Historical Tree Spotlight: The Museum’s First Tree

Nobusuke Kishi, former president of the Nippon Bonsai Association, hands the list of the 53 bonsai gifts to U.S. Ambassador James Hodgson at a ceremony in Tokyo, Japan. The tree on the left is the first Japanese black pine donated to the Museum.

The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum was created after the United States received a wonderful bicentennial gift of 53 bonsai from Japan in 1976. For this month’s historical tree spotlight, we wanted to highlight the first tree on the list of gifted bonsai: a black pine donated by Saichi Suzuki.

A symbolic facet to the Nippon Bonsai Association’s gift, the pine is believed to have been about 200 years old – the same age as the United States when the gift was given. While Japanese black pines can now be found growing all over the world, the species is native to Japan. 

Museum curator Michael James said the tree embodies “yamadori,” the practice of digging a tree from the wild and putting it into a container. Saichi Suzuki, the tree’s donor, collected and began training the pine in a bonsai pot in 1895. According to James,  the tree is estimated to have been about 125 years old when Suzuki removed it from Atsumi Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture in Japan.

Suzuki later founded Daiju-en, a very famous bonsai nursery in Japan (at which former Museum curator and current NBF board member Jack Sustic once studied). Daiju-en is famous for cultivating Japanese black pines, and Suzuki is often credited with being the first to discover the black pine decandling technique – a process completed in the summertime after a pine’s candle, or shoot tip, lengthens.  

Suzuki stumbled on that process by accident after witnessing a caterpillar eat the tips off a black pine. While usually thought to be a disaster, Suzuki saw that the insect’s munching actually produced a second growth of shoots with smaller needles than the first growth. This discovery was important because Japanese black pine needles tend to be fairly long for bonsai culture, at least compared to a white pine.

“We are always trying to reduce the size of leaves to make the trees look bigger,” James said. “That serendipitous caterpillar feast made him realize black pines can be decandled and put on a second flush of growth that is even smaller, more compact, better looking and proportional to a bonsai tree.”

James said Suzuki began experimenting with the decandling practice on his own and perfected the decandling technique that is now widespread in bonsai culture. 

“Decandling pines is critical for having well-maintained trees,” he said. 

Now in the Japanese Pavilion, the inaugural Japanese black pine is about 245 years old. Stop by our collection to see the tree that helped to launch our Museum. 

A Year in Review: The National Bonsai Foundation's 2019 Achievements

Each year NBF strives to engage the community with the world of bonsai through our programming, partnerships and feature articles. Take a look back at the highlights of 2019, which were made possible through your generous support.

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Event Highlights

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World Bonsai Day 

Bonsai expert Michael Hagedorn traveled from Portland, Oregon to give pruning demonstrations and lectures and sign his book, “Post-Dated: The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk.” Read more. 

Award in a Local Publication

The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum was voted the "Best Place to Bring an Out-of-Towner" in Washington City Paper's Best of D.C. competition – our second, consecutive time winning this award! Read more.

National Symphony Orchestra Concert

A string quartet from NSO played a wonderful concert among our collection for the first time to kick off the summer. Read more. 

Official Sister Museum Partnership

Our Museum officially became a Sister Museum to the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum in Saitama, Japan. Read more. 

Local News Feature

John Kelly of The Washington Post attended one of Master Nick Gracenin's Tai Chi classes at the Museum this fall and wrote all about it in his column! Read more. 

Nick Lenz Exhibit 

Eccentric bonsai artist Nick Lenz's once-in-a-lifetime display featured ceramics and bonsai in a spooky, thought-provoking temporary collection. Read more.

National Geographic Print Feature

Photographer Rebecca Hale visited our Museum to snap shots of curator Michael James' bonsai tools for National Geographic's Tool Kit Series! The series will be in print soon. 

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Program Spotlights

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Tai Chi Amongst the Bonsai

Master Nick Gracenin of D.C. Tai Chi "grace-fully" led tai chi classes throughout the year. 

Forest Bathing Amongst the Bonsai

Nature therapy guide Melanie Choukas-Bradley helped participants discover the power of nature on trips through our trees.

Yoga Amongst the Bonsai

Class participants followed certified yoga instructor Alexa Tovsen's calm, relaxing voice at various yoga sessions.  

Drawing From Bonsai

A great group of budding artists learned all about capturing the different shades and shapes of bonsai under nature artist Tina Thieme Brown. 

Mindfulness Amongst the Bonsai

Mindfulness-seekers found their center at Linda Naini's meditation sessions among our collections.

Children's Workshop

Kids learned about different tree types, animal habitats and bonsai history under the instruction of Museum curator Michael James. 

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.”

We Celebrate World Bonsai Day

Michael Hagedorn leading a presentation during live bonsai demonstrations (Photo courtesy of Michael James)

On May 11th, bonsai enthusiasts and admirers of the art gathered at bonsai centers around the globe to celebrate World Bonsai Day. The celebration pays homage to the vision of the founders of the World Bonsai Friendship Federation who believed  in the power of bonsai to promote friendship and goodwill throughout the world.

Photos courtesy of Olivia Anderson

We spoke with Museum intern Andy Bello about World Bonsai Day at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum and the huge impact that celebrating the small trees can have.

The Museum recognized World Bonsai Day with Michael Hagedorn, a bonsai expert who traveled from Portland, Oregon to give pruning demonstrations and lectures and sign his book, “Post-Dated: The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk.”

Photo courtesy of Michael James

According to Bello, visitors filed into the Museum’s auditorium on the morning of the 11th to listen to Hagedorn’s lecture on common bonsai care and technical myths that his soon-to-be-published book “Bonsai Heresy” addresses. For example, Hagedorn untangled the common misconception that one should lay off nitrogen fertilizers in autumn when leaves begin to fall off trees.

Bello said some believe adding nitrogen –  a macronutrient involved in leaf growth – to the soil when trees’ leaves will soon fall off anyway simply wastes resources. But Hagedorn found that, as temperatures begin to drop in the fall, nitrogen fertilizer will not encourage a new flush of foliage unless the weather became unseasonably warm.

“The nitrogen will actually make the tree a little bit healthier throughout the winter season,” Bello said. “When spring comes you already have that nitrogen there, rather than just giving it a big flush of nitrogen right in the spring, there’s a kind of continuous buildup.”

After signing copies of his book, Hagedorn held a demonstration, during which he profiled the technical care and traits of five trees of various species and growth habits. Bello said Hagedorn and Museum volunteers took turns working on the trees in front of about 70 attendees!

“It was just a lot of good information on what to do when spring pests come up or fungal issues come up, especially here in D.C., when the rains start to pick up again and how to take preventative measures for that with different species as well,” Bello said.

He said World Bonsai Day celebrators – consisting of people of all ages and levels of interest in bonsai, including some who had never practiced before – most enjoyed Hagedorn’s demonstration, where they learned answers to questions like, “How are these trees maintained?” and “How are the trees kept so small?”

Michael Hagedorn presenting (Photo courtesy of Michael James)

“People think that the trees just grow this way, but they really take a lot of work to prune back and maintain,” Bello said.

Bello said World Bonsai Day not only provides a forum to appreciate and recognize bonsai, but also promotes the trees to those in the general public who are not as familiar with the ancient art. He added that World Bonsai Day emphasizes the unity of all countries that practice bonsai, especially at the Museum, which has deep connections to Japan.

NBF board member and Vice President, Marybel Balendonck, holds microphone as Michael Hagedorn works on the tree that she donated to the Museum. (Photo courtesy of Michael James)

“Here at the Museum you can walk through and see trees from different parts of Japan, North America and China and see how different cultures taken similar approaches,” Bello said.

INSIDE THE MUSEUM: A Look Into The Design of the Upper and Lower Courtyards

Stepping into The National Bonsai Museum is an experience unlike any other. If you get the sense you’re entering into a new and whimsical world where the calming influence of nature overtakes your soul, you are not alone. In fact, it was designed to feel that way...

We sat down with Jack Sustic, a former Museum curator who served for 13 years, to learn the history behind the decades-old courtyards.

The U.S. National Arboretum staff, the National Bonsai Foundation and architecture firm Rhodeside & Harwell, Inc. first designed the courtyards in 1999 to ameliorate calls for compliance with the American with Disabilities Act and to create a more fluid path for Museum visitors to follow, Sustic said. Visitors previously entered the Museum through the cryptomeria walk into a wide open space covered with gravel, but would not know where to continue from there, he said.

The Maria Vanzant Upper Courtyard, named for a bonsai hobbyist whose husband contributed financially to the courtyard to honor her memory, was completed in 2003.

Sustic said the upper courtyard’s towering wall and water feature were constructed to direct visitors to stop first at the Exhibits Gallery.

A large trellis system runs the length of the gallery, but a solid peaked roof covers the first opening into the gallery to help visitors identify the main entrance. The courtyard itself is flanked by the Japanese Pavilion wall and the Exhibits Gallery, creating a boxy and formal feel consistent with the design of the wall and water feature.

“The sound of the water really helps to continue the feeling of calmness and coolness that the visitor experiences as they walk through the cryptomerias and into the bright, open upper courtyard,” he said. “It really helps to set the stage for the visitor to experience the Museum in a calm, reflective and reverent manner.”

Once the visitor leaves the Chinese Pavilion, a wide stairway between the upper and lower courtyard angles toward the Japanese Pavilion entrance to prompt their next stop.

Deborah Rose, another visitor impacted by the beauty of bonsai, donated money to construct the lower courtyard in memory of her aunt and uncle who introduced her to the captivating trees. The courtyard, christened The Rose Family Garden, was completed in 2005.

“Many people when asked what is penjing will tell you that it’s quite whimsical and brings a smile to your face with freedom of expression that often surprises the visitors and sparks their imagination,” Sustic said.

He added that the team intended to design the lower courtyard to reflect those sentiments.

The Chinese Pavilion’s undulating dragon wall, which lacks the straight lines of a traditional Western wall, and the irregular shape of the planting beds and blue stone pavers create a less formal atmosphere for visitors in the lower courtyard, he said.

“The dragon wall is unique and a fun surprise for the visitor,” Sustic said. “It has that sense of whimsy and informality that is followed through in the outline of the planting beds and shape of the blue stone.”

Plan your visit now to experience for yourself the calming environment and whimsy one encounters in the Museum’s courtyards here.

INSIDE THE MUSEUM : History of Our Entrance Gates & Gardens

Thousands of visitors filter through the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum entrance gates and gardens every year, but few know the significance behind the design.

Jack Sustic, who served as the Museum curator for 13 years, says before the Museum first opened in 1976, the entrance was only an open area with no gates or gardens.  

Today, visitors are welcomed into the Museum through the Ellen Gordon Allen Garden. In 1956, Ellen Gordon Allen created Ikebana International, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and spreading the art of ikebana, or Japanese flower arrangement. Allen established the organization’s first U.S. chapter in D.C.

“She’s quite important in the history of ikebana, especially in the United States,” says Sustic.

The design of the garden, engendered by Thomas Wirth at the Susuki Association in Massachusetts, was named in honor of Allen’s contributions to ikebana. The garden was officially dedicated to Allen in 1982.

Constructed by Shimizu Landscape Corporation, based in Maryland, the garden melds the Western style of a national art garden with the traditional traits of an Eastern bonsai museum.

Its large straight walkway represents a Western approach, which complements the Eastern-inspired sculpted tines within the garden.

“The designer was trying to create a buffer or transition between the two kind of philosophies, the two styles of gardening,” says Sustic. “The styles are so different and the approach to gardening is very different between the two.”

Sustic added that the entrance gate’s shingle roof and bamboo emulate a unique Japanese style not seen other places in the Arboretum. Sustic says visitors often appreciate the dedication and work incorporated into both cultures in the design.

The Museum’s Cryptomeria Walk

Enhancements to the entry gardens and gates have been minimal since the original design, enduring only a transition in plantings or an added lantern to improve the look.

Visitors’ last steps to the Museum are taken on a walkway lined with cryptomerias, a Japanese cedar tree, believed to have a cleansing effect, which often surrounds Japanese temples and shrines.

Sustic says this design is intentional and meant to transition visitors into a more meditative state of mind.

“We would always tell people to leave all their earthly concerns at the door and welcome to the world of bonsai.”