FW: National Bonsai and Penjing Museum

**"Lon J. Rombough" l*@hevanet.com**

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From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 07:17:35 -0400
To: ARS News subscriber <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: National Bonsai and Penjing Museum

STORY LEAD:
National Bonsai and Penjing Museum--a Sight to Behold

___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Alfredo Flores, (301) 504-1627, aflores@ars.usda.gov
June 11, 2003
___________________________________________

The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, part of the U.S. National
Arboretum in Washington, D.C., allows the general public to enjoy and
learn about these interesting, living art forms free of charge. The
arboretum is operated by the Agricultural Research Service, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.

Masters of Japanese bonsai and Chinese penjing techniques are gardening
artists, meticulously shaping miniaturized trees--ranging in age from
newborn to centenarian--to create a sense of full-grown trees in their
natural surroundings. They do this while only taking up the space of a
small coffee table. The art form has also spawned many North American
bonsai artists, who have made major additions to the museum's
collection.

The museum opened in 1976, when the Nippon (Japan) Bonsai Association
donated 53 bonsai to the people of the United States to commemorate the
American bicentennial. Now, more than 200,000 people annually visit the
museum's collection of 150 plants located in three recently renovated
pavilion houses.

A penjing worth noting in the museum's collection is the "Trident
Maple," an example of the "root-over-rock" style. It has been molded in
the shape of a dragon, with one of its larger branches looking like the
head and another, the tail.

The technique for growing artistically shaped, miniature trees in pots
originated in China, where it was known as penjing, and subsequently
spread to Japan, where it was modified and known as bonsai.

The museum's oldest tree is a 400-year-old Japanese white pine. This
bonsai survived in a nursery about two miles from where the atom bomb
was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. The most photographed bonsai
in the museum's impressive collection is "Goshin," meaning "Protector of
the Spirit," which is currently displayed prominently at the entrance of
the museum's refurbished courtyard.

Read more about this national museum in the June issue of Agricultural
Research magazine, on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jun03/arts0603.htm
___________________________________________

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