Historical Tree Spotlight: The Chinese Banyan

While many bonsai are often plucked from the ground after natural growth, some trees are specially created. For example, the Chinese banyan – or Ficus microcarpa ‘Kaneshiro’ – is the incredible cross-pollination work of the tree’s donor, Haruo “Papa” Kaneshiro. 

Museum Curator Michael James said Kaneshiro, who lived in Hawaii, is known as the father of tropical bonsai for his work with tropical trees long before they were considered for bonsai material by the mainstream. Kaneshiro was honored among other notable bonsai figures, like John Naka and Ted Tsukiyama at the International Bonsai Convention in Hawaii and was one of the first members to start the World Bonsai Friendship Federation. 

“One of the reasons Kaneshiro is credited with being the father, king or papa of tropical bonsai is because he was so willing to share the secrets of bonsai with the rest of the world,” James said.

No Ordinary Tree

The Chinese banyan is Kaneshiro’s unique cross between Ficus microcarpa ‘retusa’ and Ficus microcarpa ‘crassifolia.’ While figs on a ficus generally grow to the size you might see in a grocery store, the fruit on a Ficus microcarpa usually range from ⅛ inch to ¼ inch, James said. 

The flowers of Ficus microcarpa reside inside of the fruit and never open, so small wasps have to crawl inside of the fruit to pollinate the flowers. Kaneshiro’s process created the Ficus microcarpa ‘Kaneshiro’ bonsai that remains at the Museum today. 

Root Over (Lava) Rock

James said this Chinese banyan has been in training since 1975, but Kaneshiro planted the tree in the ground over a slab of lava rock in 1982. This unconventional planting method restricted the tree from growing directly into the ground – the roots had to hit the lava slab first and then grow around the rock.

“These ficus trees grow so quickly that if you put one straight in the ground in Hawaii it becomes a 100-foot tree in no time,” he said. 

By the time Kaneshiro pulled the banyan from the ground and potted it in 1987, the tree’s roots had wrapped around the lava rock so tight that the rock became part of the composition, James said.

“Now it’s a root over rock, or root over slab, as if it were growing on a volcanic hillside in Hawaii,” James said. “You can see the volcanic rock jutting out like a volcanic ledge.”

A Resting Place

The Chinese banyan came to The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in 1990, finding a home in a pavilion named for its donor: The Haruo Kaneshiro Tropical Conservatory. Kaneshiro has also donated a black pine held in the North American Collection.

James said the banyan grows fast, all year round, meaning volunteers have to prune back the banyan’s shoots and leaves about once a week. 

“On a Japanese white pine, pruning might be done once a year, but banyans grow out of bonsai shape and their leaves become too large very quickly,” he said. 

As a tropical tree, the banyan thrives in warm climates like Florida, Southern China or Vietnam and boasts a soft wood, so it cannot freeze. 

Nick Lenz’s Once-in-a-Lifetime Whimsical Bonsai and Ceramics Display at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum

Photo Credit: Olivia Anderson

Traditional bonsai are beautiful and captivating on their own, but have you ever wondered what might happen if you introduced an air of eccentricity to the classic presentation? Enter: Nick Lenz.

Lenz is an American bonsai artist well known for his provocative styling of trees collected from forests and landscapes in Northern United States and Canada. Lenz has retired from bonsai and ceramics and no longer owns any of his own trees, but is still revered throughout the bonsai world.

Photo Credit: Pacific Bonsai Museum

After securing permission from Lenz and encouragement from those who own Lenz’s bonsai and ceramics, Museum Specialist Kathleen Emerson-Dell curated an exhibit of Lenz’s work hinging on three themes: On Collecting From the Wild, On Being Unconventional and On the Drama of Nature. Dell said she selected works that would highlight Lenz’s typical themes, like whimsy, drama and wilderness for the unprecedented exhibit. 

“We organized the exhibition to celebrate, honor, and introduce a new generation to Nick Lenz’s singular take on American bonsai,” she said. “We had a visitor fly in from Germany just to see the exhibit! He was in town for a week and came back several times to visit.”

Photo Credit: Olivia Anderson

“Twisted Genius: The Eccentric Bonsai Artistry of Nick Lenz” ran from Oct. 26 to Nov. 17. 

The exhibit was comprised of 34 bonsai from eight private collections in New England and Minnesota and three botanical institutions – The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, The Pacific Bonsai Museum and The Montreal Botanic Garden. Fifty-one ceramics from nine different collections were also on display.  

The iconic “Penelope,” from a private collection in Toronto, and “Demon Cedar,” from the Pacific Bonsai Museum are two of Lenz’s most notable works included in the exhibit, Emerson-Dell said. 

“This is the first time we have had an international loan on view at the museum,” she said. 

Photo Credit: Mike McCallion

David Crust, who lent 10 bonsai and some ceramics to the Museum for the exhibit, like the trumpet bonsai or root over skull displays, said he is enthused that the Museum formally honored Lenz.

“His impact on American bonsai was very special, never much of a pro or a promoter, never much of man of doctrine or dogma, he came and left as an artist striding forward with a causal heart in his hand whispering playful things while acting out a high drama play,” he said. 

Photographing Bonsai with Stephen Voss: A How To

As a photographer who now makes a living snapping pictures of some of the world’s most influential figures, Stephen Voss didn’t always know that photography could be more than a hobby.  Once a bonsai novice, he certainly didn’t think he would publish a photography book of bonsai.

Now that he’s an accomplished photographer, Voss wants to share his “tricks of the bonsai photography trade.” He will be writing a regular blog covering everything from lighting, angles and mindset needed when photographing the trees. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to never miss one of his entries! Read his last entry here.

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When I began photographing the trees at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, I knew little of bonsai and had even less of an idea of how to take pictures of the miniature wonders. What I did know was that, if I wanted to have any success at this, it would be by creating something new, apart from the tree itself. 

Making a photograph to record what something looks like is a perfectly reasonable goal, but it only scratches the surface of the expressive possibilities of photography. But where do you start? Here is an exercise to partake in if you’re just getting your feet wet in the realm of bonsai photography:

Walk around the museum, being sure to look at all of the trees until one catches your eye. It’s not a bad thing if that tree happens to be in good light (open shade for instance, not bright sunshine).

Stand in front of that tree, set a timer on your phone for ten minutes, and do nothing. By nothing, I mean just look at the tree. Bend down, look from the side, just don’t stop looking at it. Notice the way light hits different parts of it, think of the generations of people who have worked on this tree and try to find something new about the tree that you’ve never seen before.

After 10 minutes, take 15 shots of the tree, each one different than the last, like so:

At some point during this exercise, you may find yourself questioning the whole enterprise, feeling foolish or that you've simply run out of things to see. This feeling is part of the process. Without this doubt and uncertainty, without exhausting your sense of what’s there, you can’t really make progress. As someone who’s felt these unsettling, frustrating feelings many times in my photographic life, I urge you to just keep at it, keep looking, keep seeing.

Learning to see is a strangely undeveloped skill for many photographers and developing it requires time and patience. But why bother? If you’re like me, with no discernible skill in working with bonsai, but a deep appreciation and love for the trees, looking closely is a form of appreciation, a way to connect. With a keen eye and a bit of luck, it can also be a way to turn that experience into a meaningful photograph. 

Read his last entry here.

Inside the Museum: The Japanese Pavilion and Stroll Garden

From the calming garden to the intriguing bonsai display, few places in the United States are as beautifully serene as the Japanese Pavilion at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. But as stunning as the nearly 45-year-old pavilion looks now, the structure has seen a lot of change over the last few decades. 

Esteemed architect Masao Kinoshita of Sasaki Associates – who also designed the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. – built the original pavilion from 1975-1976 after the Nippon Bonsai Association presented 53 Japanese bonsai to America on its bicentennial.

The pavilion’s construction marked the first segment of The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.

But in 2011, the pavilion’s features showed signs of deterioration from decades of constant exposure to various weather conditions. The National Bonsai Foundation hired Rhodeside & Harwell, a landscape firm headquartered in Alexandria, Va., to work with American landscape designer Hoichi Kurisu on a restoration plan to restore the pavilion to its former glory. 

Designer Hoichi Kurisu’s preliminary sketches of the new pavilion.

NBF co-president Felix Laughlin said stucco was peeling from the pavilion’s walls, and the benches were falling apart. 

“We initially thought this was all superficial, that a complete rebuild wasn’t really necessary,” he said. “But once we realized that the underlying concrete blocks were disintegrating, we knew we literally had to tear the whole thing down and start over using the footprint that was there.” 

The construction process began in 2013, and the new pavilion finally opened in October 2017.

While the new walls are in the same place, the contractors tore the whole pavilion down and used the old foundation as a blueprint for the new structure. The pavilion’s interior also underwent a full renovation, Laughlin said. 

Kurisu designed the pavilion to align with the Japanese concept of transitioning from a formal design – where bonsai are displayed on cut pedestals – to a more relaxed, informal display area and ending at the naturalistic section, Laughlin said. 

“Kurisu really does understand bonsai and display of bonsai so we thought he would be perfect for this job,” he said. “Everybody’s been very pleased with it. 

The Japanese Stroll Garden, courtesy of Stephen Voss.

The Japanese Stroll Garden, which leads visitors into the first section of the pavilion, was included in the original design concept in 1976. The garden is meant to foster mindful relaxation to help visitors focus on nature before entering the pavilion, Laughlin said. Not much has changed from the original garden, as Kurisu merely updated the space and added a water feature at the beginning of the stroll. 

Laughlin said the bonsai looked like “toy soldiers” when they were displayed in one line on the old-fashioned wooden benches, but the new design encourages visitors to stop and appreciate each tree. He said the pavilion’s new world-class design sets a high bar for bonsai displays across the globe. 

“These are such masterpieces of bonsai,” Laughlin said. “Each one is so important and so precious and should be appreciated for itself.”

HISTORICAL TREE SPOTLIGHT: A Buttonwood From The CIA

The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum has just declassified its latest tree: a buttonwood, or Conocarpus erectus.

Chelsea Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Central Intelligence Agency, alerted National Bonsai Foundation Executive Director Johann Klodzen that the CIA had obtained a bonsai tree and wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. The tree in the agency’s possession was the buttonwood, which is approximately 150 years old.

But how did such a historic tree end up in the hands of one of the nation’s top security departments?  

The buttonwood was first collected from the Florida Everglades about 30 years ago, changed owners multiple times and ended up in the hands of Bjorn Bjorholm, a bonsai professional. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had asked Bjorholm to purchase trees for them to give as gifts to various recipients, including the buttonwood for the CIA. The UAE presented the tree to the CIA in August, in "recognition of our countries' strong and historic partnership."   

Dr. Richard Olsen, the U.S. National Arboretum's director, immediately accepted the buttonwood from the CIA on behalf of the Museum. Museum curator Michael James and gardener Erin Holden drove to the CIA under strict security to pick up the Museum’s newest addition. 

The buttonwood currently sits in the “growout” area, a place for trees that are not currently on display, until the tree recovers from its travels.

Museum curator Michael James said volunteers placed the tree into partial shade to help the tree adjust from living in a dark office at the CIA for nearly two weeks. James said they regularly watered the buttonwood for about a week and evaluated how quickly the soil dried before the next watering. 

“At that point the foliage condition was good, so we moved the tree into full sun and fertilized it,” he said. “Now the buttonwood is pushing out new growth, but not uniformly over the entire foliage canopy.”

James said volunteers are taking note of the tree’s weak and strong areas and cut off longer shoots to redirect energy to weaker branches. 

“When the strength of the growth is balanced over the canopy, the tree will be wired to shape the canopy in a way that is complementary to the twisted trunk that has lived through a hurricane or two,” he said. 

Gina Haspel, the director of the CIA, sent a letter thanking the Museum for ensuring the tree remained healthy and cared for before its transfer to the Museum.

“While the CIA has many talented officers, we are not skilled in the art of bonsai maintenance, and so we are incredibly grateful that the tree will be preserved in the Museum’s celebrated collection and that it is in such expert hands,” Haspel said.

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Read more about this unique acquisition of this tree in this article by Washington Post columnist, John Kelly.

Penjing Defined by Master Zhao Qingquan

If you’re not familiar with the nuances differentiating bonsai – which originated in China and has been popularized by the Japanese – from the Chinese art of penjing, the two forms probably seem very similar or even identical. But with a little background, you’ll see there are important differences that distinguish most penjing from bonsai. We spoke with renowned penjing master, Zhao Qingquan, to bring you this blog.

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Zhao was born in Yangzhou City, China, where his father – a penjing enthusiast – first introduced him to the art of penjing. Other than his father, the most influential figure in Zhao’s life was his professor Xiaobai Xu, who bolstered his penjing knowledge.

“I am always proud of my final choice of the penjing as a career,” he says.

As Zhao explained in Penjing: Worlds of Wonderment: “In the Chinese language, we distinguish between three kinds of penjing, shumu penjing (tree penjing), shanshui penjing (which literally translates to “mountain and water penjing” but is usually called “landscape penjing” or “rock penjing”) and shuihan penjing (water-and-land penjing).

Zhao says that artists in China constantly innovate and develop penjing forms, so the style and content of the art form is becoming increasingly varied, but all have the “same essence of applying natural materials to express natural landscapes.”

Zhao explains that bonsai is actually the same as shumu penjing (tree penjing), one of the three categories of penjing. Tree penjing (bonsai) uses containers to display natural trees and plants, and artists will use wiring, pruning and chiseling techniques to create the composition’s dominant elements, he says.

In contrast, the second category of mountain and water penjing take the form of landscape scenes: artists will cut and reshape rocks to embody islands or mountains and often add small live plants to flesh out the scene, Zhao says. In the third category of water-and-land penjing, artists depict more “complete” scene, using materials like soil and water, as well as miniature figurines, he adds.

Zhao points out that “as an art aiming at ‘seeing the big from the tiny,’ penjing is often created as a method of self-expression to convey personal emotions.”

He reflects that humans naturally desire a tranquil life that immerses us in nature, but we often alienate ourselves from our natural environment to focus on work and family. Zhao says the pressure to survive in a modern and increasingly industrialized world facilitates humans’ tendencies to not prioritize connections with nature.

 “Penjing art allows us to pursue peacefulness and tranquility in our inner hearts and fulfill our desires of being part of nature,” he said. “Therefore, penjing as an old traditional art has been renewed.”

Penjing is a traditional Chinese art that can be traced back to as early as the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). Bonsai (tree penjing) was brought to Japan during the Southern Song Dynasty of China (1127–1279) or the late Heian Period in Japan (794–1192), Zhao says. 

Three nationwide penjing communities have been established successively in China: the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture Flower Penjing Suiseki Association, the Chinese Penjing Artists Association, and the Penjing Branch of China Flower Association. 

“As an art form expressing the human desire to love nature and peace in the world, penjing has gained increasing popularity around the globe,” Zhao says. “Penjing is used to decorate our homes and to cultivate self-expression, helping us achieve a healthier and happier life.”

Drawing from Bonsai: Photos from Class

On Saturday, professional nature illustrator, Tina Thieme Brown taught a drawing class at The Museum. About 10 students gathered to “draw from bonsai.” Here are some great photos of the class by our Social Media Intern, Dani Grace. Read more about Tina’s creative process drawing nature in a past blog here.

Interested in taking a class with Tina at the Museum? Make sure to sign up on the form below and you’ll be the first to know if we announce another date!

FIRST CURATOR'S BLOG: My First Six Months as a Curator’s Apprentice

As we crawl toward the end of the summer and into the beginning of fall, I look back on my first day at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in March. They say, “Time flies when you are having fun,” and I very much agree. Caring for and working on bonsai full-time for the past six months has been even more amazing than I could have imagined. Since my first day, I have met many talented and friendly bonsai artists from around the world, from whom I have learned specific design and horticulture techniques for various species.

Andy Bello with Michael Hagedorn on World Bonsai Day 2019 at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum

I took some time off and traveled to Bremerton, Washington, where I had the privilege of staying and working with Dan Robinson – a seasoned bonsai professional – for a little over a week. I also visited with Aaron Packard, the curator of the Pacific Bonsai Museum and former assistant curator of The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. I learned and shared ideas about bonsai with artists who influence my personal work. I experienced and gathered inspiration from the wonderful ancient trees that still exist in the Northwestern United States. 

Bello prunes a Korean black pine with a nice view at Elandan Gardens in Bremerton, WA

Working on the trees in the National Collection has been an extremely educational and enjoyable experience. I have worked on a diverse collection of species, while also learning when and how to apply different techniques, including when are the best times to prune, wire, fertilize and repot, depending on the season. My favorite seasonal tasks thus far are repotting in the late winter and early spring or decandling or removing spring growth from red or black pines to stimulate a second flush of growth in the summer.

Working on trees donated by prominent figures in bonsai history – including John Naka, Saichi Suzuki and Bill Valavanis – has been a humbling experience.

Post decandling on Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) donated by Saichi Suzuki

Thinning and structural pruning on the “Yamaki” white pine (Pinus parviflora)

As I move into the second half of my apprenticeship, I hope I can continue to meet and befriend other bonsai artists and enthusiasts and continue to expand my horticulture and design skills. I will continue to share the wonder and joy of bonsai with the public who come to visit The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.

Best,

Andy Bello

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Andy Bello has been selected as the Museum’s 2019 First Curator’s Apprentice.  The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum's First Curator's Apprenticeship  for 2019 is funded by generous grants to the National Bonsai Foundation from Toyota North America and The Hill Foundation. More on Andy here.

HISTORICAL TREE SPOTLIGHT: Dragon Penzai

Dragon Penzai at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, Stanley Chinn

Is it a penjing? Is it a bonsai? No – it’s a penzai! 

Many people are familiar with penjing and bonsai, but what happens when you fuse the styles together? This trident-maple – named for its trident-shaped leaves that turn red and gold in the fall – trained by local penjing master Stanley Chinn, is a great example. 

While penjing usually depict scenes, bonsai are generally single trees. Chinn, who emigrated from China as a child, spent most of his life in Silver Spring, Maryland, fusing bonsai and penjing to form beautiful creations, like this maple.

After Chinn passed away in 2002, he left most of his collection to the National Bonsai Foundation, the non-profit branch that supports the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. Former curator Jack Sustic chose 10 trees from the collection to keep at the Museum. Chinn’s trees are also on display at botanical gardens in Montreal and Brooklyn.

“He was very interested in the history of penjing and how it started, which happened way before bonsai ever reached Japan,” Museum curator Michael James said.

Not just a fan of the trees, Chinn loved spending his free time outdoors.

“If you ever wanted to find Stanley, you’d just go look in his backyard,” said James

Chinn trained the maple in the photo above to illustrate a Chinese dragon perched on a stone. James surmises that Chinn fused two trident maple seedlings together on the stone to create the configuration: one of the maple tree seedlings creates the dragon’s back and tail and the other seedling forms the creature’s neck and head.

“He was a master at the root-over-rock style, so he was really good at training little roots of seedlings down stones,” James said. 

The tree represents the “dancing dragon” style of the Sichuan school of penjing.

“The different parts of the tree become representative of the dragon’s body,” he said. “The roots grasping the rock are the claws of the dragon, the branches become the bones or the body of the dragon and the leaves emulate dragon scales.” 

James said Museum volunteers use techniques like defoliation to balance the tail and the head of the dragon. 

“The two seedlings Chinn used either have different root systems or some genetic variation, so they grow at different rates,” he said. “The tail portion is a little more vigorous than the head portion, so at the Museum we have to prune it accordingly.” 

Penjing arrangements categorized under the Sichuan style, which Chinn specialized in, are often characterized by their curvy branches and trunks, called “earthworm style.” James said Chinese artists used to use palm fiber to form exaggerated arcs that resemble the body of an earthworm.

“You just don’t see them in the Japanese collection like you do in his style,” James said. “You can just look through the Chinese collection and look at the trees and say, ‘Oh, that’s Stanley.’ He just did his own thing and it’s very evident in his work.”

The Art of Kusamono: Interview With ‘Articulturist’ Young Choe

“I never thought that I would become an artist or teacher.”

— Young Choe, Articulturist

Young Choe has spent more than 20 years volunteering at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum and working sporadically as a horticulturist at the U.S. National Arboretum. She loves her work, but in her spare time follows what seems to be her true calling of kusamono, the art of curating collections of wild grasses and flowers in unique pots or trays. 

Choe fuses her artistic talent with horticulture, resulting in a process she calls “articulture.” Choe says that Kusamono is the perfect tie between her Asian culture, knowledge of plants’ physiology and the talent she has developed toward creating beautiful works. Many kusamono styles exist, but according to Choe, the most developed versions of the art form come from Japan and Europe.

Kusamono can be created in various vessel-like pots or moss balls and can be put on display by itself, on a tray or on a ceramic tile, paired with bonsai as an accent plant.

“It’s a living art form,” says Choe. “Every plant is different depending on how you create it, what kind of plants you put together and which pots you use.” 

Choe affirms that kusamono is different than ikebana or bonsai. But, like those practices, each kusamono arrangement requires a unique pruning style that builds a special form over time. 

Choe had wanted to study plants since she was young, but horticulture was not a popular subject in her home city of Seoul, South Korea. She ended up studying Asian art in South Korea, but upon moving to America she began volunteering at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, an experience that led her back to her old interest in plants. 

Soon after, Choe enrolled at the University of Maryland where she received a Bachelor of Science in horticulture. When Choe first started at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, the little accent plants that often accompany bonsai arrangements fascinated her. Hoping to learn the art herself, she traveled to Japan three times for a week each time over the course of about five years to study under Keiko Yamane, a kusamono master.

“At that time, I simply learned this because I loved it,” she said. “I never thought that I would become an artist or teacher.”

She now travels around the world instructing on the art of kusamono to other budding practitioners. Most recently, Choe worked on a kusamono arrangement for a reception the Museum held for the American Public Gardens Association’s annual conference.

“When I share this art form, the students are very motivated and happy,” she said. “When I see that kind of energy from people, it makes me happy.” 

Choe says that she is grateful to the staff of the U.S. National Arboretum and members of the National Bonsai Foundation for supporting her as a kusamono artist and says she tries to work on kusamono as much as she can when she isn’t working at the Arboretum. 

“Kusamono is threatening my main job right now!” Choe joked. “I just keep doing it, I can’t give it up.”