Bonsai Around the World: The Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum Bonsai and Penjing Collection

Satsuki azaleas from Dr. Melvyn Goldstein’s collection at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum Photo credit: Michigan Photography.

Bonsai has always had an educational component, but for this edition of Bonsai Around the World, we literally go to school – to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum at the University of Michigan.

While the arboretum and gardens sit in separate parts of the campus, they form one unit with a single director. The first trees were a gift from the University’s former pharmacology department head, Dr. Maurice Seevers, who had a deep passion for bonsai. The Matthaei-Nichols collection now boasts more than 75 masterpiece bonsai and penjing, with 25 to 30 trees on display in rotation. 

The garden is one continuous loop connected to a nursery space. Carmen Leskoviansky, the bonsai collection specialist, said the displays vary depending on which trees pair well together and looking exceptional. The collection hosts an azalea show each spring showcasing trees and partners with the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society for their yearly show and sale. 

“They use our auditorium, and we have the garden open,” Leskoviansky said. “We work together to perform demonstrations, answer questions and give tours of the collection and garden.”

Many of the collection’s volunteers currently work or have worked for the University, and students work as summer interns and as part of the work-study program throughout the year. Leskoviansky hopes to connect students with the bonsai collection more in the coming years through research and connections with other University units such as the Center for Japanese Studies

She added that the collection’s tropical section will be expanded as a new bonsai display has been built in the conservatory’s Garden House. The outdoor bonsai garden is currently at capacity after receiving an extensive azalea donation from regional bonsai artist Dr. Melvyn Goldstein. 

“Dr. Goldstein has one of the best private collections of Satsuki azaleas in the country,” Leskoviansky said. “It’s definitely a showstopper.”

Bonsai from the nursery space at Matthei-Nichols. Photo credit: Michigan Photography.

Leskoviansky said trees with the biggest draw also include white cedars and native larches. One larch forest in particular wins a “People’s Choice” award almost every year at the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society’s show and sale.

“Visitors really connect with the display because it reminds them of Michigan forests,” she said. 

While Goldstein’s trees are traditional Japanese specimens – azaleas, elms, maples and the like – the original Matthaei-Nichols collection is mostly native to the Great Lakes region. Leskoviansky said American bonsai artists have a lot more room to experiment with these local species. 

“The rocky mountain junipers and ponderosas are popular, but many deciduous trees have not been really explored,” she said. “The trees in our collection started from our local group exploring what was growing around them, and there’s a lot of potential with native plants to make some really nice bonsai.”

Leskoviansky added the Matthaei-Nichols mission focuses on sustainability, so they feature a huge native plant garden and incorporate native plants in many of the display gardens. Native plants don’t rely on fertilizer and pesticides, require less watering and prevent run-off well compared to non-native species, making them a sustainable asset to the collection. 

“We’ve tried to use native plants in the bonsai garden’s ground plantings as the backdrop for our trees instead of more traditional horticultural varieties or Japanese species,” she said. “It’s fun to connect the native species bonsai with the native species growing in our gardens or on the trails.”

Left: an American larch forest that frequently wins People’s Choice each year. Right: Leskoviansky works on a collected white cedar planting.

Leskoviansky is Michigan through and through – she grew up on three acres of Michigan land, attended Michigan State University for horticulture until 2008 and has been working at Matthaei-Nichols since 2009. She first worked at the arboretum’s nearly 100-year-old peony garden. Then a full-time position opened up for her to take over the rest of the special collections, including bonsai. She now solely oversees the bonsai and penjing collection.

“I got a crash course in bonsai after I attended the American Bonsai Society convention in 2011,” Leskoviansky said. “My career in bonsai was a complete accident, but it’s become something I really love to do.” 

She’s now taking a three-year break to apprentice with Michael Hagedorn, whose seasonal program she attended from 2018-19. Leskoviansky wants to continue building her skills to give the Matthaei-Nichols collection the care it requires. 

Former National Bonsai & Penjing Museum Curator and National Bonsai Foundation Co-President Jack Sustic – a long-time Michigan resident – will tend to the collection a few days a week while Leskoviansky is gone. One of Sustic’s trident maples has resided in the garden for many years. 

While the collection is temporarily closed, check out the Matthaei-Nichols website for more information on the gardens as well as a breadth of general bonsai and horticultural information.

Mel Goldstein’s root-over-rock satsuki azalea with a rabbit foot fern kusamono. Photo credit: Michigan Photography.

Board Member Ann McClellan Receives Spring Imperial Decoration from the Government of Japan

We are thrilled to announce that National Bonsai Foundation’s Board of Directors Member Ann McClellan and author of BONSAI AND PENJING: AMBASSADORS OF PEACE AND BEAUTY (available for purchase) will be honored by the Government of Japan by receiving a 2021 Spring Imperial Decoration. See the press release issued by the Japanese Embassy in the U.S. below.

Ann McClellan (by Kenji)

---

2021 Spring Conferment of Decoration
Ms. Ann McClellan
Issued by Embassy of Japan in the United States

On April 29, 2021 (Japan Time), the Government of Japan announced the foreign recipients of the 2021 Spring Imperial Decorations. Author and writer Ann McClellan, is among this year’s foreign recipients, and in recognition of her contributions of introducing Japanese culture and promoting friendly relations between Japan and the United States, she will receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays.

Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays

• DECORATION: Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays

• SERVICE: Contributed to introducing Japanese culture and promoting friendly Japan-U.S relations

• NAME: Ann McClellan

• MAJOR TITLES: Author and Writer

• ADDRESS (NATIONALITY): U.S.A (United States of America)

SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS

Ann McClellan has played an important role in strengthening the Japan-U.S. relationship. She has made exemplary contributions to promoting mutual understanding between Japan and the United States through her captivating written work, including "The Cherry Blossom Festival: Sakura Celebration" and "Bonsai and Penjing: Ambassadors of Peace & Beauty.” Through her writing, presentations and appearances at various conventions and events, she has imparted an appreciation and awareness of the art of Japanese bonsai and the history of the cherry blossom trees, which remain an enduring symbol of the Japan-U.S. friendship.

Leave a comment below to congratulate Ann!

Save the Date: World Bonsai Day - May 8, 2021

Join our celebration!

May 8, 2021

Bonsai is an opportunity to separate from the anxieties of the world – a chance for bonsai artists or those admiring trees to pause, collect and practice mindfulness.

In many ways, we have been operating with this same mentality throughout the global pandemic. This extra time has given us the space to reflect on what truly matters, engage with nature and reconnect with people in new ways.

To maintain the health and safety of National Bonsai & Penjing Museum staff and visitors, the National Bonsai Foundation will be celebrating World Bonsai Day 2021 online again this year. Read on for details about the festivities!

What is World Bonsai Day?

The World Bonsai Friendship Federation established this international day of celebration to pay homage to bonsai Master Saburo Kato's mission to promote peace and friendship through the art of bonsai. The day is celebrated on the second Saturday of May each year, which this year is May 8th!

NBF's online celebration

On World Bonsai Day, head to bonsai-nbf.org for tons of activities, videos and gifts! Here's a sneak peek of what we have in store:

- World Bonsai Day trivia

- Greetings & garden tours from bonsai collections around the world

- An at-home World Bonsai Day scavenger hunt

- Bonsai & floral origami lessons

- Zoom backgrounds & phone wallpapers featuring gorgeous scenes from the Museum

- Delicious food & drink recipes

We'll also share social media posts with #WorldBonsaiDay2021, so start posting now!

Enter our contest to win this bonsai book!

We're gifting THREE signed copies of Ann McClellan's Bonsai and Penjing book to help people connect with bonsai and the Museum and celebrate World Bonsai Day! For details on how to enter, read our post on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

Remembering Barbara Hall Marshall

Photo courtesy of Hallmark

The National Bonsai Foundation (NBF) is saddened to announce the passing of one of its most steadfast supporters, Barbara Hall Marshall. Mrs. Marshall died April 21, 2021, in Kansas City, Mo., at age 97.

A lifelong philanthropist, Mrs. Marshall had a keen interest in the small and precise that led her to grow bonsai and become a founding member of the Bonsai Society of Greater Kansas City. She later joined NBF and served on the NBF Board of Directors for many years, eventually being appointed Honorary Director in 1998. 

Mrs. Marshall was a most generous benefactor to NBF and the National Bonsai & Penjang Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum. Donations from Mrs. Marshall provided critical marketing, administrative and programmatic support to NBF over the years, including an internship program, an assistant curator position and the establishment of the John Y. Naka North American Pavilion.

“Barbara’s dedication to bonsai and NBF was truly second to none,” said James Hughes, Chair of the Board of Directors. “Her presence is deeply felt throughout NBF and the Museum, and we would not have reached such great prominence nationally and internationally without her support. It has been an honor and a privilege to have her as an important member of the bonsai community.”

Mrs. Marshall (L) attends a reception at the Museum in 2009. Also pictured: Marybel Balendonck (NBF Longstanding Board Member), Harry Hirao and Mr. Hirao’s daughter.

Mrs. Marshall’s love of art and the people who create it formed the basis for her lifetime of supporting arts education. She became a nationally recognized collector of miniatures and in 1982 co-founded the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, where her personal collection remains on permanent exhibit. She was involved with many other organizations in and around her hometown, including the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City Symphony, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, where she led efforts to construct a research facility in 2018.

The second child of renowned Hallmark Cards founder J.C. Hall and his wife Elizabeth, Mrs. Marshall was involved in the Hallmark Company for more than 50 years. She was a member of the company’s product review committee and later became part of a group charged with making acquisitions for Hallmark’s renowned art collection.

According to her official obituary, Mrs. Marshall attended Bradford Junior College and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1945. She was predeceased by her husband, Robert A. Marshall, and is survived by three daughters, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild, among other family members. 

Like many bonsai and penjing enthusiasts, Mrs. Marshall was fascinated by the grand stories we can capture in miniature form — whether through a fine-scale dollhouse or a small tree in a pot. We will always be in awe of Mrs. Marshall’s dedication to the arts and deeply proud that she chose to share her generosity with NBF. Her influence and passion for bonsai will live on through NBF’s mission and the beautiful trees in the Museum’s national collection. 

Seated: John and Alice Naka. Standing (left to right):  Marybel Balendonck, Kay Komai, Barbara Marshall, and Cheryl Manning. The group gathered at a luncheon organized by the Japanese government to honor Frank Goya (one of John's first students) in March of 2004.

Assistant Curator’s Blog: Collecting Moss and Creating Top Dressing

As bonsai practitioners, we are always thinking about the past, present, and future aspects of our trees and the environments in which they live and grow. We constantly plan and prepare for the next step in the wonderful journey of bonsai and penjing. One preparation that can be completed any time of the year and is extremely important for the repotting process is collecting moss and creating top dressing. 

Bonsai and penjing are commonly grown in small containers with inorganic substrate, or the layer of matter that helps trees grow and obtain nourishment. The substrate National Bonsai & Penjing Museum staff uses consists of the Japanese clay substrate called akadama, pumice, and lava rock, although substrates like tree bark and perlite could be used.

This well-drained substrate retains water to provide to the tree while allowing oxygen to flow through the soil, keeping the containerized tree healthy. To ensure the health of bonsai and penjing, a practitioner must constantly check and carefully manage watering to maintain the delicate balance of oxygen and water.

Moss is cultivated on the substrate surface by applying a layer of top dressing. This dressing is composed of local mosses typically collected from places like parking lots, driveways, or a nearby forest. The mosses may be mixed with high-quality sphagnum moss for larger tree collections. The live and sphagnum mosses are then ground to a smaller size, and soil and fine particles are removed.

All you need to collect moss is a container, a scraping tool and scissors, shown here. 

The ideal moss is tight and low growing. Species that spread and climb will create issues when the moss grows up the trunks. This is especially problematic on rough bark trees, which will need to be sprayed carefully with vinegar to kill and remove the moss.

Once collected, place the moss in trays to dry, allowing for the soil and other fines to easily be sifted when grinding.

After the moss has dried, use bonsai substrate-sifting screens that are one-quarter, one-eighth, and one-sixteenth size. Take the moss and rub against the screens, starting with the one-quarter size. It may not be necessary to grind past the one-eighth size screen, depending on the size of the bonsai substrate, and the one-eighth screen can be used to remove the smaller particles.

The top left image shows the sphagnum moss before and after grinding. The top right image shows the locally collected moss before and after grinding. The bottom image shows both the ground sphagnum moss and the locally collected moss separately, as well as after mixing both together with about a one-to-one ratio.  

Spread a thin layer of topdressing to cover the fresh substrate after repotting is complete. 

Applying top dressing to the surface of bonsai and penjing at the end of the repotting process provides multiple benefits. The moss establishes the aesthetic of the composition, increasing its value. The moss layer also holds moisture in the top portion of the media, which would dry out much faster than the lower portion if left uncovered. The moss layer also helps prevent breakdown and erosion of the substrate in the container. 

Once you collect moss, the empty trays can be filled with soil and a layer of top dressing. This allows you to propagate specific moss varieties and avoid having to collect moss each year from other sources.

As important as moss and top dressing is for bonsai and penjing, you also want to remember to follow and stay within specific guidelines. Although it may seem and sound harmless, it is not always legal to collect moss in every area you find, so be sure to always ask permission and obey trespassing signs if you are collecting!

Sincerely,

Andrew Bello
Assistant Curator

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

NBF Celebrates National Volunteer Month

Museum volunteers enjoying the snow in 2017

In celebration of National Volunteer Month, the National Bonsai Foundation is paying tribute to the heartfelt, dedicated volunteers who assist the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s full-time staff in caring for the timeless and breathtaking trees in the national collection.

NBF is grateful for these volunteers who help make up the heart and soul of the Museum, infusing the spirit of bonsai into everything, from their technical duties to events and meetings that support the Museum.

But who are Museum volunteers, and what do they do? 

Volunteers assist with the maintenance of the Museum's bonsai and penjing collections. Their duties range from cleaning to pruning and wiring trees. Typically, the Museum receives the help of 10 to 15 volunteers annually, and they generally work 4 to 6 hours per week. While some volunteers come and go, others have volunteered for decades and have even been involved with the Museum since its inception. 

Museum Curator Michael James said past years have yielded an average of 2,000 annual volunteer hours. James said each volunteer offers the Museum a unique skill set and personal experiences in horticulture and the art of bonsai. 

“The volunteers are generous enough to give something so valuable as their time,” he said. “The stories they tell are like pages from a horticultural history book.”

Volunteers Janet Lanman and Jim Rieden join Hughes, Museum specialist Kathleen Emerson-Dell and other bonsai club members in a discussion about bonsai. Photos courtesy of Jim Hughes.

Jim Hughes, NBF’s board chair and a former Museum curator, said constantly maintaining the show-ready condition of bonsai for public display is very labor intensive. The volunteers’ many hands help full-time Museum staff make light work of the hundreds of trees within the Museum’s collections.  

“Volunteers help get the job done, week in and week out,” Hughes said. “As curator, I found them to be an invaluable resource that is skilled, dedicated and appreciative of their unique opportunity to work on these storied trees.”

He said some of his closest links to the local bonsai community during his time overseeing the collection from 2005 to 2008 were built around his weekly contact with Museum volunteers, who were bonsai club leaders and steadfast NBF supporters.

Volunteer Tom Inglesby helps Hughes repot the Ponderosa pine in the Museum’s grow out area. 

Hughes added that his role as NBF’s board chair provides him with a heightened awareness of the significant contribution that these volunteers make to the Museum and the U.S. National Arboretum, in lieu of paid staff. 

“Historically, in addition to their time and efforts at the museum, many of them are faithful NBF donors,” he said. “We are thankful to all of them for their hard work at the Museum and their philanthropic support of NBF's mission to promote the art of bonsai and penjing.”

A few of the volunteers Hughes worked with were original founders of the Museum and started their own local bonsai clubs that still thrive today. 

“I am thankful I’ve had the opportunity to personally meet and work with these individuals that established the Museum as a national showcase of this beautiful art form,” he said. “I hope we can do them the honor of continuing to safeguard the legacy we have inherited.” 

The Museum has been closed since mid-March 2020 and hopes to reopen soon, when it is safe for volunteers to return. Their enthusiasm for the national collection, bonsai and the related horticultural and artistic endeavors brings a vibrance to the Museum and NBF, and they have been greatly missed. 

While we have had many volunteers over the years and are grateful for their service and giving, our current list of active volunteers is below.

Jennifer Amundsen

Josh Berer

Ross Campbell

Jack Chapman

Sundara Chintaluri

Young Choe

Scott Clinton

Olivia Cook

Chuck Croft

James Dail

Elizabeth Dame

Robert Drechsler

LeAnn Duling

Matthew Ferner

Pierre Gerber

Brian Gottlieb

Joseph Gutierrez, MD

Richard Hammerschlag

James Haworth

Nia Imani

Tom Inglesby

Richard Kang

David Lieu

Stephanie Mark

Garret Miller

Lee Palmer

Theodore Pickett, Jr.

Julie Pascu

Mike Rainwater

Steve Smith

Akiko Sprague

Lori Sullivan

Janice Vitale

Alexander Voorhies

Richard Winchester

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.