Collecting with Harry

Being invited to go on a California Juniper collecting trip with the legendary Harry Hirao is a once in a lifetime adventure. The morning started for me at 2 a.m. when I backed my truck out of my dark driveway in Fresno and headed south toward Bakersfield over a 130 miles distant. I was supposed to meet Harry and the other collectors at 6 a.m. at the Denny's in Mojave, and I certainly did not want to be late.

I reached Bakersfield a couple of hours later and turned my truck onto Highway 58 and headed east toward the mountains. Although it was still pitch black outside, I could sense the Tehachapi mountains growing nearer as the road began a gradual incline. A half hour later I began in earnest the steep, twisting climb into the mountains. I took a quick look over my shoulder one last time at the twinkling lights of Bakersfield far below in the distance, and I smiled, wondering if I would be lucky in my search for just the right juniper.

Despite the strong winds that had buffeted my small Chevy S-10 truck as I reached the summit and headed down the reverse slope of the Tehachapis, I reached Mojave with time to spare. Harry and some of the other collectors were already seated in the booths and having an early breakfast, so I joined them. About 6:30, after the last few collectors had materialized, we walked outside to our vehicles and prepared for the drive to the dig area.

The collector's vehicles stretched out in a caravan as we began the 20-mile drive to the dig site. After about 15 minutes, we turned off the main highway and began to wind back into a canyon, and it wasn't too long before the asphalt road ended and we began crawling along a dusty washboard trail deeper into the canyon. It was a perfect early January morning and we were treated to a magnificent sunrise as the group gathered at the last locked gate.

As we waited for Harry to return from the rancher's place with the key, a few of us left our trucks to stretch our legs and investigate a dry creek bed for Suiseki. The rock, however, was mostly decomposing stuff and not suitable for gathering. A few minutes later Harry arrived with the gate key and we renewed our dusty and bumpy approach to the area Harry had selected as that day's dig area. The caravan inched along the badly rutted road, which would snake along a hillside 50-60 feet above the canyon floor and then drop precariously to the bottom before ascending again. After about another 15 minutes of nerve-wracking driving, it became apparent to me that my small Chevy S-10 truck with its puny four cylinder motor would not be able to go much further. Other collectors must have been experiencing the same thoughts because more and more trucks began pulling out of the caravan wherever the road widened.

There were only a few trucks remaining ahead of me in the caravan and it looked like the road was about to start up another steep hillside, so I began looking for a spot where I could stop. After barely making it out of a deep, rock strewn ravine, I spotted Anthony Galante, Gary Biggs, and Dave Einsele standing beside Anthony's pickup. I stopped and asked if they minded if I joined their party.

In a few minutes each of us had donned our backpacks or shoulder bags and paired up into two-man teams. It is always wise to collect trees with a buddy, especially in the desert because it is very easy to become separated or injured in those rugged canyons. It was Harry's recommendation earlier that morning over our breakfast to walk the numerous draws and look up at the junipers growing on the steep hillsides. "That way," he said, "better to see the trunk and branch structure." Whether one walks the draws or climbs the hillsides to walk along the ridge, it is tough going. I paired up with Gary Biggs and we began slowly working our way along a steep, boulder strewn draw as Anthony and Dave move off in another direction.

Being a Fresno flatlander and unaccustomed to climbing hills designed for wild goats, I was badly winded and pretty tired before I finally decided on the tree I would collect. My buddy, who was equally tired, had also found a juniper he wanted nearby. I began by first clearing away all the loose organic matter piled up around the trunk of the juniper and then started trenching around the trunk at what I estimated to be the drip line of the juniper's canopy. I dug down until I could excavate the soil under the juniper and used a folding saw to cut through the larger roots as I encountered them. When the juniper began feeling loose, I began undercutting it with my shovel, and then gently lifted it free.

After lifting the juniper, being careful to not damage the few remaining feeder roots, I wrapped the entire root ball with wet moss that had previously been soaked in a water and B-1 solution. When I was certain that I had carefully coated each root with the dampened moss, I started wrapping thin stretch plastic film around the entire root ball to hold the moss and remaining soil firmly in place.

Once I was certain that I had protected the remaining roots as well as I could, I used the loppers to trim back long and unnecessary branches. With the reduction of the root mass, branches need to be removed to balance the tree. With so few remaining roots, the juniper would not have the strength to sustain a lot of extra foliage. Although most collectors prefer to use a pack frame on which to carry out their collected material, I prefer to simply carry it out balanced on my shoulder. Going down the steep hill with the added weight of the juniper was difficult, but I made it without falling. After I reached the truck with my first tree it was time for a quick lunch. The cool water tasted good and a sandwich was all that I needed to recharge myself for another trip up the hill. Harry likes to have everyone out of the dig site by 2 p.m. I did not find another tree that I wanted to dig, so I contented myself with the beauty I had already collected.

After loading the collected juniper in the back of my truck and covering it with a trip to protect it from the wind, I said good-bye to my friends and started the long trip home. Being physically and mentally exhausted, the three hour drive seemed twice as long. I arrived home at 5 p.m. and dragged myself out of my truck, knowing that my day was not over yet.

I unloaded the juniper and began preparing it for potting by first soaking it in a bucket of water enriched with Vitamin B-1. This would help the juniper recover a little more quickly after it is potted. After allowing the juniper to soak for about 30 minutes, I potted it in a large wooden growing box, using a soil mix of 90% red lava and 10% organic material. Since the juniper did not have a substantial root ball, it was necessary to secure it with rope so it would not move and damage new feeder roots.

After moving it to a protected area of my yard, the final task was to mist the remaining foliage. Misting the foliage on the recovering juniper was something that would need to be repeated 2-3 times a day for a long time to come. It was close to 7 p.m. when I had finished working with the juniper and I was tired. It had been a long and exhausting day, but as I said before ... being invited on a California Juniper dig with Harry Hirao was a once in lifetime adventure.