[photo credit: Descanso Gardens]
For more than a decade, Daniel Deephouse made his living in the hypercompetitive world of premium spirits, working as a brand strategist for Sailor Jerry Rum and Cointreau.
Then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he walked away from his marketing career to return to a passion he’d nurtured since age eight: the ancient Japanese art of bonsai.
“I felt a calling that I need to fulfill, one since childhood,” Deephouse told VoyageLA in 2023. “I had a landscaping business when I was 16 and I was told that it was a hobby not a career, and that was the narrative I had in my head.”
Now 40 years into his bonsai practice and recently appointed assistant curator of bonsai at The Huntington Library, Deephouse will lead a free public talk Wednesday at Descanso Gardens titled “Rooted Conversation: Bonsai Trees.”
The one-hour program invites participants to explore bonsai not as decorative objects but as “a living practice shaped over time.” Modern research shows that viewing bonsai trees increases parasympathetic nervous system activity, the body’s rest and digest response.
At The Huntington, Deephouse oversees more than 400 bonsai and penjing specimens, including multiple trees over 1,000 years old. One California juniper is estimated to be between 1,200 and 1,500 years old.
His teaching philosophy centers on using bonsai to foster presence, creativity, and connection to the natural world. “I love to share my knowledge to help people,” he says, “but really I’m doing it to help plants and fish thrive.”
“Rooted Conversation: Bonsai Trees” will run on Wednesday, Feb. 4, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. For more information, call (818) 949-4200 or visit https://www.descansogardens.org/event/rooted-conversation-bonsai-trees/. Tickets: Included with general admission ($8–$18) or free for members.