Fall Bonsai Collection @ Chicago Botanical Garden

We visited last weekend the Botanical Garden in Chicago. You might enjoy the pictures I took from the trees currently on display in the East and West Courtyards of the Regenstein Center.

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I really enjoyed the tour! Thanks for posting these!
Best,
Todd

Thanks for sharing.

comment though, It appears in the pictures that some of the trees displayed seems to be neglected for quite sometime. Yes, they are healthy but some branches are becoming too long and leggy. And the conifers are becoming unrefined. Sorry, if it just me and my observation.

regards,
jun

Very enjoyable, but pictures from an exhibit are always more helpful if you include the names.
Iris

I agree Jun, some of those conifers are close to going to waste (unless some grafting is used) if someone does not do a lot of work on them soon. I would think there would be a local bonsai club that would pitch in to help, The several public collections I know of are usually donated by local bonsai artist who have passed away, so I would think the local clubs would be upset about the refinement of the trees that have been donated, if that is how the botanic gardens here ended up with them.

Thank you for your feedback. Here is the link to the Botanical Garden website with information about the trees and the collections history. Chicago Botanical Garden - A Walk through the Bonsai Courtyards

bucknbonsai wrote:I agree Jun, some of those conifers are close to going to waste (unless some grafting is used) if someone does not do a lot of work on them soon. I would think there would be a local bonsai club that would pitch in to help, The several public collections I know of are usually donated by local bonsai artist who have passed away, so I would think the local clubs would be upset about the refinement of the trees that have been donated, if that is how the botanic gardens here ended up with them.

In our country, where government funds are always short. animals in public zoos were adopted by private corporations, individuals, or clubs. The animals adopted stays and cared by the zoo, but the funding is shared by adopter.
I think some local clubs would be more than willing to provide proper care for public owned trees like these. and even private individual can adopt the tree/trees and be responsible in its care...and if needed be, the name of the person or club can be placed side by side with the trees info. Its better than losing precious public owned trees.

Just wondering what happened, I have seen these trees before and they are very nice and so taken cared of, and the facilities and display areas looks so neat.

regards,
jun

i thought exactly the same thing, regarding the bulk of the ever-greens they are a lovely collection of semi raw material that needs lots of work and refining to regain themselves as bonsai again. - the tall literati has 5 years of correct pinching and plucking ahead and collectively they would love about 20 kilos of copper wire applied to show the trees as they have the potential to be.

i think it is national collection trees (that i feel are not kept well refined in more places than just here) that should be used for demonstration purposes when GOOD bonsai artists are the guests at large national shows. this is a win win situation as the artist understands the importance of the tree they are working on so they do the best job they can, the tree itself benefits from skilled attention, and there is not the problem for show organisers to source and then decide who keeps ! the demo trees.

there have been some very skilled artists in the US this year, plus the home grown talent coming through from japanese apprenticeships -Walter pall's visit was posted here recently to name just one - so why give these artists a fairly normal field or pot grown pine when they could have worked on one of these lovely old trees ?

i believe the uk collections are exactly the same - trees kept alive and healthy but not as well refined as trees belonging to any hobbyist who shows their trees. Often the deciduous look fine as a quick scissor prune keeps the summer image, but the pines and junipers need time and technique, and it is easy to see this is lacking.

marcus

Jun & Marcus,
I couldn't agree more. The trees in this collection have great character and age. Last year we had Michael Hagerdorn, this year Ryan Neil, next year Peter Warren. They could easily have taken 3-4 of the better trees and set them back onto the "path".

Neil

I used to live in Chicago, and was a member of the local club. These trees had been mostly neglected for many years - just a few retirees who tried to take care of them but had no real training. A few years ago the Garden finally hired a curator for the bonsai collection - someone who has actually studied with a Master from Japan, coincidently the same master who donated 12 of the best trees in the collection.

So the curator has been trying to get the collection back into shape. But I agree, the vast majority of these trees look more like rough stock than finished trees. It's pretty sad, as they have the potential to have a really great collection there.

- bob