ASSISTANT CURATOR'S BLOG: Fall at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum

Figure 1Trident Maple (Acer buergerianum) donated by Ted C. Guyger in 1990, in training since 1975.

Practicing the art of bonsai and penjing is rewarding in many ways, and each season provides a multitude of beauty, work, and lessons. As fall continues, all the hard work we bonsai practitioners have put in throughout the growing season on our deciduous trees is honored by an array of yellows, oranges, and reds.

Now in mid-to-late fall, we have a moment to breathe the cool autumn air and enjoy the vibrant colors. But like many things in life, this moment of visual pleasure and relaxation feels all too short lived. The pigments slowly begin to fade, and leaves tumble to our display areas, signaling that the next phase of seasonal work has arrived. 

Leaves dropping from our deciduous trees conveys that the stored resources in the leaves have been reabsorbed into the twigs, branches, trunks, and roots. This reserved energy will power our trees when they awaken to grow again in the spring.

Now we can begin tertiary structural pruning of many of our deciduous trees, like the much-beloved trident maples and other non-flowering species. This pruning process includes spotting twigs that have thickened in the outer canopy, detracting from the delicate, finely ramified structure we strive for. We also look for areas where more than two twigs are growing from one location, known as a node. By reducing these areas to two twigs, we can prevent unwanted swelling and promote a smooth transition of taper from the trunk to the tip of the twig. 

Ginkgo biloba – donated by Kiku Shinkai in 1976, in training since 1926

Lastly, we look at areas where twigs have elongated too far and prune them back to scale with the design of the tree. This work may be completed after the leaves are done changing color until late winter but should finish before the buds begin to elongate and open. If we prune during the dormancy period, we reduce the chance that new growth will be stimulated due to the removal of growth inhibiting hormones. We prune judiciously to perpetuate health and the execution of the design we have been working so hard to create.

While pines, spruces, and junipers don’t lose all their foliage, these conifers also need some attention before the onset of winter dormancy. Pines and spruces can now be cleaned of old needles, and their designs can be refined with wiring. Weaker foliage on junipers can be removed, and adventitious growth can be eliminated from the crotches of branches.

Cleaning out old needles and growth allows more light to enter the canopy and stimulate interior buds, helping them more strongly develop. Cleaning trees this time of year can be tedious, especially on a large collection, but I think this intimate operation brings us closer to our trees and gives us an even better understanding of their health and growth habits. 

This is also an important time to take advantage of the last warm months to ensure all winter preparation and some spring preparation is completed, and those techniques vary greatly. The simplest is arranging the area where trees will be placed on the ground out of the cold drying winds. Raised beds can be constructed to heel trees into mulch to protect the delicate root systems. Cold frames can be built and prepared to provide protection from wind and frost damage.

Cleaning buildings and testing heating and ventilation systems in greenhouses should be done to ensure all mechanisms are functioning properly. No matter the method of protection, be on top of this task before the temperatures dip below 40° F. If a random cold snap of 28° F or below arrives before everything is prepared for winter, the best thing for your trees is to place them on the ground for the night.  

American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) donated by Fred H. Mies in 2003, in training since 1979

Many other tasks may be completed at this time of year, but the ones shared above are what I feel to be the most important. As the leaves on all of the trees in the landscape and in our bonsai and penjing gardens begin to fall, and winter approaches, we, like the trees, must try to store our energy, shed our stress, and prepare for the challenging cold months ahead.

Sincerely,

Andrew Bello
Assistant Curator

The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum
U.S. National Arboretum

Historical Tree Spotlight: A Black Pine from Dr. Yee-sun Wu

The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum is home to a breathtaking penjing collection housed in the Yee-sun Wu Chinese Pavilion. This month’s Historical Tree Spotlight draws your attention to a Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) from Dr. Yee-sun Wu, whose trees initiated the foundation of the Museum’s Chinese collection and who financially supported the pavilion’s construction. 

A prominent penjing collector, Wu began styling the pine in 1936 and donated it in 1986, along with 23 other trees of various species. Read more about his personal background here. 

This Japanese black pine can be categorized as a tree penjing. “Penjing” refers to scenic landscapes created in trays or ports that often include additions like rocks and ceramic figurines, like a Chinese landscape painting come to life. A pot with a single tree can be called a “tree penjing” but is more commonly known as “penzai,” the Chinese pronunciation of the characters of “bonsai.” 

The pine’s exaggerated primary branch, the lowest and longest branch off the right of the tree, is a distinct Chinese tree penjing quality, James said.

“If your eye follows the curvy line of the trunk up and then down that swooping branch, you can see that it gives a playfulness or a whimsical look to the tree,” he said.  

Many of Wu’s penjing were trained in the Lingnan style – the clip and grow technique – which his father and grandfather are credited with popularizing. James said the dramatic change in the tree’s direction, led by the primary branch, is consistent with the aesthetics of Lingnan style. The sweeping movement emulates Chinese brush paintings and drawings that, along with scholarly pursuits of poetry and culture, have inspired penjing artists for hundreds of years. 

“If you look at a lot of old paintings of trees in China, there are sharp zig zags in the branching with a lot of natural breaks and snaps left in the painting,” he said. “It shows the weathering of the tree and its survival through time.”

This pine inspired the logo used on the cover of a booklet listing the trees Wu gave to the Museum in 1986.

A shot of the pine in its original pot from Wu's second publishing of his book.

Lingnan style technically means “south of the mountains” and strives to reveal but not control the nature of each tree specimen. Because the style encourages spontaneity and whimsy, these penjing appear more natural than bonsai, James said. 

He added that the black pine was likely collected and placed in a pot, like many Lingnan trees, rather than grown from seeds. The original pot is a traditional deep penjing container that fosters strong tree growth, which is useful when trees are first developing. Now that the penjing is more mature, it tolerates the shallowness and size of its current pot, which retains water well and restricts root growth, facilitating shorter branches.

Wu wrote in his book Man Lung Garden Artistic Pot Plants: “The challenge of art in penjing consists of uniting within the same pot the three elements from Chinese proverbs: ‘heaven, earth and man.’”

Caring for the pine

James hesitates to categorize this tree as completely Lingnan because black pines will die if they are constantly clipped back. Evergreens, like black pines, are typically treated with decandling, or the process of removing a first flush of foliage growth to create a second flush of needles shorter than the first. Shorter needles are in better proportion to small trees in containers and increase the trees’ ramification, or number of branch bifurcations, James said.

He added that Museum staff do the bulk of the work on this black pine between June and July, when decandling should be performed. Decandling the pine too early would produce lengthy needles in its second flush of growth, but decandling too late doesn’t give the second growth spurt time to harden before winter.

From August on, James and the Museum team remove old needles with fingers or tweezers. Black pines in the wild retain needles for multiple years, but James said they must remove the older needles periodically to help light filter through the top of the tree to lower foliage.

 “We pull more needles in stronger areas and less in weaker spots,” James said. “This practice makes the black pine look neater and balances the growth.”

Museum Donors & Their Trees: Dr. Yee-sun Wu

The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum is home to impressive trees from collectors and masters around the world. Among that amalgam of donors is Dr. Yee-sun Wu, one of the most prominent penjing connoisseurs and stylists. 

Dr. Wu was raised in a family that had practiced penjing for generations. He was born the eldest of 13 brothers and sisters in the Guangdong province of China. To support his family during the Great Depression, Dr. Wu started a bank in Hong Kong called Wing Lung Money Exchange – “Wing Lung” meaning “long-lasting harvest” or “good business.” 

The organization has grown over the decades into a multi-story, highly respected business in central Hong Kong and Kowloon now known as Wing Lung Bank. But Dr. Wu retired from the bank business at the end of World War II after his health declined and he was forced to rest.

During this period, he devoted all of his time to studying traditional penjing, creating a new persona for himself as “Man Lung,” or “scholar-farmer.” In 1967 in Kowloon, Dr. Wu and a few friends created the Man Lung Garden to display trees and serve as a forum for discussion about penjing. The Chinese government eventually acquired the land in the 1970s to build a railway station, but the garden was established at the Hong Kong Baptist University again in 2000.

In 1968, Dr. Wu printed 10,000 copies of his book the Man Lung Garden Artistic Pot Plants, his international term for penjing, to discuss the features of the garden and the ideology, history and celebration of artistic pot plants. 

He was one of six honorees at the Fuku-Bonsai Center International Honor Role in 1990. 

Dr. Wu, who died in 2005, is survived by 13 children and almost 40 grandchildren and great grandchildren in Hong Kong. 

Traditional styling 

Former NBF President Felix Laughlin said servicemen returning from their stations in Japan after World War II brought bonsai knowledge back to the United States. But he said many people didn’t realize that the tradition of penjing, the Chinese word for bonsai, could be traced back hundreds of years to China. 

Dr. Wu popularized traditional penjing, in the Lingnan style, throughout the Western world. Laughlin said Japanese bonsai artists often rely on wire to place branches in different positions, repeatedly replacing the wire as it cuts into the wood. Penjing artists like Dr. Wu tend to use the “clip and grow” technique, pruning again and again to determine branch placement, he said.

“You can tell bonsai have been heavily influenced by human care and training, while penjing are much wilder looking and free form,” Laughlin said. 

 Read more about the differences in the art form through our interview with Zhao Qingquan.

Dr. Wu’s trees

The penjing master curated a collection of more than 300 trees, which he donated to various institutions across the world. One can view Dr. Wu’s works in collections in Canada, Hong Kong, China and the United States. 

Former U.S. National Arboretum Director Dr. John Creech was familiar with Dr. Wu’s excellent penjing collection. He sent Col. John Hinds, a retired military officer who was heavily involved in the bonsai community, to visit Dr. Wu in Hong Kong to inform him about the plans to curate a collection in the United States. 

At first, Dr. Wu was impressed with the idea but thought his tropical trees would be better maintained on the West Coast, where the climate is more similar to Hong Kong and wouldn’t have cold winters like Washington, D.C. In 1983, Museum volunteer Janet Lanman wrote to Dr. Wu to renew the request that he display penjing at the Arboretum, assuring him that they could provide adequate winter protection for his trees. 

In July 1986, the Arboretum received 31 penjing from Hong Kong – 24 from Dr. Wu and seven from his colleague Shu-ying Lui. Dr. Wu provided a generous monetary gift for NBF and the Arboretum to construct the Yee-sun Wu Chinese Pavilion and even sent over some workers from Hong Kong to help with the details of the project. 

Although the Museum remains closed to protect staff and visitors during the spread of COVID-19, you can spot Dr. Wu’s trees online under our Chinese collection.

Photographing Bonsai with Stephen Voss: Fall Foliage at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum

A trident maple in its full fall splendor

By the end of October in D.C., the trees have begun to lose their summertime greenery. The colors that have long dominated the spring and summer here are in flux. The chlorophyll that defined the color palette of nature is waning, and brilliant yellows, oranges and reds emerge. I visited the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum on the grounds of the U.S. National Arboretum one afternoon to see these fall colors in the fading light of an unseasonably warm day.

Photographing at this time of year feels like a gift, an exuberant offering of beauty and color that crescendos here in November then quickly fades as we settle in for the browns and grays of winter. The shortness of the days gives us golden hours in the late afternoon, bringing warm light from a setting sun. 

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LEFT: This photo was taken with the camera more or less on an even exposure. RIGHT: For this photo, I underexposed by a couple of stops (switching shutter speed from 1/125 to 1/500) and increased the contrast of the image in Photoshop.

As the sun sinks lower in the sky, I like to look for little pockets of light that have filtered through the trees, illuminating just a spot of a branch or particularly colorful leaf. If you’re able to adjust your camera’s exposure, you can deliberately underexpose the image a bit to deepen the colors and darken the background, as I’ve done above. 

Photographing into the sunlight gives the opportunity to see the colors of fall backlit and illuminated.

The vibrance of the colors is magnified with morning dew or a bit of rain. On the gloomiest, rainiest days, there are great images to be made. As the old photographer’s saying goes, “Bad weather makes for good photos.”  

At dusk, the light softens and we get these beautiful, subtle tones on a ginkgo tree that has just begun to turn yellow.

While I love golden light, I think dawn and dusk are the most interesting times to photograph. The light has cooled to a bluish tone, and the warm colors of the leaves stand out even more against their environment. In the gloaming, the hard shadows from direct light are gone and for just a brief time the drama of the sunlight fades and there are beautiful, subtle photos to be made. 

I placed a beautiful maple tree to serve as a splash of color to balance the wonderful stark white wall that shows off the tree in the background. Fall color can be part of your photographic palette and a compositional tool, it doesn’t always have to be the center of attention.

The trees changing colors at different times can be a great opportunity to show contrast and play with color. A particularly vibrant tree might make for an interesting macro (close-up) image, but you might also consider placing it in context. Sometimes we appreciate colors in nature more richly when they are photographed in comparison to their less vibrant surroundings. 

I was fascinated by these beech leaves, which showed the entirety of fall's transformation, from verdant green to the brown of winter with a pale yellow in between.

A macro lens allows you to use depth of field as a visual tool to sort out what you want to emphasize and not emphasize. I loved the distant silhouette of the cedar elm’s trunks that subtlety frame its foreground leaves.

With the setting sun, a quiet comes to the Arboretum. While the museum remains closed, the dedicated caretakers of these trees continue their work each day. These days, they are preparing the space for winter and for the time when they can reopen the doors for visitors to enjoy these special trees in person once again. Whether you have a bonsai collection of your own, or can simply see fall colors out your window, it’s a great time to pack a bag and walk through nature to interpret its splendor.

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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.” This entry is part of his regular guest blog series, “Photographing Bonsai with Stephen Voss", published on NBF’s blog, covering everything from lighting, angles and mindset needed when photographing the trees. This has been a special entry in this series given the times.

Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to never miss one of his entries! Read his last entry here.

A Holiday Gift Guide: What to Get the Bonsai Lover in Your Life

Looking for the perfect gift for the bonsai lover in your life? Or maybe loved ones are asking what you want for the holidays?

Read on for some shopping inspiration from National Bonsai Foundation board members and National Bonsai & Penjing Museum volunteers. If you make any purchases on Amazon, please use our Amazon Smile link to help support NBF with each dollar you spend!

A NEW TOOL

For the budding bonsai master 

For newbies, grab this eight-piece beginner’s tool set from Bonsai Outlet. A battery-operated toothbrush is a great tool to rid tree trunks and branches of algae. If you’re looking to splurge, we’re coveting this electric carver from Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers.

A GOOD READ

For the bonsai bookworm

NBF published many books about the trees of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in the last few years, including: 

• Bonsai & Penjing: Ambassadors of Peace and Beauty (Ann McClellan)

• In Training: A Bonsai Photo Book (Stephen Voss)

• The Peace Tree from Hiroshima (Sandra Moore)

• Forest, Rock Planting & Ezo Spruce Bonsai (Saburo Kato) 

• John Naka’s Sketchbook 

Find them in the NBF bookstore.

We also recommend John Naka’s Bonsai Techniques, Volumes 1 and 2, which many consider the “bible of bonsai,” and Michael Hagedorn’s latest book Bonsai Heresy.

UNLIMITED ACCESS

For the one who can’t get enough of bonsai

A subscription to International BONSAI magazine is a gift that keeps giving throughout the year. Each issue of this educational, professional publication is like a mini lesson on specialized bonsai topics.

A subscription to Ryan Neil’s Bonsai Mirai Live will provide weekly web presentations on all aspects of bonsai and access to an incredible archive of the last year’s presentations.

BONSAI PRIDE

For the fashionista

New this year, we are offering National Bonsai Foundation branded merchandise. A portion of proceeds from every sale is given to the National Bonsai Foundation to support the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum so your bonsai-lover can wear their pride and know they are supporting their passion as well. Shop sweatshirts, t-shirts, tote bags and even mugs.

A GIFT THAT CAN’T GO WRONG

For the one who’s impossible to buy for

A gift certificate to a bonsai vendor. The American Bonsai Tool Company, Dallas Bonsai and Brussel’s Bonsai are some of our favorites. 

A GIFT OF PRESERVATION

For anyone who loves bonsai, history or nature

A donation in their name to the National Bonsai Foundation to preserve the art of bonsai and penjing for future generations. Click HERE for more on how your donation supports NBF and the Museum. Happy Holidays!

Bonsai Around the World: The James J. Smith Bonsai Gallery in Fort Pierce, Florida

The entrance to the James J. Smith Bonsai Gallery at Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Florida. The architect-designed theme is “Asia meets Florida Cracker,” Kehoe said. Photo credit: @heathcotebg on Instagram.

The world of bonsai is fortunate to encounter so many legendary artists, many of whom are immortalized in displays, buildings or collections at bonsai museums and gardens. For this installation of Bonsai Around the World, we highlight the bonsai collection of an eminent and accomplished icon in the Floridian bonsai community: James Smith. 

We spoke with Tom Kehoe, a close friend and student of the late bonsai master who is now the curator of the James J. Smith Bonsai Collection at Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Fort Pierce, Florida. 

Kehoe was drawn to martial arts classes at an early age, which blossomed into an interest in Asian languages, history and art. After receiving a book about bonsai at 16 years old, Kehoe tried to start training bonsai, but he wasn’t very successful in keeping his trees alive. Fifteen years later, a knowledgeable bonsai stylist gave him some tips for bonsai care and, after a few months of successfully raising a few bonsai, Kehoe sought out a bonsai master named Jim Smith for a more expert point of view. 

Tom Kehoe, the curator at the bonsai gallery. Photos courtesy of Tom Kehoe.

Kehoe and his wife began attending Smith’s free monthly lessons, forging a 20-year friendship. Kehoe eventually began assisting Smith with his nursery, helping to run bonsai seminars and eventually taking over the care of Smith’s private tree collection as Smith’s health began to falter. 

“Jim must have had five or six thousand little trees,” Kehoe said. “He had tables and tables of little trees that could grow up to be bonsai.”

To ensure his private collection of bonsai would remain in loving and skilled hands, Smith decided to donate his 100 trees to Heathcote Botanical Gardens, to whom he had previously gifted a few trees. Heathcote leveled off an area of their grounds, designed a display section and constructed a pavilion for the incoming collection. Meanwhile, Kehoe and Smith spent about two and a half years preparing Smith’s bonsai for transfer to their new home. 

“We’d take trees out of the pots, trim the roots way back, reshape the canopy and put them back into the pots,” Kehoe said. “I’d even take one or two home with me, work on them and bring them back the next week. I developed a personal relationship with those trees.”

When the trees first arrived at the Heathcote gardens, Kehoe’s full-time job precluded him from working with the collection. But years later, after Heathcote staff asked him and his wife to work on the trees in preparation for a fundraiser at the gardens, he accepted the curator position. 

“I now commute down there a few times a week, but we have a whole cadre of volunteers that help us out,” Kehoe said. 

A popular attraction at the gallery, a bougainvillea. Its pot is 4 feet long, and the tree can only be moved by forklift!

Getting to know the collection and its owner

Heathcote Botanical Gardens consists of six separate gardens, including areas like the bonsai gallery, a rainforest garden and even a children’s garden. Once a month, staff will host events during which they’ll work on visitors’ bonsai or advise them on how to train and style your tree.

The James J. Smith Bonsai Gallery features about 110 trees of 35 species, almost all of which are tropical and subtropicals and continuously displayed. Their oldest tree is thought to be about 200 years old, a buttonwood with a massive driftwood trunk collected from the Florida Keys that has been in training since 2004. 

Kehoe said many of the bonsai are several feet tall and require six people or more to move them. He said Smith, a bonsai master and the collection’s namesake, is remembered as the “grandfather” of bonsai in Florida, which is home to myriad bonsai displays, nurseries and societies – including a state organization. 

Heathcote hosts a “Garden of Lights” event each year, bringing in 10,000 people to the bonsai gallery in a matter of weeks.

Kehoe said one of the collection’s most notable and prettiest trees is a twin trunk Jaboticaba John Naka styled in the 1970s. The gallery also houses a saikei, or “living landscape,” that bonsai master Yuji Yoshimura arranged in the 1970s. 

Smith is credited with bringing a number of species onto the bonsai scene, particularly Portulacaria Afra – a steadily growing succulent that plays a vital role in the South African ecosystem and is one of the most effective plants in climate mitigation processes. Smith’s first bonsai was a Portulacaria that has been in a pot since 1957.

Another atypical bonsai is an informal upright Bo tree, or Ficus religiosa, the storied species credited with starting the Buddha on his path to enlightenment. The Bo tree’s large heart-shaped leaves are said to represent the great heart of the Buddha.

“Jim would always find unusual species, like bo trees or baobabs, and see how to work with them to make bonsai,” Kehoe said. 

The late James Smith working on a 5-foot, formal upright Portulacaria Afra – the logo tree for the gallery.

Heathcote staff have to store their Baobab in a dark closet without water for part of the year to simulate its natural drought-ridden growth environment in Africa. The gallery also features a gumbo limbo tree, native to South Florida and the Caribbean. Their distinctive thin and shaggy bark is likened to the appearance of skin peeling away. 

“The local nickname for the gumbo limbo is ‘tourist tree’ because, like the tourists, it’s red and peeling!” Kehoe joked. 

You can find more information about the Heathcote and the James J. Smith Bonsai Gallery here. Have you been? Share your pictures and stories with us: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. 

This magnificent Ficus exotica is 4 feet wide, has been in training since 1972 and was displayed at Epcot’s Flower and Garden Show in 2019.

Historical Tree Spotlight: The Logo Tree

The Sargent juniper, photographed by Stephen Voss for the National Bonsai Foundation Annual Report in 2019

Have you ever wondered how the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum logo came to be? 

In this month’s Historical Tree Spotlight, you’ll get to know the story behind one of our Sargent junipers, Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii, known as the shimpaku juniper in Japan. While the tree is notable for its place among the first 53 bonsai that established the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum collection in 1976, it’s also the inspiration for the Museum’s logo!

History of the Sargent juniper

The juniper is a yamadori, meaning it was collected from the wild. The tree came from Itoigawa, in Japan’s Niigata prefecture. Donor Kenichi Oguchi, who ran a bonsai nursery known for its beautifully trained junipers in the neighboring city of Okaya, started training the tree in 1905. Oguchi’s employees visited the Museum in 1977 to demonstrate how to use wiring to maintain the shape of the juniper. 

Museum Curator Michael James said bonsai often outgrow or might not match the style of their original containers, but the Sargent juniper has lived in the same antique Chinese pot since it was donated. He said the styling of this juniper is an excellent representation of the natural growth junipers experience in the wild, specifically in the land around Itoigawa, home to some of the most prized juniper yamadori material in Japan. 

Bob Drechsler, the Museum’s first curator, wiring the juniper with two of Kenichi Oguchi’s staff members in 1977

Trees in the Niigata region grow along cliffs and mountainous areas and are exposed to heavy snows and winds. The harsh weather conditions force junipers to fold back on themselves, which is reflected in the way Museum staff have trained this Sargent juniper’s branches to harmonize with the “shari,” or deadwood on the trunk, James said. 

“When training a juniper or bonsai, if you go by the guidelines, the branches often radiate out from the trunk,” he said. “But in nature, their branches fold like ribbons on top of each other. Sargent junipers also have a mounding habit in its foliage that is often cloud like.”

A story of resurrection

In the 1980s and 90s, the Sargent juniper mysteriously started to experience die-back. Finally, a curator determined the cause: a pest called the juniper twig girdler – the larvae of a small moth – had been eating away at the bonsai’s branches each year, slowly killing off parts of the tree until the apex completely died in 1998. 

“In the wild, twig girdlers don't harm junipers too much because the trees only lose a few branches but are perfectly adept and still survive,” James said. “But when it’s a little bonsai, the twig girdler is devastating.”

The larvae bury themselves in tiny holes under the bark, out of reach from treatment like insecticides, he said. Curators tried protecting the tree with measures like screened cages, but the most effective method was using a magnifying glass to find the holes and using a dental pick to scrape out the larvae. 

Left: The juniper in 1998 after losing its apex to the girdlers | Right: The juniper in 2019 with healthy foliage and branches

Once Museum staff discovered how to stave off the girdlers, former Museum Curator and recently retired National Bonsai Foundation Co-President Jack Sustic restyled the tree to create a new apex, and the tree is healthier than ever. 

“Even to this day, that moth returns to this tree annually and often just to this tree” James said. “But when the girdlers are found early enough, with vigilant checking, the branches are not lost.”

The birth of the logo

The Museum’s logo, created for the U.S. National Arboretum and adopted by NBF, came to fruition thanks to a collaborative effort. Former Arboretum Director John Creech initiated the development of the logo to create a “visual identity” for the Museum’s collection, in imitation of Japanese family crests.  

Beverly Hoge in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s communications department and local graphic designer Ann Masters, who had traveled in Japan, partnered to create the symbol. Masters visited the original Japanese bonsai collection – quarantined in Glenn Dale, Maryland in 1975 before the Museum was built – and was inspired by this Sargent juniper.

The evolution of the NBF and Museum logo.

John Creech noted in his book, The Bonsai Saga, that the logo depicts the Sargent juniper in a double circle to reflect the “sturdiness” of the bonsai and its abundant foliage. The leftmost branch of the juniper breaks the bands of the circle, which symbolizes the “continued vigor of the trees in their new home” – the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum!

“You can see the cloud-like foliage, the twisted trunk, the ribbon-like branches and the line separating dead and live wood in the drawing,” James said. “Those aspects were the main focus when creating the final version of this logo.”

The next time you visit the Museum, be on the lookout for our logo and pass on your knowledge of the significant history of this Sargent juniper bonsai. 

The entrance gate to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum bearing the logo. Photo credit: USDA

National Bonsai Foundation Introduces 2020-21 Board of Directors

National Bonsai Foundation Introduces 2020-21 Board of Directors

We are thrilled to announce the National Bonsai Foundation 2020-21 Board of Directors! James Hughes is our new Board Chair. Read about his curatorship at the Museum and his background in our August blog posts. Marybel Balendonck, one of the founding NBF directors, will retain her position as vice president. 

We also have some new faces in officer positions. Help us welcome Chair-Elect Daniel Angelucci and Secretary/Treasurer James Brant. 

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Daniel Angelucci, Chair-Elect

Daniel Angelucci will serve as the NBF chair-elect for two years, followed by a two-year term as the NBF board chair. Angelucci has been practicing bonsai for 36 years. 

He was first introduced to the art when he lived in Flint, Michigan, and came across a bonsai demonstration at a local mall. Angelucci was inspired to buy books about bonsai to learn more. 

In 2008, his interest in bonsai took off after he joined the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society and the Four Seasons Bonsai Club of Michigan. The clubs exposed him to nationally recognized groups, like the American Bonsai Society (ABS), and bonsai artists like Jack Wikle and former NBF Co-President and Museum Curator Jack Sustic. 

Angelucci first joined the NBF board as a member in 2018. He decided to apply for the chair-elect officer position to contribute a varying skill set to the operations in support of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.

“It seemed to me that about 90 percent of the people who were on the board of the Foundation were bonsai professionals in some form or another,” he said. “I’m mediocre in bonsai art at best, but I thought I might have something to offer with regard to the time and talent I accrued in my financial and business backgrounds.” 

Now fully retired, Angelucci brings to the NBF board an extensive background in wealth management and investment strategy, with educational certificates from Duke, Harvard, Yale, Wharton and University of California, Berkeley.

He is a longtime friend of the arts, serving on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and holding memberships in NBF, ABS, the Ann Arbor bonsai society and Pittsburgh Bonsai Society. 

As chair-elect, Angelucci will focus on forging relationships with U.S. bonsai professionals and broadening the awareness of the Museum to maintain its significance as a U.S. national treasure. 

“There’s so much history in the original gift that the Japanese gave to the United States and in trees like the Yamaki pine, which survived the Hiroshima bombing,” he said. “It would be a travesty if we were not able to maintain the health of trees like that.” 

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James Brant, Secretary/Treasurer

James Brant will serve as Secretary/Treasurer for two years, then step into the full position of Secretary/Treasurer for two more. 

Brant taught various levels of education, from elementary school to adult evening school, for 31 years in Pennsylvania, retiring in 1999. He became involved with bonsai in the 70s, starting classes at Rosade Bonsai Studio in 1978. 

Brant has served several positions in the Pennsylvania and MidAtlantic bonsai societies and is a member of the Bonsai Society of the Lehigh Valley, Second Sunday Study Group and Delaware Valley Bonsai Study Group. He has served as coordinator for the Delaware group and Bonsai Kaido Ken Shu Kai Study Group. 

Brant has also instructed children’s bonsai classes and presented programs on wintering and bonsai display. He received the 2002 Bonsai Clubs International Meritorious Service Award. 

He was honored and pleased to join the board after being asked to fill in for a departing member. Before the joint Secretary/Treasurer position was created this year, Brant served solely as the NBF treasurer and has been a board member since 2005. 

Brant said some of his most memorable moments from the last 15 years at NBF were the compilation and publishing of Bonsai Master John Naka’s sketchbook, which you can find on our website, and the renovation of the Japanese exhibit.

In his new position, Brant hopes to provide NBF with a continuity of service and contribute to the Board’s goals in as many ways possible. 

“My wife Linda and I have met some truly wonderful people, and traveled to some remarkable places to spread the fellowship of bonsai,” he said. “Bonsai – and, to a degree, NBF – is a hobby that has given my life meaning, serenity, fellowship, and learning all rolled into one.” 

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Here is our full 2020-21 Board of Directors. We can’t wait to see what this year will bring under the stewardship of these devoted individuals!

OFFICERS

• James Hughes (‘22) - University Park, MD, Chair of the Board

• Daniel Angelucci (‘22) - Harrison Township, MI, Chair-Elect of the Board

• James Brant (‘22) - Royersford, Pennsylvania, Secretary/Treasurer

• Marybel Balendonck (’23) - Fullerton, California, Vice President

DIRECTORS

• Ross Campbell (‘23) – Silver Spring, MD

• Milton Chang, PhD (‘23) – Los Altos Hill, CA

• Christopher Cochrane ('22) – Glen Allen, Virginia

• Julie Crudele ('22) – Annapolis, Maryland

• Edward Fabian, ('21) – Niceville, Florida

• Joseph Gutierrez, MD, FACS ('21) – McLean, Virginia

• Karen Harkaway, MD (‘21) – Mount Holly, New Jersey

• Richard Kahn, PhD (‘22) – Alexandria, VA

• Cheryl Manning ('21) – Los Angeles, California

• Ann McClellan ('21) – Washington, DC

• Carl Morimoto, PhD (‘21) – San Jose, CA

• Pauline Muth ('21) – West Charlton, NY

• Doug Paul (‘21) – Kennett Square, PA

• Glenn Reusch (’21) – Rochelle, Virginia

• Deborah Rose, PhD (’22) – Beltsville, Maryland

• Stephen Voss ('21) – Washington, DC

EX-OFFICIO

• Charles Croft – President, Potomac Bonsai Association

• Mark Fields – President, American Bonsai Society

ICYMI: We profiled our recently retired board members! Reflect on their legacies with us here. 

Special gratitude and appreciation for retiring board members

At the annual National Bonsai Foundation Board of Directors meeting in August, we had the pleasure of honoring three directors who have retired from the board: Larry Ragle, Bill Valavanis and Jane Yamashiroya. We are grateful for the directors’ dedication to fostering a worldwide appreciation of peace and friendship through the art of bonsai. Please join us in reflecting on their contributions to the bonsai community over the years.

We have opened up the comment board below should you like to share your messages.

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Larry Ragle (1982-2020)

Larry Ragle joined NBF so he could contribute to the mission of elevating and expanding the value of bonsai on a global scale. He was one of the original board members when NBF was founded, and both he and his wife Nina have been very involved in the bonsai community. Ragle felt his directorship was an important step to honor his sensei, bonsai masters John Naka and Harry Hirao.

He sees NBF as the soul of the National Bonsai Museum and thanks NBF Vice President Marybel Balendonck for her encouragement and guidance. Ragle appreciates the heartwarming support he and NBF received during fundraising events that honored bonsai masters like John Naka, Harry Hirao and George Yamaguchi. 

“It has been a delight to see the Museum become a reality and watch all the improvements with so many dedicated volunteers,” he says. “It has been an honor to have played a small part, along with the rest of the bonsai community and beyond, to help make NBF the quality organization it has become.”

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Bill Valavanis (1998-2020)

Bill Valavanis originally joined NBF to help promote the Museum and bonsai through his extensive connections in the bonsai community. Valavanis’ favorite memory as a director is when he served as National Chair of the selection committee to assemble the initial 56 trees that formed the Museum’s collection of North American Bonsai more than 30 years ago. 

Valavanis fondly remembers when he and bonsai master Yuji Yoshimura compiled a list of 16 recommendations to revitalize the Museum’s collections and facilities. Valavanis is the third and only living inductee into the U.S. National Arboretum National Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s National Bonsai Hall of Fame. 

“Although I am no longer a director, I will continue to support and assist NBF to sustain the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum,” he says. “I am honored I had the opportunity to share my experiences and knowledge gained during my 58 years of bonsai study with NBF for more than three decades.”

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Jane Yamashiroya (2010-2020)

Jane Yamashiroya and her husband Roy became hooked on bonsai after attending a class on bonsai basics. They joined a bonsai club and spent their spare time improving skills. Eventually Ted Tsukiyama invited them to join the Hawaii Bonsai Association and informed them about NBF. 

Yamashiroya would come to serve as HBA’s president and as a bonsai instructor and international consultant for the World Bonsai Friendship Federation, all the while attending myriad bonsai conventions, getting to know bonsai senseis and joining the NBF board. The highlight of her tenure was traveling to Japan, China and South Korea to raise funds for the renovation of the Japanese Pavilion.

“It was an honor and a privilege to have served on the NBF Board,” Yamashiroya says. “When I began, there were only a few women in the beginner’s class but now it is equally divided. I hope to motivate the new members to carry the torch and go beyond Hawaii to study and expand their skills.”

We are grateful for all of the hard work and thoughtful consideration these three board members have contributed to the NBF governing body over the years. We hope our strong relationships with them will continue to blossom. 

At our annual meeting we also paid tribute to the work of Dr. Carl Morimoto, who has served as an NBF director since 2006 but stepped into the Vice President role in 2011. As of August 2020, Dr. Morimoto has retired as vice president, but we are pleased that he will remain on as a director. 

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Dr. Carl Morimoto, Vice President (2011-2020)

Bonsai master Harry Hirao encouraged Dr. Morimoto to join NBF so he could support the maintenance of the bicentennial bonsai gift from Japan. Being involved with NBF gave him opportunities to visit the Museum and see the bonsai close up. He is appreciative of working with the NBF executive committee and Museum staff, especially when supporting former NBF President Felix Laughlin in the communications and customs observed in Japan.

“The Museum’s Japanese white pine, or Yamaki pine, is known as the ‘Peace Tree’ because it survived the Hiroshima atomic bomb,” Dr. Morimoto says. “I also survived the bomb in Hiroshima, so I feel some destiny in being one of the NBF directors supporting the Museum.”