This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

[GWL]: FW: Renovations to Bonsai Museum Under Way


----------
From: "ARS News Service" <isnv@ars-grin.gov>
To: "ARS News List" <ars-news@ars-grin.gov>
Subject: Renovations to Bonsai Museum Under Way 
Date: Thu, Nov 8, 2001, 6:25 AM


STORY LEAD:
Renovations to Bonsai Museum Under Way

___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Lupe Chavez, (301) 504-1627, ljchavez@ars.usda.gov
November 8, 2001
___________________________________________

The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum in
Washington, D.C., is officially closed while undergoing a $1.3-million
renovation. Bonsai enthusiasts will find the collection's setting nicely
enhanced when it reopens in the spring of 2002.

Arboretum Director Thomas S. Elias explained that renovations to the
courtyard area will make it handicapped-accessible. The current narrow,
gravel pathways will be replaced with hard, wheel-friendly surfaces. Crews
will install an automated irrigation system and lighting for nighttime
events, and will repair grading and drainage problems. The improvements are
funded by the Agricultural Research Service, the federal agency that
administers the Arboretum, and the National Bonsai Foundation, which donated
more than $250,000 to enhance the collection. ARS is the chief scientific
research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Bonsai is an ancient horticultural technique that dwarfs trees by
manipulating limbs and cutting branches to keep the tree from growing to a
full size. Trimming of the tree's roots every two to three years restricts
its size, but does not harm the tree's health. Despite their miniature
status, bonsai produce full-size flowers and fruit. One of the specimens in
the Arboretum collection, a California redwood, is only about two feet tall,
although in nature these trees normally grow to more than 300 feet.

The Arboretum's bonsai collection began in 1976 with a bicentennial
celebration gift from the people of Japan and now includes about 150 plants.
Since the inception of the collection, the Arboretum has become the
conservator of bonsai gifts made to U.S. presidents, beginning with one
presented to Richard M. Nixon. The oldest tree in the collection, a Japanese
white pine, is 375 years old and survived the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan
more than 50 years ago. It was tended by a single family for six generations
before it became part of the collection. The exhibit also features younger
bonsai of American trees such as spruce and maple.

Although the bonsai collection will not be available for viewing until the
spring, visitors to the Arboretum can still enjoy the facility's 446 acres
of national and international plant specimens.

The U.S. National Arboretum is on the web at: http://www.usna.usda.gov

___________________________________________
This item is one of the news releases and story leads that ARS Information
distributes on weekdays to fax and e-mail subscribers. You can also get the
latest ARS news on the World Wide Web at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm.
* Feedback and questions to ARS News Service via e-mail: isjd@ars-grin.gov.
* ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD
20705-5128, (301) 504-1617, fax 504-1648.

============================================================
Access e-business experts through the e-Business
Communication Association, the world's leading e-business
membership organization. To learn more about joining
the eBCA, visit today!
http://click.topica.com/caaadZxbUrGSSbVSZwBf/eBCA
============================================================

Pass the word to garden writers, editors publishers, horticultural businesses about our list.

==^================================================================
This email was sent to: topica.com@spamfodder.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrGSS.bVSZwB
Or send an email to: Gardenwriters-unsubscribe@topica.com

T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index