Historical Tree Spotlight: Quince forest planting

The quince forest planting, photo by Stephen Voss 2021

One alluring aspect of bonsai is the ability to recreate an entire forest from a far away place all in a single pot. In this month’s Historical Tree Spotlight, we draw attention to a planting of Chinese quinces (Pseudocydonia sinensis) at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum that does just that. 

Former curator Warren Hill began this arrangement in 1975, growing the centermost and now-largest tree from nursery stock to produce quinces – a yellow, apple- or pear-like fruit (pronounced “kwins”) that is usually not eaten raw but is used in desserts or teas. He then collected seeds from the fruit of that parent tree to grow the surrounding trees.  

Hill combined the parent and offspring trees to create the planting in 2002 and donated the arrangement to the Museum in July 2013. 

Museum Curator Michael James said the trees are relatively similar in age, but Hill grew them to different sizes and shapes by paying special attention to his thickening technique.

“It’s really about how much foliage each tree is allowed to have,” James said. “Allowing a tree’s branches to really extend before cutting them off allows the trees to thicken faster, but trimming branches fairly often keeps a tree smaller. 

Now that the forest planting is fairly developed, Museum staff keeps the foliage throughout the forest planting at a similar vigor to balance the leaf size with the trunk sizes and ensure the trees are proportional to each other. 

“Maintaining this difference in height and thickness really drives home the true representation of how trees look in a natural forest environment,” James said. 

He said the deciduous planting requires a lot of sun and a fair amount of water compared to other trees in the collection. The trees in Hill’s planting are some of the first to flower in the spring, and the quinces’ bark changes colors and textures throughout the year. But James said the planting peaks in the summer, when the bark exfoliates.

Warren Hill and the Chinese quince forest planting, photo credit to Walter Pall

“The smooth bark in the winter and early spring is a mixture of grays and tans and different browns, even greens,” he said. “But when that exfoliates and those colors flake off, it gives way to rosy oranges and pinks that look as if someone lit a match inside the heart wood.”

In the fall, if the flowers are pollinated, the trees grow their quinces, which are so large compared to their branches that Museum staff rarely leave more than one fruit on the composition each year. 

First Curator’s Apprentice Sophia Osorio said the planting is protected in the greenhouse during the colder months, so the quinces don’t always have access to pollinators. Museum staff have to manually pollinate trees, taking a soft, bristled brush from flower to flower to transfer the pollen. Osorio said they will pick a few flowers to enlarge throughout the year and eventually grow fruit, but that takes some extra planning. 

“We have to be careful that the branch we allow to flower is in the right place in the composition and will be able to support that fruit, yet not swell too much from developing,” she said.

Osorio added that the branch often has to be supported with wire because a fruit could easily snap a bonsai branch off by the time it matures in fall.

“The fruit draws tons of nutrients up from the roots, through the trunk, through the branch and to itself,” she said. “Due to that immense transfer of water and energy, the branch with the fruit is going to thicken a lot more than the others.”

Photo by Stephen Voss, 2021

Museum Curators: Warren Hill

Warren Hill at his one-man show at East Tennessee State University in the late 1990s. Trees (from left to right): American Hornbeam, Bald Cypress and Ginkgo Biloba, also known as Chi Chi Ginkgo

Not many people can recall experiencing a specific, life-altering moment. But Warren Hill attests that his personal and professional paths completely changed after he walked into a bonsai exhibition hosted by the California Bonsai Society (CBS) in 1960. 

For this final edition of Museum Curators, we spoke with Hill, who presided over the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum from 1996 to 2001. Though he didn’t practice bonsai growing up or in school, Hill always had a deep interest in Japanese culture and said he was immediately hooked on the art of bonsai after walking into the CBS show.

“I had no idea what I was looking at, but I knew it was magnificent,” he said of the exhibition.

But Hill’s adoration for bonsai didn’t come totally out of the blue. In college, he majored in engineering and horticulture, his affinity for which stems from his Scandinavian parents. His father was Finnish and his mother was Swedish and held a passion and talent for gardening. Hill was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which shares a cold climate with Scandinavian countries known for their appreciation of the arts, including horticulture. 

“Horticulture is in my background and my heritage,” Hill said. 

Left: One of Warren Hill’s Satsuki Azalea in Informal upright-bunjin, propagated by cutting

Right: One of his trident maples in the yose-ue style, propagated by seed

He was working in the engineering industry when he stumbled upon the CBS exhibition that piqued his interest in bonsai. Hill immediately started collecting business cards from professionals present at the event and got to know bonsai masters like John Naka through a mutual love for nature and Japanese art.

“There are many similarities between the cultures of Scandinavia and Japan,” Hill said. “Every place you go in Japan it’s all about the art. In the simplest house you’ll find it’s almost a shrine to the art, which is kind of the way the Scandinavians feel.”

He began to read everything about bonsai he could get his hands on and studied with Naka and other masters like Saburo Kato and Frank Nagata. In 1974, Hill started to teach and give bonsai lectures, demonstrations and workshops for local and international practitioners and groups. 

Left: Hill critiquing a black pine of Jack Fried, a former president of the Midwest Bonsai Society. Right: Hill helping a student at a bonsai workshop work on their Shimpaku Juniper. Hill traveled around the world to style trees at student workshops. 

After one class on trident maples, Hill was invited to tour around East Tennessee by a friend of his who needed someone to practice bonsai with. Hill was sold on the area and moved from California to Tennessee to work on trees and, coincidentally, meet his future wife.

Shortly after, he received a letter from the U.S. National Arboretum that the Museum curator position was open and they wanted him to apply. He sent in his application, interviewed, and secured the job as the Museum’s second-ever curator. 

“It was an honor to even be asked to be interviewed for the job,” Hill said. “It was a rich position, and I really enjoyed it.”

He said the nicest part of the position was meeting and working with the collection of Museum volunteers to take care of the Museum’s masterpiece bonsai.

“All those nice people who helped out all loved the art as I did,” Hill said. “You meet so many talented people like them and masters like Kato and Naka who were all special and of exceptional quality. When you know the background of people like them and know how gifted they are, you’re kind of in awe when you’re around them.”

California State Convention – Hill is holding a workshop for students in Anaheim, California. They are working with olive trees. 

After Hill retired from the curatorship, he and his wife moved back to Tennessee. He opened Tree-Haven, a bonsai school that taught students from all over the world, and he fell in love with teaching again.

“I like watching the students’ eyes light up when you tell them the answer to a question,” he said. 

For his years of excellent teaching, the Golden State Bonsai Federation awarded Hill the Circle of Sensei Award in 2013. Other distinguished recipients of the award include Ben Oki, John Naka and Harry Hirao. 

Hill remembers sharing with bonsai students that, to be a successful bonsai practitioner, you have to hold a deep love and passion for nature – that will guide you in the right direction. 

Warren used his own drawings of different bonsai styles to show students an idea of what the style looks like. This is Chokkan, which has a formal upright trunk. The majestic appearance represents a large, tall tree standing in the mountains or on a vast low-land plain. Usually the tree's outline is in a pyramidal form.

The Bonsai Board: Dr. Karen Harkaway

Harkaway pruning a deciduous pre-bonsai

The National Bonsai Foundation’s Board of Directors is full of people from different professional backgrounds that find common ground through their love of bonsai. In this episode of The Bonsai Board, you’ll get to know Dr. Karen Harkaway – a talented doctor and bonsai practitioner.

With degrees from Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Harkaway currently practices medical and aesthetic dermatology in New Jersey.

She is the Chief of Dermatology at Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington, a fellow of both the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery, serves on the Clinical Advisory Council of ThermiAesthetics and has aided in developing a successful skin-tightening procedure. 

Despite not growing up with a horticulture or tree-oriented background, Harkaway had always been drawn to the exhibits the Pennsylvania Bonsai Society constructed at the Philadelphia Flower Show each year. Intrigued by the bonsai, she bought a mallsai – or a more commercial, less formal “starter” bonsai – while in medical school and reconnected with the art on a deeper level later in life. Harkaway said she has had to study the horticultural aspects of bonsai, but she’s naturally drawn to the artistic element of training and designing trees. 

“I do certainly love plants, but I’ve learned to appreciate trees from my love of bonsai rather than the typical path of loving trees then bonsai,” she said. “It’s such a cool interplay because it’s not just an art, but there’s a living aspect to it.”

Harkaway’s passion within dermatology is largely aesthetic construction, which also requires the fusion of an artistic eye with the biology and scientific knowledge of Botox, fillers and lasers.  

“If you know horticulture, you’ll do a great job of keeping your trees alive, but it’s the addition of creativity that makes a great bonsai,” she said. “You have to be facile with both aspects in my business as well, so it’s fun to have that correlation between my professional life and my hobby.”

Harakaway has honed her bonsai skills with the guidance of prominent artists from around the globe, from Chase Rosade in America to Mauro Stemberger from Italy. She has hosted Ryan Neil of Bonsai Mirai at her home to lead mini-seminars on the art of bonsai. Harkaway’s award-winning trees have been displayed at the Pennsylvania Flower Show, the Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Societies’ exhibition and the Second U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition.

Harkawaway’s crape myrtle in full autumn display

She was first introduced to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum through friends like the Rosade family and instantly connected with the compelling story of the Museum’s conception and purpose. 

“The Museum is such an American treasure,” Harkaway said. “People think of it as something that resides in D.C., but it was initiated as and has continued to be such a tremendous gift to all American people that I feel it’s very important that we continue to spread that word and have that inclusivity of understanding and recognizing the importance of these trees in our culture.”

Once hooked into the art of bonsai, she became increasingly involved with some of the biggest bonsai groups in the United States: Harkaway served as president of the American Bonsai Society and on the board Pennsylvania Bonsai Society, and she is actively involved with the Bonsai Society of South Jersey – in addition to serving as a member of the NBF Board of Directors. 

“It’s been great to get to know the people who are involved and the work that’s being done at NBF and the work that needs to be done,” she said. “I became much more aware of the need for the ongoing support for the Museum itself, the physical structure and bonsai in general. The camaraderie you feel as part of the group is a wonderful aspect of being a member of the NBF board.”

Bonsai Around the World: The Pacific Bonsai Museum

PBM’s exhibit, World War Bonsai: Remembrance and Resilience, on view through October 2021 Photos: Aarin Packard

Many of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s staff members have gone on to establish a great bonsai legacy for themselves. For this edition of Bonsai Around the World, we detail the Pacific Bonsai Museum through an interview with Aarin Packard, one of our former assistant curators who now leads PBM as curator.

Packard grew up in Southern California, forging a connection to nature while gardening with his parents on the weekends and watching his father work on bonsai in the backyard. He always held an appreciation for miniatures, like scale models, as well as Asian culture, particularly martial arts. Packard, however, only became interested in bonsai after several of his friends began the practice.

He started after buying a tree from the Orange County swap meet and tended to it as a hobby while studying anthropology at California State University, Fullerton. Packard read about the art and visited local nurseries and club shows. He started pursuing bonsai as a career after moving to D.C. to get his master’s in museum studies at The George Washington University and coming across the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. 

“On my first day as a resident in the District, I went to the U.S. National Arboretum and stopped at the bonsai museum,” he said. “Michael James was the assistant curator at the time, and I asked him, ‘How do I get your job?’”

In February 2006, Packard graduated from GW and was selected as the assistant curator for the Museum, a position he served until 2014. The year before Packard left the Museum, the Weyerhaeuser Company – one of the largest North American timber companies – donated its entire bonsai collection to a new nonprofit, The George Weyerhaeuser Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection, or the “Pacific Bonsai Museum.”

The nonprofit was looking for a curator, which Packard saw as a great opportunity to return home to the West Coast while heading the privately run but public collection. He was hired to use his museum studies background to curate exhibits for the new collection and lead tree care efforts.

“I was given the opportunity to create a vision for what this Museum could be,” he said. “I kind of had a blank slate to do what I wanted, so it was exciting to have that creative freedom to progress in my career, and it’s been really enjoyable.”

Rather than separating their trees into different collections, the museum displays a museum-wide exhibit each year with trees that pertain to the exhibit’s theme. The current exhibition is “World War Bonsai,” an idea Packard has been forming since working with bonsai artists and trees with intrinsic ties to World War II, like the Yamaki Pine. 

“I’ve been amassing research on this era throughout my career, and with last year being the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, I felt like it was an appropriate time to investigate the stories of bonsai and people within our collection that have a relationship with that time,” Packard said. 

Alcove depicting the scene when 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to board trains and travel to live in barbed-wire detention camps displayed with a Bristlecone Pine bonsai originally created by Kelly Hiromo Nishitani

The exhibition primarily focuses on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the war and how the years of fighting affected the art of bonsai both in the United States and Japan. 

“It’s been a well-received exhibit,” Packard said. “The exhibit sheds light on the cost of war on the art of bonsai and how it provided people in hard situations comfort and connection to cultural communities and extensions of self.” 

The museum's exhibits incorporate work from contemporary artists that connect the theme of the display to current events. World War Bonsai features an installation from a Seattle-based Japanese American artist who draws parallels from Japanese incarceration to current racial inequities in the United States. 

“That’s one thing bonsai has the ability to do – the art is not just limited to cute little trees and someone’s gardening curiosity,” Packard said. “Bonsai are objects of significance that have a lot of resonance and can tell stories that haven’t been told before.” 

Though the museum’s trees are displayed in an open-air gallery, the bonsai are still protected in the winter with their own small, cube-like greenhouses that are removed in the spring. About 60 trees are displayed at a time among the museum’s alcoves and benches, but Packard moves the bonsai around depending on the year’s exhibit. The museum’s tropical trees remain in a special conservatory throughout the year to keep them safe from the elements. 

Left: Aarin pruning the domoto maple; Right: Domoto maple (in training since 1850) in colorful, leafy state

A 9-foot-tall trident maple from the Domoto family is what Packard calls the museum’s “crown jewel.” The Domoto maple is one of the oldest bonsai in the United States, imported from Japan for the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1913.

Kanetaro Domoto, a Japanese immigrant who ran one of the largest commercial nurseries in California, bought the maple after the fair, and it was the only possession the family didn’t lose during the Great Depression. The tree survived alone during the incarceration period of World War II, but upon their release from captivity Domoto’s son found and cared for it until 1990, when he loaned it to the Weyerhaeuser collection. His descendants eventually donated the tree outright to the museum.

 “The maple tells the story of bonsai in the United States and the Japanese American immigrant experience,” Packard said. “Just to think of the story of this tree and how it survived hardships is kind of the flipside of bonsai during the era and is very rare to see.” 

Learn more about the Pacific Bonsai Museum and its beautiful exhibits here. 

8th Japan Suiseki Exhibition Features Former USNA Director Tom Elias' Entry

We are pleased to share this short video of the 8th Japan Suiseki Exhibition held recently at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum featuring Kunio Kobayashi, President of the Japan Suiseki Association. This is an opportunity to see some of the stones displayed in this years' exhibition including the large boat-shaped stone entered by former USNA Director Tom Elias. The exhibition catalog will be available around mid-March. Enjoy!

National Geographic: Repotting Bonsai

See the original piece in National Geographic here.

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Photographing Bonsai with Stephen Voss: A Winter’s Quiet - Bonsai in Black and White

In Washington, D.C., winter arrives in fits and starts, or sometimes not at all. In years past, we’ve gone the whole season without measurable snowfall. Nevertheless, in these months when trees are laid bare, we might allow ourselves to take a moment and to pause for reflection. The showy growth of spring is still weeks away and the bonsai at the U.S. National Arboretum’s National Bonsai & Penjing Museum are at rest.

The graphic, abstract nature of the trees is most evident in the deciduous species, as their limbs stand out against the off-white backdrop of the Chinese Pavilion, where many of the trees spend their winter months. The deadwood of the coniferous trees can be equally striking, especially when composed against the dark green of the tree’s foliage. In each tree, there holds a promise – a slowly ticking clock that counts the days, waiting for the moment when each branch begins to push out leaves.

For now, I’m embracing the already monochromatic nature of these trees and taking a different approach to photographing them. As an aside, many digital cameras have a black and white mode, but I’d recommend that you photograph in color and convert the image afterwards in your preferred image editing program. This will give you more flexibility in choosing how the image looks in black and white.

When we photograph in black and white, we need to think as much about the final image we’ll be creating as the actual scene in front of us. In a monochromatic image, form, structure and shape are emphasized. The more abstract nature of a tree can come through. As the old photography saying goes, color photos engage your mind, black and white ones engage your heart. 

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So what do we look for when photographing bonsai in black and white? I love photographing the texture of the bark. Frankly, this part of the trees can be nearly colorless to begin with, so emphasizing the grooves and patterns of the bark can make for an interesting image. This Japanese pine is one of my favorite trees in the collection, and its undulating trunk and beautiful, craggy bark makes for a wonderful image. One quick tip – when you convert these images to black and white, increasing the contrast and clarity (local contrast correction) can further emphasize texture and patterns.

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Looking for differences in colors can also make for interesting black and white images. When you convert the image, the tonality of the colors can change and with a good conversion program, you can define how light and dark the different tones can be.

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A light snow had fallen during my last trip to the Museum, and I took advantage of it to photograph these fresh footprints in the snow in the Japanese Pavilion. I’ve continued to enjoy exploring the visual possibilities in the entire Museum, not just the trees in my work. A snowfall makes for a great opportunity to realign how you see a place. When photographing snow, your camera’s meter may try to darken it too much, so it’s useful to adjust the exposure to brighten the image a little. You want to brighten it enough for the snow to look natural without losing all of the detail.

We’re in the last month of winter here in D.C. Soon, the curators and dedicated volunteers will begin repotting bonsai when needed and bringing trees back outside. I’m hopeful the Museum will soon reopen and we will all be able to enjoy its wonder and splendor as the days grow longer and the weather warms up.

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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.

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

Influential Bonsai Master: Harry Hirao

In 2009 Harry Hirao posed next to his 2004 gift to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, a California juniper that he collected in 1960. Photo from U.S. National Arboretum.

This edition of Influential Bonsai Masters highlights the history of the loving spirit and innate talent Harry Hirao shared with the world.

Hirao co-founded Kofu Bonsai Kai, one of the largest U.S. bonsai clubs, and sat on many bonsai boards across the country, including the National Bonsai Foundation. But his interest and leadership in bonsai wasn’t in full swing until his middle-aged years. 

Though he was born in 1917 in Colorado, Hirao temporarily moved to Japan at 8 years old to receive an education and work on the family farm. But he returned to the United States at 16, befriending young bonsai master John Naka, with whom he adventured through the Rocky Mountains to fish for trout.

At the time, Hirao and Naka were so focused on fishing they didn’t realize they were falling in love with the surrounding precious viewing stones and the unique twists and folds in wild trees. 

Hirao soon met his wife Chiyo (also known as Alyce), and they married in 1941. Ten years later, the family moved to Huntington Beach, California, where Hirao launched a landscaping and gardening business and grew his family.

Fishing remained a hobby for Hirao for many years, but Naka introduced him to bonsai, guiding him through the Mojave Desert where stout, aging trees grew in harsh environments. Hirao and Naka were granted a digging permit to remove junipers growing in the desert, beginning years of field trips through the mountains and intriguing Hirao in the process of transforming the unassuming trees into beautiful bonsai.

LEFT: Hirao and John Naka discussing Naka’s famous forest planting “Goshin,” or “protector of the spirit”

RIGHT: In 2011, Hirao restyled the juniper he gave to the Museum for the new North American Bonsai Collection.

Photos from USNA

He was eventually nicknamed Mr. California Juniper for his uncanny ability to produce masterpiece bonsai from raw California junipers. But something else in the wild finally caught his eye – stones. Hirao and his wife became enamored with suiseki, or viewing stones, and quickly grew their collection. 

Hirao is often remembered as a mountain goat, jumping over ridges and through streams faster than most to find gorgeous stones or unique junipers to turn to bonsai. 

Former NBF President Felix Laughlin said he went on a collecting trip with Hirao once, and before he got out of the car at their destination, Hirao was already leaping and running toward the mountains with a backpack slung over his shoulder. 

“It was so amazing that in his late age, his 80s at the time, Harry was such a bear of a man and just went at the collecting,” Laughlin said. “He loved it so much, and he did so much for California junipers, which were his babies.”

Jack Sustic, a former National Bonsai & Penjing Museum curator and NBF co-president, held a special and long-lasting relationship with Hirao. After meeting during a West Coast bonsai convention, the two became instant friends. Sustic began traveling to California once or twice a year to collect stones or work on trees with Hirao, absorbing bits of wisdom and building their friendship. 

“Harry would say, ‘Don’t rush. If you rush you make mistakes,’” Sustic said. “I always hear his voice when I’m working on a tree or looking for stones – I can hear him telling me to take it slow. Bonsai masters’ advice is often not just for bonsai but for life itself.”

LEFT: At the 2009 Bonsai Festival, Harry directed a bonsai demonstration with assistance from Museum curator Jack Sustic and Museum volunteer LeAnn Duling. RIGHT: Harry Hirao collecting a California juniper from the wild in 2007.

Photos from USNA

Hirao could always make someone feel special, often giving his visitors a viewing stone as a token of appreciation for their time together. Sustic fondly remembers his loving, genuine and kind demeanor, but he said everyone who met Hirao spoke well about the bonsai master. 

“Nobody ever had a negative comment or worry about Harry, and that’s a bit rare these days,” he said. “Harry was like a father, best friend, teacher and confidant all wrapped into one for me. A day hasn't passed that I haven't thought of him.”

The Museum received its first American viewing stone from Hirao, and the Harry Hirao Reception Room opened in the Museum’s Yuji Yoshimura center simultaneously with its John Y. Naka North American Bonsai Pavilion. 

Two of Hirao’s trees have found a home in the North American collection and one of them remains in the Museum’s auxiliary collection. You can view the trees here and read more about Hirao in our 2007 newsletter, “Happy Birthday Harry!”

Hirao on a collecting trip – photo from Jack Sustic

Historical Tree Spotlight – Blue Atlas Cedar

The Blue Atlas cedar in 2012, pot designed and produced by Sara Rayner

A “power couple” is defined as a pair of two people who are each independently influential or successful. 

The Blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica Glauca Group) featured in this month’s Historical Tree Spotlight was gifted to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum by a power couple well known throughout bonsai and the overarching horticultural circles: Frederic and Ernesta Ballard.

Ernesta Ballard, a well-known horticulturist and women’s rights activist, previously owned a small house plant business. She developed a reputation in the Philadelphia community and was invited to display her work at the renowned Philadelphia Flower Show, put on by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS). Ernesta won a top prize for her submission, and she was eventually tapped for PHS’s executive director position.

In her new role, Ernesta revitalized the event, growing it into a more participatory and educational experience and one of the premier flower shows in the country. As the event regained traction and pulled in more money, Ernesta used some funds to engender the Philadelphia Green program, which transformed vacant lots into flower and vegetable gardens.

Simultaneously, she became known as the “godmother of Philly feminism” for campaigning for the Equal Rights Amendment and founding local chapters of groups like the National Organization for Women. Ernesta also wrote two books: Garden In Your House (1958) and The Art of Training Plants (1962). 

LEFT: John Naka produced this sketch when Fred Ballard hired him as a consultant for the tree. The sketch was featured in the Journal of the American Bonsai Society with an article Ballard wrote about how important it is for other people to critique your trees and what it was like to work with Naka. 

RIGHT: The Blue Atlas cedar in 1990

Frederic Ballard fell in love with bonsai through Ernesta’s influence and became so drawn to the art that he served as one of the inaugural National Bonsai Foundation directors and was appointed the second NBF president in 1990. Both Fred and Ernesta were founding members of the American Bonsai Society. 

The Ballards bought the featured Blue Atlas cedar as a little shoot from Monrovia Nurseries in California around 1960. The sprout was meant to be a landscape tree, typical of the species, but with guidance from bonsai master Yuji Yoshimura, the couple trained it into a cascade-style bonsai. Bonsai master John Naka helped the Ballards develop the apex of the cedar. 

Blue Atlas cedars are native to the Atlas mountains in Morocco. Their popular function as  landscape trees means the species is drought and heat tolerant. But Museum Curator Michael James said this cedar becomes thirsty once it is transferred to a pot and paying attention to its water needs is very important. 

“A lot of times with bonsai you can make the wrong assumptions by thinking about where these trees natively grow and applying those conditions to the potted plant,” James said. “But it doesn’t work that way when roots are constricted in a container. It needs a lot of water.”

The volume of water a cedar demands will depend on the humidity and temperatures of its growing conditions, but James said Museum staff working in Washington, D.C.’s climate frequently water the Ballard’s Blue Atlas cedar twice a day in the summer.

He added that resisting the temptation to cut back the cedar’s shoots too early and letting the tree elongate as it grows throughout the spring allows the tree to build energy. James said trees like the Blue Atlas cedar can even benefit from a lack of clipping long into dormancy. 

“This cedar is a vigorous grower, so those new shoots in the spring will quickly grow out of the tree’s silhouette,” he said. “But it’s good for its health to resist clipping and let the roots build strength through the increased foliage.” 

This cedar can be found among the Museum’s North American trees. The Ballards took part in the groundbreaking for the John Y. Naka North American Pavilion (pictured above) and christened the collection with their beautiful Blue Atlas cedar. Visit the virtual collection here.