees as large as a foot in diameter with rope. there is virtually no wildlife here because eveything is eaten. you will see absolutely no road kill. even the amount of birds here is very small. sunscald protection for sure.

william

The black trunks with all the stubs are odd looking. You say no wildlife; would that be because of no habitat? We have wildlife even in cities.

there is no wildlife because they eat everything. i ordered some french fries at a local restaraunt in yongkang and there was a weird looking y shaped thing sprinkled on top. they were fried duck tongues. they waste nothing.they are also very big on parks. i have never seen a rabbit, squirrel or any wildlife in the parks. not a lot of birds either. as i said before, there is absolutely no roadkill.

william

Tell us more about the food and other things that would surprise us.

helen- you really don't want to hear a lot about their food. you are better off getting the generals chicken and forget the rest. i will tell you this, on the way to sanmen our chief chinese translator and honcho had fried octopus eyeballs, cow stomach, bean curd and chinese vegetables for lunch. had fried rice myself. nuff said?

william- who had p-nut butter and bitter marmalade for dinner!

kinda garden related

william

William, I could loose lots of weight on a visit there! I am not an adventurist in eating. I also would be wary of eating anything I couldn't identify. We are blessed in this country and we should think about that often.

That looks like a nice hotel. I'll have french fries hold the duck tongues and stir fried vegetables hold the eye balls.

a little something different.

william

an old tree at our factory.

william

That is a very unusual looking tree. People here would have chopped it down. It looks like the kind of thing I drag into my yard.

I love that old tree....now I feel good about not cutting down my gnarled, storm damaged old apple tree. I just need to get it shaped up by a tree trimmer. It is too tall for us.

I wouldn't have guessed china in that first picture.

Thanks for all the pictures William. Do you buy items there and bring them home or is it a pain to get things home. Are decorative items expensive or cheaper than here?

this was taken outside a german restaraunt in ningbo by a river. sorta look like camelias but i am not too good with flower/ shrubs.

william

I am struck by how neat everything looks....no trash laying anywhere.

We just drove home from town yesterday and the roadside ditches were filled fast-food papers. It makes me so mad.

I can't tell what the bushes are either but they are very pretty.

How is the weather where you are?

I don't know anything about camelias. The color reminds me of quince.
Is the old tree alive?