High Water Bonsai — First Cut Beginner Bonsai Workshop

Category: Learning Also called: First Cut: Beginner Bonsai Workshop; High Water Bonsai workshops; highwaterbonsai.com events (San Antonio, Texas)

What it is

First Cut is a paid, hands-on beginner bonsai workshop run by High Water Bonsai at its nursery in San Antonio, Texas. The event pages call it “Your first bonsai starts here” and say “First Cut is for people who have never styled a tree. In two hours, you’ll take a starter tree from nursery stock to a bonsai you can take home, and you’ll learn why each step matters along the way.” Each session uses a different species. It is a class, not a club; the nursery itself is listed separately under Nurseries.

Official URL

Events calendar: https://highwaterbonsai.com/events/

November 14, 2026 session (Chinese juniper): https://highwaterbonsai.com/event/first-cut-chinese-junipers/
December 5, 2026 session (Japanese black pine): https://highwaterbonsai.com/event/first-cut-beginners-workshop-japanese-black-pine/
Visit the nursery: https://highwaterbonsai.com/visit/
About: https://highwaterbonsai.com/about/
Contact: https://highwaterbonsai.com/contact/
Home: https://highwaterbonsai.com/

Last checked

2026-11-04.

Who it’s for

Complete beginners in San Antonio and Central Texas who want a short, small-group, materials-included class that ends with their own bonsai, taught by growers who raise trees for the Texas heat.

Why it’s listed

It is a dated, priced beginner class from a first-party bonsai nursery, with its own event pages, address and price on the nursery’s site. Checked on 2026-11-04:

Dates: Saturday, November 14, 2026, Chinese juniper (“a tough, forgiving evergreen that handles Texas heat and takes wire well”), listed 9:00 am–12:00 pm; and Saturday, December 5, 2026, Japanese black pine (“Winter is a good time to wire pines”), 9:00–11:00 am.
What you do: choose which branches stay and which go, prune and wire, pot the tree, and learn how to care for it “once it’s on your windowsill or patio.”
Price: $85, all materials included. “We provide the tree, pot, soil, wire, and tools… No experience is needed.”
Format: 2 hours; “Limited to 10 people, so every participant gets hands-on help. Advance registration is required.” Water, coffee and light refreshments are provided.
Other workshops on the calendar: Winter Is Coming: Preparing for Dormancy, bring your own bonsai (November 19, $40); Grower’s Table open-studio workshop (November 21, $35); and Deadwood Artistry: Jin and Shari, bring your own bonsai (December 17, $95).
The nursery: the About page says H. Drew Galloway started bonsai in 2019 and, with his husband Martin, began growing nursery stock in 2024, planted a first acre of growing fields in 2025 and opened to the public in spring 2026. It grows Texas natives such as Ashe juniper, cedar elm, live oak, bald cypress, yaupon holly and Texas persimmon.

Location

Class venue: outdoors at High Water Bonsai, 9106 Harbor View St, San Antonio, Texas 78242 (event pages). “Dress for the weather and wear clothes you don’t mind getting soil on.”

The nursery is open Saturdays 11 am–4 pm with no appointment needed, and by appointment otherwise (Visit page). Phone 210-396-0845; email [email protected].

Notes

Finn flags: the two First Cut pages print different lengths for the time slot (the November 14 page lists 9:00 am–12:00 pm, the December 5 page 9:00–11:00 am), though both say the class is 2 hours. No minimum age, or workshop-specific refund rule is printed on the event pages. The site moved from Shopify to a new WordPress store; the existing High Water Bonsai nursery listing on Bonsai Plaza (checked 2026-10-20) still cites old Shopify links such as /collections/all, which now return 404 and need a refresh.
Geography: this is the first Texas Learning listing. Texas already has High Water Bonsai and Sunshine Bonsai under Nurseries, and the Austin and Houston bonsai societies under Clubs.
Listing image: High Water Bonsai’s official logo, the same file used for its nursery listing (rendered from the site’s header logo), saved as high-water-bonsai-first-cut-beginner-bonsai-workshop-logo.png.
Not affiliated with Bonsai Plaza. No registration, payment, form or contact was made.

FAQ

Q: When is the next First Cut workshop? A: Saturday, November 14, 2026 (Chinese juniper, starting at 9:00 am) and Saturday, December 5, 2026 (Japanese black pine, 9:00–11:00 am).

Q: How much does it cost? A: $85 per person, with the tree, pot, soil, wire and tools included.

Q: Do I need any experience? A: No. First Cut is for people who have never styled a tree, and you go home with your own bonsai.

Q: Where is it held? A: Outdoors at High Water Bonsai, 9106 Harbor View St, San Antonio, TX 78242.

Q: How big are the classes? A: Limited to 10 people, and advance registration is required.