FOREGROUND / GARDENS

ROYAL TREATMENT

A REVERED NATIONAL BONSAI COLLECTION HAS A NEW HOME. BY JANE BERGER

onsai is a centuries-old art form trees and shrubs that he described The museum is said to have been Bin Asia, but it was little known as “strong and severe in character the first in the world dedicated to the in the United States until after as opposed to the more graceful and display of bonsai when it opened in 1945, when American servicemen reflective style of the Japanese.” 1976 with a gift of 53 bonsai from encountered it during the military the Nippon Bonsai Association. occupation of Japan. Many return- Creech became the director of the The collection included a number ing soldiers joined bonsai clubs that U.S. National Arboretum in 1973, of priceless plants: the Yamaki Pine, had sprung up in some parts of the and arranged for a gift of bonsai from a Japanese white pine (Pinus par- United States, notably in New York, the Japanese people in honor of the viflora ‘Miyajima’) dating to 1625, California, Washington, D.C., and U.S. bicentennial. He proposed the which survived the atomic blast at Hawaii. Around the same time, the establishment of a bonsai museum Hiroshima; a Japanese red pine horticulturist John Creech visited on the arboretum’s grounds. Masao (Pinus densiflora) in training since bonsai nurseries and became ac- Kinoshita of Sasaki Associates in 1795 that was a gift from Emperor quainted with several bonsai mas- Watertown, Massachusetts—an ex- Hirohito; an 1895 trident maple ABOVE ters while on plant-hunting expe- pert in Japanese design—was hired (Acer buergerianum) that was a gift The 1795 Japanese ditions in Japan in the 1950s and for the project, which is now the Na- from Prince Takamatsu, the em- red pine in the pavilion’s informal 1960s. On a 1974 visit to China, tional Bonsai & Penjing Museum at peror’s brother; and a 1926 Japanese so section was a gift Creech met practitioners of penjing, the National Arboretum in Wash- hemlock (Tsuga diversifolia) from from Emperor Hirohito. an older form of miniature, living ington, D.C. Princess Chichibu, the emperor’s PHOTOGRAPHER RUSS ALLEN

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A WORLD-CLASS DISPLAY WAS NEEDED TO SHOW BONSAI AS AN ART FORM, NOT JUST A HORTICULTURAL PURSUIT.

sister-in-law. The gifts from the Im- perial Household marked the first time that any bonsai from its col- lection had left the country. In later years, additional prized specimens were added to the collection, which now numbers 63 plants. In 1982, the National Bonsai Foundation (NBF) was established to promote the museum’s collections and raise of Japanese woodland plants. There Faye Harwell, FASLA, a principal funds for its expansion. was a large, open, sloping courtyard of Rhodeside & Harwell, says, “The paved with gravel, and a Japanese idea was that the detailing would be The original museum complex stroll garden with a winding path Asian in inspiration but not tied to included an entrance garden through that led to a walled Japanese pavilion any one specific Asian culture…you a forest of Japanese cedars (Crypto- with an open roof. The pavilion was had that feeling of Asian design, but meria japonica) with underplantings constructed of cinder block walls it didn’t say ‘this is Chinese,’ or ‘this covered by stucco, with wood raf- is Korean,’ or ‘this is Japanese.’ And ters above, gravel underfoot, and then when you enter the pavilions, long wooden tables where the bonsai they are much more specifically of were displayed. their cultural origin.”

After several years, the sloping court- As the Japanese pavilion approached yard became a huge problem: Every its 40th anniversary, the foundation TOP time it rained, the curator’s office saw the open-air building needed Bonsai are displayed flooded. The arboretum and the an update. The walls were cracking, on natural stone plinths in the foreground NBF brought in Rhodeside & Har- and the wooden display benches and and semiformal stones well of Alexandria, Virginia, to fix overhead rafters were deteriorating. to the rear. the problem and redesign the main The arboretum and the foundation entry garden, the courtyard, and the again hired Rhodeside & Harwell for RIGHT Japanese stroll garden to comply the project. Felix Laughlin, the foun- Eye-level bonsai with the Americans for Disabilities dation’s president, wanted “a world- specimens rest on engineered wood Act (ADA). New walls, a gate, and class display” to present bonsai as an platforms atop bluestone paving were added to the art form and show it was “not just a natural stones. original entrance garden. horticultural pursuit.” PHOTOGRAPHER RUSS ALLEN

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STEEL PIN ROTATOR

PLAN

1 BONSAI DISPLAY (SHIN)

3 2 BONSAI DISPLAY­ (GYO) GYO SO 7 3 BONSAI DISPLAY SINGLE PEDESTAL DISPLAY (SO)

4 IWASAKI PINE (GYO) 4 A 5 IMPERIAL PINE (SO)

6 MOON WINDOW 6 7 RAILING WITH 5 9 IDENTIFICATION SIGNS

8 WATER STORAGE 10 BASIN

DOUBLE TABLE DISPLAY 9 NEW JAPANESE LANTERN

10 WOOD TRELLIS SHADE SCREEN OVER BENCHES

7 SHIN GYO

BELOW 2 8 2 N The bonsai display 1 elevation shows the transitional elements between the semiformal gyo and natural so areas. Laughlin brought in the renowned art—the shin, or formal; the gyo, or ture. “Bonsai is wonderful therapy,” Japanese garden designer Hoichi semiformal; and the so, or informal. he says, “in a busy and uncertain Kurisu, Affiliate ASLA, to work on the “If we display the bonsai according- world,” where their timeless quali- renovation. “I knew that Hoichi had ly,” he said, “people will understand ties release emotions that connect SECTION A the right sensibility,” Laughlin says. the art of bonsai itself.” The pavilion the visitor “to the essence of nature, GYO SO BONSAI DISPLAY BENCH “He always talked about how Japanese was divided into three sections that even in Washington, D.C.” GARDEN PROGRESSION/ Natural stone or wood top BONSAI DISPLAY PLINTH LOW PLANTINGS gardens had therapeutic value and correspond to this transitional idea. TRANSITION stone supports Natural stone so style Mosses, grasses, ferns, and sedges power, and that it really was a way to Kurisu explained that the scheme The collection itself drove much of raise one’s consciousness.” is akin to the practice of bonsai, the design. Bonsai require painstak- DISPLAY AREA when collectors range high into the ing care. They need daily watering MAINTENANCE ABOVE Kurisu decided that the bonsai col- mountains to search for diminutive, and temperatures that are not too hot, ACCESS IN RAILING The installation crew lifts large stone lection should be displayed on stone weathered, aging specimens that are and sun or shade depending on the display plinths plinths in accordance with a Japa- brought home, coddled, shaped, and species. Richard Olsen, the director into place. nese classification of formality in pruned to express the beauty of na- of the arboretum, says arboretum staff HARWELL & RHODESIDE HARWELL & RHODESIDE IWASAKI PINE BONSAI DISPLAY PLINTH­ PEDESTRIAN BARRIER RAIL WITH Gyo style SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION SIGNS

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members were “constantly scrutiniz- ing” details as plans were developed. They explained to the design team that a 250-pound bonsai needed a movable railing so it could be relo- cated to other quarters in winter, and that easy access to planting beds was required for bonsai maintenance. Scott Aker, the arboretum’s director of horticulture and education, says bonsai placement was also a major consideration, because there’s an “optimal height at which each piece should be displayed from the ground.” to the plants as needed. The plain pedestals, exposing natural mar- So the stone display pedestals carved stucco and bamboo walls were es- bling on some that “became part by Kurisu had to be of different sizes. sential for the overall display, Laugh- of the interpretation.” The square lin says. “If the background is not stones in the formal, or shin, part The landscape architects worked just a simple wall, you can’t see the of the garden are made from a salt- TOP LEFT with the architecture firm Beyer bonsai.” and-pepper granite that came from The winding path in Blinder Belle on parts of the new China. Harwell says the progression the Japanese stroll garden leads to the structure. The architects handled Kurt Parker, ASLA, a principal land- in stones from formal to semiformal Japanese pavilion. design of the walls and overhead scape architect at Rhodeside & Har- to natural represents “three levels of structure, while Rhodeside & Har- well, traveled with Kurisu to North unraveling, or revealing of nature… TOP RIGHT well replaced some of the stucco Carolina to select stones for the gyo as you walk through the garden… The Yamaki Pine, walls with bamboo and installed and so sections of the project. “Most you can see that the initial stones dating to 1625, wall openings, including a moon of the stones we selected were natu- are very formal—they’ve been cut survived the blast at Hiroshima and is window, to promote air circulation. ral, weathered pieces with lichen and and finished—and the trace of hu- the oldest bonsai Overhead, retractable fabric shade moss,” he says. Kurisu carved the man hands starts to disappear the in the collection. screens provide more or less sun gneiss stones to make the bonsai more you get into the depth of the PHOTOGRAPHER RUSS ALLEN

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“THE TRACE OF HUMAN HANDS STARTS TO DISAPPEAR THE MORE YOU GET INTO THE DEPTH OF THE GARDEN.” —FAYE HARWELL, FASLA

The overhead superstructure de- signed by the architect included stainless steel flitches—metal plates that connect and strengthen pieces of wood—so Parker designed flitch- es for the ground-level cedar fencing to echo the details above. Bluestone paving was installed to meet ADA requirements and to make the space accessible for arboretum events.

To mitigate Washington’s summer- time heat and to make the pavilion more “gardenesque,” Aker suggested planting ground covers under the bonsai, along with an irrigation sys- tem to cool the entire area. He also believes that mist from the system will promote the spontaneous ap- pearance of moss and lichen.

Olsen told me the ground cover plants in the Japanese pavilion were garden. So you can see that transition sai collector in Pennsylvania whose selected with much care because from the very formal worked pieces specimens were on wood tables, and “the plants we use in our landscapes of stone to the ones that are partly they soon decided to do the same are basically our collections…. We al- worked and partly natural and then thing. The designers hired a wood ways let our designers know that we the ones that are natural.” consultant to determine how to en- have a pretty strict living collections ABOVE gineer platforms to go on top of the policy that stresses enhancing the The moon window A major concern about the stone display stones. Using an African ma- collection as much as possible with promotes air circulation plinths, however, was the heat they hogany called sapele, the wood was high provenance material,” he says. and is installed between the formal might collect during the day and radi- cut into planks to prevent warping, and semiformal ate back up onto the bonsai. Harwell laminated together, and coated to JANE BERGER IS A JOURNALIST AND LAND- sections of the pavilion. and arboretum staff visited a bon- keep the moisture content inside. SCAPE DESIGNER BASED IN WASHINGTON, D.C. PHOTOGRAPHER RUSS ALLEN

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