Danny Use was born on December 9th, 1957 as third generation tree grower.

Studied at the horticultural school in Wetteren and Melle (Belgium).

Started bonsai in 1975 at the age of 18.

Started and expanded a bonsai nursery based on cultivation of mainly European species and with import coming essentially from Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

In 1986 I gave my first bonsai exhibition, with personal work on European trees. In the same period, I began a bonsai school, which is still going strong today.

The end of the 80’s was the start of a collaboration with Hotsumi Terakawa, who worked regularly in my bonsai garden. He also introduced me in the garden of his master Hideo Kato (Yahumo Mansei En). I also visited frequently his neighbour Noburo Kaneko.Those two people had huge influence on my bonsai education.

In 1993, I started the bonsai club “Kei Bonsai Kai” for my students. We feature monthly reunions with lectures, tree discussions, presentations with trees from students / members as well as from my own collection. We also regularly exhibit our trees as a group.

Between 1997 and 2007, I organised the biennial “Ginkgo Bonsai Awards”, a European international exhibition.

Meanwhile, several Japanese instructors were invited in my garden, such as Nobuyuki Kajiwara, Akio Kato, Nobutaka Sakkuma, Takeo Kawabe…

Since 2019, I am responsible for the selection and the layout of the “Trophy”, an international Ten in Belgium.

Bonsai is my profession, my hobby, my passion and represents a full time job since 1975.

Facebook: Danny Ginkgo ( https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014559068046 )
Website: https://bonsaicenterginkgo.wordpress.com/