Video: Royal Botanical Gardens First Exhibition of Canadian Bonsai

We had a very successful show on August 14/15 which united seven southern Ontario bonsai clubs, and displayed some of the best bonsai Canada has to offer at a beautiful venue.

We were honoured to have the show opened by distinguished guests such as the Consulate General of Japan, William N. Valavanis, Alex Henderson (Curator of Collections at Royal Botanical Gardens), Norman Haddrick (a pioneer of bonsai in the Toronto area and BCI representative), and Mike McCallion (the organizer of the show, founder and current president of Bonsai@RBG, and past president of the Toronto Bonsai Society).

Over 1400 people passed through the show over the two days, and we believe that local interest in bonsai has benefited tremendously from this event.

All trees were professionally photographed, but until those pictures become available, please check out the video walkthrough I made. I used my cell phone to do this, so please excuse the shakey camera! It is available for viewing in 720p HD (default is 360p... to enhance, scroll over the 360p button and select your desired resolution).

A few of my favorite trees that were shown include what I consider to be a masterpiece Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) by Mr. Johnson, some of the best Eastern White Cedar/Arborvitae bonsai in the world (Thuja occidentalis), and Nick Lenz's controversial masterpiece 'Penelope' - which has rarely, if ever, been publicly displayed (she lives in Canada now). Many other historical trees were shown which, although not necessarily in perfect show condition, were imporatant additions to the show because they were created by Canadian bonsai pioneers, some of whom have since passed. One particularly special tree is a Japanese Maple started from seed in 1939 by Mr. Kenusuke Takata in British Columbia. It has since been passed on to his son, who still cares for it. At 71 years of age, this tree has perhaps been cultivated as bonsai in Canada longer than any other tree.

Please follow the link below.

ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS FIRST EXHIBITION OF CANADIAN BONSAI - VIDEO WALKTHROUGH

We hope you enjoy the trees.

Sincerely,

-Membership of the Bonsai Society at Royal Botanical Gardens

BonsaiSocietyatRBG
RBG.ca

Thank you for sharing this. Very nice show! I like the Jack Pine as well. Penelope is something to behold... wow!

Ditto to Todd's comments. Nick Lenz's 'out of the box' creativity of 'Penelope'(Root over Diva/Statue). His critique of club trees 15 yrs. ago helped to imagine thru tree in future. Maybe offends some, not me. Dustin Mann

Hi A2khalid... Thanks for the fine video. It really gives an impression of moving through the show & is wonderfully paced.