A Chinese banyan tree from “Bonsai Take Flight: Ancient Traditions Come Alive” at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
A swirling Chinese dragon and high-flying kites greet visitors to the conservatory at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, where the exhibit “Bonsai Take Flight: Ancient Traditions Come Alive” is on view through Feb. 26. The stars of the show are 25 magnificent bonsai, meticulously cared for by Bob Chilton and Todd Stewart of Gardens Unlimited.
While prevalent in Japan, “Bonsai started 2,000 years ago in China, and that’s when kites got started, too. ‘Take Flight’ is about human innovation. And the kids really love the kites,” Stewart says with a smile. He and Chilton are at the exhibit to care for their bonsai and switch some out.
Some of the plants in the exhibit are over 100 years old. Many of the bonsai are in leaf, although some leafless trees were selected to show their winter silhouettes. Viewers can clearly see the architecture of their trunks, branches and finely divided small twigs. The latter is an advanced branch structure created by bonsai artists and known as “ramification,” according to Stewart. On some of the twigs, a few tiny buds have appeared.
“You discover, like with some of the trees that have much more ramification to them, it can take days to prune the tree. You get lost in it. It’s quite relaxing,” Stewart says.
On a pedestal at the entrance to the exhibit, a 65-year-old Chinese banyan has branches that spread wide past each side of its shallow pot. The tree’s exposed roots dramatically extend downward from its lowest branches to the soil. “All those aerial roots have dropped, which we have encouraged. When we first started, the tree had none,” Stewart says. He notes that banyan trees can be found in many parts of the world, including Florida, Hawaii and South America. In the wild, the banyan can grow to 50 feet or higher. The tabletop version here is about 3 feet tall.
“Look at that little guy — he’s so tiny,” a young girl at the exhibit says to her mother, pointing to a bonsai about 3 inches tall. “That one looks like a snake,” she says of a winding ficus.
Todd Stewart and Bob Chilton of Gardens Unlimited tend to one of their bonsai creations at the exhibit.
“People tend to think of bonsai as one type of plant,” Stewart says, “but it’s not — it’s a technique. Basically, anything that doesn’t mind being pruned, or being in a pot, is adaptable to being bonsai.” The exhibit includes evergreen, deciduous and tropical trees.
Bonsai (pronounced “bone-sigh”) is Japanese for “planted in a container” and involves the artistry of training the trees, which are grown in shallow pots. Most bonsai are not dwarf trees; they would grow into full-sized trees without careful pruning with special tools, techniques such as gentle shaping with copper or aluminum wires, and, of course, lots of tender loving care.
Conservatory Horticulturalist Jayton Howard and Exhibitions Manager Beth Anne Booth worked with Gardens Unlimited on the exhibit, their second for Lewis Ginter. “I was really inspired by Chilton and Stewart’s vision. They wanted it to be accessible and feel a little bit more modern, not necessarily bogged down in bonsai tradition, and I think we really achieved that,” Howard says.
And their artistry? “It is amazing. … They have a superior eye; they really know what they’re doing, and they create some beautiful pieces of artwork for us to all marvel at.”
Booth describes the art of bonsai as “something that is so grand, but at the same time, that is so intimate. There is an emotional connection that you have to these specimens. You have to be in sync with them. It’s a calling, really.”
Nationally renowned, Chilton and Stewart have displayed their work and taught the art of bonsai at the United States Botanic Garden and at art galleries throughout the mid-Atlantic. Their commissions include a tea garden installation celebrating the centennial of the Cherry Blossom Festival on the National Mall and the Japanese-style garden at the University of Mary Washington.
Leon Meire photographs the living artwork.
The artists nurture these “living sculptures,” as Stewart calls them, in different climate-controlled greenhouses at their nursery in Ladysmith. Some of the plants are hundreds of years old. The bonsai come from all over the world, though some they found locally in the wild or started from cuttings.
Chilton is doing some last-minute touch-up on a bonsai that they’ve unloaded from the van. His miniature dachshund, Iris, oversees the work.
When asked about his initial interest in bonsai, he says, “I believe as a child I saw it in ‘World Book Encyclopedia,’ and I immediately started digging up seedlings and planting them in my mom’s various dishes.” He laughs. “At some point, probably in my 20s, I was seriously interested, and I started just making bonsai. And this is where it’s gone.”
Gardens Unlimited is now in its 30th year. The pair offer garden design and installations and bonsai creation and maintenance by appointment.
When working with bonsai, Chilton says, “You have to pay attention to what the tree wants to do, and then give some artistic vision to it.”
Chilton speaks about the joy of his work. “I work on trees, every day, seven days a week. That’s what I do,” he says. “It’s been so many years that I’ve been doing this, that it’s kind of second nature to just sit there for hours making tiny cuts.” In addition to daily watering and other maintenance, he talks to his bonsai every day. “And they talk to me,” he adds with a smile.
“Bonsai Take Flight: Ancient Traditions Come Alive” is included with garden admission and free for members.
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