National Bonsai and Penjing Museum

Imagine you’re in charge of maintaining the trees in the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s Chinese Pavilion. Your experience is with bonsai, but from a Western perspective. You begin with a tree like the black pine below. Japanese black pine The tree appears to have been trained as a literati, or bunjin bonsai, but it’s […]

I spent World Bonsai Day at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington, D.C. this year – a fitting location for the event! It had been many years since my last visit to the museum which made it really fun to see how the trees had changed. It was also an opportunity to see […]

The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington D.C. contains a number of bonsai that need far more warmth and humidity than D.C. winters can provide. They are housed in a greenhouse at the museum where they are currently thriving despite the impending cold weather. I’ve included photos of several below along with a few […]

What a who’s who of bonsai in America – the North American Pavilion at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington D.C. includes trees donated by many prominent names in American bonsai. Some of the names evoke the history of bonsai in America – others are friends. All are generous in their contributions to […]

I was fortunate to find myself in Washington D.C. last weekend during a spell of fantastic weather. So I headed to the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum at the National Arboretum. I’d visited several years ago, but had forgotten what great age the trees in the collection have attained. Keeping these trees healthy is no […]