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The art of bonsai draws attention to the stark natural beauty of these tiny trees.
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Nessy the bonsai tree was named after the Loch Ness monster.
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More than a century old, this lacebark elm bonsai tree, aka The Emperor, stands a regal 47 inches tall.
Bonsai is the traditional Japanese art of training a tree to grow into a miniature version of itself. It is a creative collaboration between nature and a culturist whose vision comes to life in the trunk and branches of a tiny tree, in essence a living sculpture.
Todd Stewart and his partner, Bob Chilton, have spent the past 30 years amassing a collection of over 150 bonsai. What began as a shared passion for plants grew into a professional partnership called Gardens Unlimited, a bonsai nursery in Ladysmith where clients can buy a bonsai; bring their own trees to be styled, pruned, trained and repotted; take private instruction; or buy supplies to do it themselves.
Over the years, Stewart and Chilton have collected roses, orchids, succulents, Japanese maples, hosta, cacti and conifers. “It was never a conscious decision to collect,” Stewart says. (Both inherited a love of gardening and plants from their parents.) The bonsai collection grew organically. “Some of the trees we started from cuttings or seedlings. Others were purchased. Occasionally a complete collection has come our way.”
Stewart doesn’t think of “bonsai as something you have. It is something you do.” He and Chilton share the responsibility of caring for the collection. They both spend two hours every day inspecting the trees one by one — to monitor light, temperature and water, and to guard against pests and disease. They set aside additional time for training, pruning and repotting. Major creative decisions — a significant stylistic change or when to transplant a tree into a new container — are made jointly. Otherwise, they trust each other implicitly. On the rare occasion that they travel, a few generous friends step in to care for the trees.
Both men are self-taught. “We have friends in the industry that we can go to if we have a question, and our own library of books to refer to,” Stewart says, but most of their expertise is a product of experience.
You won’t find a single bonsai in the couple’s home. The plants are kept outdoors in growing conditions similar to their native environments. Trees that hail from temperate climates spend spring, summer and fall outdoors and are relocated to a heated, vented cold frame for the winter. Tropical trees overwinter in a climate-controlled greenhouse and are brought outdoors when temperatures exceed 50 degrees. “We do bring a few of them inside to enjoy with our guests when we entertain,” Stewart says.
Although each of the bonsai in their collection has a common name and a botanical name, occasionally one of the trees will earn a nickname — “for practical as well as poetic purposes,” Stewart says. There is one named The Duchess and another they call Nessy, because it looks to them like the Loch Ness monster.
The largest member of the collection is The Emperor. A lacebark elm whose trunk measures 58 inches around, The Emperor rises to a stately height of 47 inches. It is well over 100 years old. Just like its full-size relatives, The Emperor has exfoliating bark and diminutive leaves that turn golden yellow in the fall before dropping off. Because it requires a forklift to move the majestic tree, Stewart and Chilton build a greenhouse around it every year as winter approaches.
They hope that someday their collection will become part of a museum, where it might serve to educate and inspire others. “We build museums for art,” Stewart reasons, “why not an institution to house these trees, which are themselves living sculpture?”
You can hear the devotion in his voice when he talks about the bonsai they have collected and cared for over the years. Ask him which of the tiny trees he is most fond of, and he replies, “Every one of them is my favorite.”
