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Spring

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Spring Arrives with Fresh Blooms and Budding Bonsai

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Japanese apricot (Prunus mume 'Kobai')

Sunlight glinting off bright, young leaves. The aroma of sweet quince drifting across your path. The ambiance of refreshed, peaceful trees in the courtyard.

No, this is not a dream — it’s just a peek into the sensory experiences that await you at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum this spring.

Kusamono display

The energy of the season always brings lots of activity to the Museum, from new growth and fresh buds to tree placement shuffles and pavilion adjustments. In an interview this week, Museum Curator Michael James shared an inside look at preparing for the surge of warm weather visitors, and he discussed what makes the beauty of bonsai so unique.

The Post-Winter Waltz

Sensitive trees are protected in the greenhouse with controlled temperatures during the frigid months. Meanwhile, the consistently cold weather this past winter has prepared the trees for strong growth this spring. Winters that are peppered with warm and sunny days encourage bonsai and penjing to open up earlier than preferred, Michael said.

“When those leaves emerge under glass or in a protected environment, they’re extra thin, and sensitive to sun and wind,” he said. “If we move the trees out at that point, any slightly harsh weather can easily damage that foliage. This year, the trees have stayed very dormant, so we can move the deciduous trees outside before they sprout.”

Trident maple (Acer buergerianum subsp. forosanum ‘Miyasama’)

Every spring, staff complete a major structural change at the Museum by removing the roof of the Chinese Pavilion, which no longer requires winter protection. But the trees aren’t yet completely in the clear. Museum staff remain on frost watch, in case a cold snap sweeps through and requires them to protect these specimens once again.

“There’s this spring dance in horticulture of watching the weather for that last cold night, that last freeze, and moving sensitive plants back inside for a night or two as needed,” Michael added.

A New Focus

The springtime shuffle also allows staff to intentionally ponder this year’s displays. Michael, alongside Assistant Curator Andy Bello and other Museum staff, build the bonsai, penjing, and stone placements from scratch each year, ensuring the dominant flow of directional branches leads visitors through the enchanting exhibits.

Sargent juniper (Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii)

The courtyard display for 2025 showcases native species from the Museum’s collections, aligning with the U.S. National Arboretum’s Lahr Native Plant Symposium, hosted annually in March.

“It’s amazing to see every pedestal in the central courtyards display a native tree this year,” James said. “These species are all relatively new to bonsai, because they weren’t used in the Chinese and Japanese tradition. It really shows how bonsai is global now.”

Though leaf removal, root care, and other maintenance might need different approaches from more traditional bonsai species, Michael and his team have developed their expertise by working with native trees and getting to know their unique characteristics.

Native species also naturally draw pollinators, which facilitates a healthy ecosystem. They are well-adapted to the local environment, making them excellent choices for bonsai cultivation that reflects the natural appeal and resilience of regional landscapes.

Spring Showstoppers

Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)

As with most gardens or naturally occurring vegetation, the beauty of bonsai flourishes in the spring. Small vegetative buds open up on deciduous trees, while the flowering species flaunt their scents and petals.

Drummonds red maple (Acer rubrum var. drummondii)

Chinese quince (Pseudocydonia sinensis)

In the international pavilions, inconspicuous red pearls on maple varieties will unfurl into delicate, star-shaped flowers, while the Japanese apricots boast bright pink blooms. The Chinese quince will display unique flowering, which occurs on bare branches before vegetation sprouts, as well as the cherries. Crab apples and tricolor Higo camellias already have leaves when flowering. Satsuki azaleas will be in full bloom for May visitors – with "satsuki" referring to the "fifth month" in Japanese.

Can’t-Miss Events

Please join us for the Potomac Bonsai Association Festival on the weekend of May 10-11, which coincides with World Bonsai Day on May 10. We will also be celebrating an incredible milestone: The 400th anniversary of the legendary Yamaki Pine. Stay tuned for more about these events in the next few weeks!

World Bonsai Day will include a Beginner Bonsai Workshop (Saturday and Sunday), as well as appearances and workshops from Andrew Robson of Rakuyo Bonsai (Saturday) and John Naka student and contemporary Guy Guidry of NOLA Bonsai (Sunday), who will demo work on his tree in the North American collection.

We hope to see you soon to absorb the beauty of the art of bonsai this spring! Stay tuned for more information on World Bonsai Day and plan your visit here.

 

Click images below to enlarge. Photos by Stephen Voss.

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The First Signs of Spring

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This article from NBF officer and board member Ross Campbell first appeared in the March 2025 edition of Snippets, the Brookside Bonsai Society’s newsletter.

We were foiled by unusually cold temperatures in February and thus discouraged from starting our repotting checklist. But now the weather has warmed into the 60s, and our trees are beginning to respond. The forecasts look promising for the next week or so, meaning that it should be safe to repot. Keep in mind that newly repotted trees still need to be protected from a sudden freeze.

At the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, many of the trees are wintered in the Chinese Pavilion. The Pavilion is somewhat warmer than ambient temperatures because of the glass panels in the roof and the walls and doors. As a result, trees begin to break dormancy in the Pavilion a little earlier than they would otherwise. A recent stroll past the benches found several trees with buds that are starting to swell.

Parsley Hawthorn (Crataegus marshallii)

The buds on this Parsley Hawthorn are gratifying to see. Proof that Spring is close at hand. This native of the Southeastern U.S. was named in honor of botanist Humphry Marshall (1722-1801), an American botanist. (Not after Elvis Parsley, as you may have thought.) Marshall is known as the “father of American dendrology.”

Chinese Quince (Pseudocydonia sinensis)

This Chinese quince is far ahead of the hawthorn, with some leaves fully open and flowers soon to follow. One of the original 1976 Bicentennial gifts to the nation from Japan, this quince has been in training since 1875. That means that the tree is celebrating its “Sesquincentennial” this year. ;)

Drummond Maple (Acer rubrum drummondii)

If you look closely, you can see not only the buds at the tips of this Drummond Maple’s branches, but also along the branches. It appears that pruning has triggered interior buds, a very welcome development.

Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)

On the other hand, this Chinese Elm forest is still in the depths of winter dormancy, at least to all outward appearances. Perhaps it is convenient that different species wake up at different times; that way we can schedule deciduous bonsai repotting in a sequential manner, starting with those that are showing bud swelling.

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Spring Flowering Bonsai

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Prunus mume 'Kobai' flowers blooming at the entrance to the Dr. Yee-Sun Wu Chinese Pavilion at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. Photo by Steven Voss

It is peak cherry blossom time in Washington, D.C., and the beginning of a new growth ring. The birds, the bees and the humans are all swarming at the National Arboretum. The flowering cherry tree is the pinnacle angiosperm– that’s a fancy word for “flowering plant.”

The United States National Arboretum is a Clonal Germplasm Repository for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. Let’s just say it is a plant DNA library, but instead of books on shelves there are collections of plants in Arboretum gardens. 

The U.S. National Arboretum has more than a thousand cherry trees in their prime for viewing. While their twigs are still naked of leaves, hard wood branches are covered in delicate blossoms. Bees wiggle between the petals and pull out clutches of gold pollen. Humans put their backs against the flowers, smile at cameras, and click. Eagles are soaring and songbirds sing above it all! 

One exceptional specimen of cherry tree DNA is in the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. Check it out by strolling past the masterpiece bonsai and penjing in the Museum’s central courtyard, behind the massive red doors of the Yee-Sun Wu Chinese Pavilion. Rising from the corner, with branches that partially eclipse the moon gate entrance, is a cherry tree named Prunus mume ‘Kobai’. Less than a month ago icicles were dripping from its hot pink petals. 

This spring, the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum is displaying collections of flowering plant DNA in the form of bonsai and penjing. The Museum’s azalea bonsai special exhibit will be May 21st to June 5th. Some other spring flowering bonsai to admire are quince, maples, crabapples, firethorn, pomegranate and privet. The maple flowers will be small and subtle. They are often too high to see in the wild, so they are overlooked in the landscape. When viewing the blossoms in the Museum’s Japanese Pavilion, they are accessible, a perfectly sized ornament for miniature trees. There is nothing subtle about the flowers on azalea bonsai. Branch pads are pruned to such exaggerated forms that individual plants sometimes appear to be dancing for attention. Within the John Y. Naka North American Pavilion, when the breeze is right, perfume from privet bonsai flowers may be smelled before they are seen. 

One reason bonsai trees appear to be so small is because the size of leaves can be reduced by human intervention. Humans may withhold water or fertilizer to decrease their size. Or large leaves may be plucked and grow back smaller. Roots are constrained by high fired glazed earthenware, but the size of flowers cannot be reduced. Their function is to make future plants. As reproductive elements of plants, where and when they form on bonsai is controlled by reproductive hormones. 

In 1920, two United States Department of Agriculture essential employees named Garner and Allard discovered that many plants flower in response to changes in day length. So, some of the bonsai flowers being adored this spring first began to grow almost a year ago. Last summer and autumn when the days were getting short, spring flowers were microscopic. They were hidden within sheaths of dormant buds for their protection. Growth slows in the winter, but it rarely stops. As flower buds endure the chill they swell faster with every increasing degree. 

Specimens prepared for the Museum’s spring flowering bonsai displays receive countless judicious pruning sessions between flower formation last year and peak spring bloom.  Established silhouettes have been preserved with care not to revert century old bonsai back into a flower-less juvenile state. The common bonsai technique of pinching, or as an arborist would call “header cuts,” are used with reservation. The resulting branch ramification may not allow enough sunlight into canopies to disinfect the diseases flowering trees are prone to. The culture of masterpiece flowering bonsai by pruning is both selective and reductive. The strongest branches are often removed while leaving the little phototropic lateral ones. Those lateral branches, or “spurs,” as an orchardist may say, are where flowers are born. 

With all the help they are receiving from birds, bees, and humans at the U.S. National Arboretum the flowers are sure to be pollinated this spring. Another growth ring will form, flowers will become crabapples and exhibitions will change. This year, the Museum’s fall fruit and foliage special exhibit will be held from October 29 through November 13th. It will highlight bonsai and penjing from the collections at peak autumn color and ripeness. The seasonal nature of bonsai ensures that there is always something to look forward to.