Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011

AJ Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:16 pm

The following pictures were all made in the Bonsai Exhibition Garden at the NC Arboretum, over the course of the last 2 weeks. Thanks in part to another summer of drought and excessive heat, the autumn colors have been very good this year!

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1218

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1219

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1220

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1221

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1222

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1910

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1911

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1912

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1913

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1914

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1915

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1916

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1917

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1918

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1919

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1110

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1114

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1111

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1112

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1113

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1920

parabellum_9x19 Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:22 pm

What a beautiful collection of Bonsai!

Ed Trout Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:22 pm

Beautiful Arthur,

Thank you for posting !

Ed Trout

AJ Thu Oct 27, 2011 3:17 pm

Thank you parabellum and Ed Trout for your comments.

Here is another autumn image from last week, and one I particularly like:

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1115

This is a planting of Baldcypress originally composed by Qingquan Zhao in 1998. The trees were grown here at the Arboretum from seed collected in 1994, and Mr. Zhao said at the time he was unfamiliar with Baldcypress so this was his first exposure to that material. His work always has such a wonderful, naturalistic feeling! I don't know of any bonsai artist who produces tray landscapes of better quality than those done by Mr. 'Brook' Zhao.

The main reason I enjoy this image is that it captures the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden doing exactly what it is supposed to do: Providing an encounter with bonsai within a living environment specifically designed to enhance that experience.

Rob Kempinski Thu Oct 27, 2011 9:05 pm

AJ wrote:
The main reason I enjoy this image is that it captures the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden doing exactly what it is supposed to do: Providing an encounter with bonsai within a living environment specifically designed to enhance that experience.

Definitely succeeding. Thanks for sharing the wonderful images.

Pavel Slovák Thu Oct 27, 2011 9:37 pm

Amazing colors of autumn. I very much like a group of trees on a stone plate beside spruce. What trees are used?

Thanks for sharing.
Gretings Pavel

newzealandteatree Fri Oct 28, 2011 4:51 am

AJ, thanks for sharing.

Cheers, CJ.

Ian Young Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:14 pm

Amazing colours AJ, Thanks for sharing.

I've been offered the opportunity to take my family to NC for a holiday by a friend who lives in New Bern. I think a cross state visit to Ashville will be on my agenda. I look forward to seeing these trees in person one day.

AJ Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:27 pm

Rob and CJ - thanks for your comments

Pavel Slovák wrote:
Amazing colors of autumn. I very much like a group of trees on a stone plate beside spruce. What trees are used?

Thanks for sharing.
Gretings Pavel

Hi Pavel - thanks for your interest. I think this is the group you are asking about:

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 Oct_1116

There are 5 species of plants used in this tray landscape - Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Japanese Hornbeam (Carpinus japonica), Dry-land Blueberry (Vaccinium palida), Japanese spirea (Spiraea japonica) and Withe-rod (Viburnum cassinodies). The slab on which they are planted is not natural stone, but was fabricated out of Portland cement by my friend Ken Duncan.

Just as a matter of interest, the bonsai displayed next to this one is not a spruce, although it looks like one in the photograph. Instead, it is a Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca')

AJ Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:46 pm

Ian Young wrote:Amazing colours AJ, Thanks for sharing.

I've been offered the opportunity to take my family to NC for a holiday by a friend who lives in New Bern. I think a cross state visit to Ashville will be on my agenda. I look forward to seeing these trees in person one day.

Hi Ian - thanks for your response. I hope if you are in North Carolina you will be able to visit the NC Arboretum, although it will take at least 6 hours of Interstate driving to travel from New Bern to Asheville. If you are going to go through all that trouble I hope you will be able to arrange your visit to be sometime during the growing season. The Bonsai Garden is open year-round, but only a few plants are on display in winter. The feeling in the garden is much different then, too:

Autumn colors at the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, 2011 12-30-10

Ian Young Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:09 pm

Oh you can bet I'll be there when it's warm lol!

the wife will insist on it!! and If I am going to make it over, expect a PM from me before hand ThumbsUp

AJ Wed Nov 09, 2011 6:09 pm

Amazingly, there is still some autumn color left in this part of the world! It's nearing its end, to be sure, but seeing as how today is November 9th and we had the beginnings of the autumnal color display back on the Expo weekend of October 8th and 9th, we've had an exceptional run this year.

Here are some more images from the NC Arboretum Bonsai Garden, made just a couple of days ago: