{"id":263241,"date":"2026-04-23T20:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/263241\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:15:11","slug":"a-bonsai-bonanza-the-arnold-arboretums-tiniest-trees-return-to-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/263241\/","title":{"rendered":"A bonsai bonanza: The Arnold Arboretum\u2019s tiniest trees return to display"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note:\u00a0This is an excerpt from WBUR’s Saturday morning newsletter, The Weekender. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox,\u00a0sign up here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After a long winter in storage, the Arnold Arboretum\u2019s tiniest trees are back on display as of Friday. The 67-plant bonsai collection<\/a> is striking, pruned to perfection and notable. (The oldest dates back to 1737, but more on that later.)<\/p>\n

Though they may be miniature, caring for these trees over the last five months was no small feat, according to Chris Copeland, bonsai curator and manager of plant production at the Arboretum.<\/p>\n

\"BonsaiBonsai maple trees in a greenhouse at the Arnold Arboretum. (Robin Lubbock\/WBUR)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trees are temperate trees, meaning they acclimated to a Massachusetts climate, so they expect four seasons,\u201d Copeland said. But if left outside in the extreme cold, fragile bonsai can sustain serious injuries to their roots, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main goal is to keep these plants as sculptures, making sure they’re not changing too much, but keeping them healthy and happy as if they were in the landscape,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, we try not to gloss over winter.\u201d<\/p>\n

To do this, the Arboretum sends its bonsai trees into a cooler for a \u201ccontrolled winter\u201d every November, where the plants are protected from harsh elements like snow and \u201csuspended in animation,\u201d Copeland said.<\/p>\n

\"BonsaiBonsai specialist Jun Imabayashi trims a bonsai pine at the Arnold Arboretum. (Robin Lubbock\/WBUR)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also during this time that the trees\u2019 branches are pruned and bound with sculpting wires by bonsai specialist Jun Imabayashi, creating their unique shape. Bonsai are lightly trimmed in the summer, too, but \u201cwinter is a great time for structure pruning,\u201d Copeland said. \u201cLarger cuts are a little easier to make in dormancy when the trees are essentially sleeping.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trees\u2019 long naps end in early April, when staff bring them to the Dana Greenhouses in Jamaica Plain. Usually, the bonsai collection\u2019s return to the Arboretum\u2019s Bonsai and Penjing Pavilion<\/a> is slated for Patriots\u2019 Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s always the goal,\u201d Copeland said.<\/p>\n

But sometimes, it\u2019s just too cold to put the trees back out on the pavilion \u2014 which is exactly what happened this year.<\/p>\n

\"WireWire carefully wound round a branch of a bonsai birch tree to manage the tree’s shape. (Robin Lubbock\/WBUR)<\/p>\n

Many other factors \u2014 from daylight saving time to the cold storage itself \u2014 can also affect the trees during their reacclimation period. For example, a bonsai fresh from the cooler might have blemishes or injuries in need of tending to that weren\u2019t visible in storage. And increased daylight, particularly on a sunny day, can make a bonsai thirsty. Watering alone is an \u201call hands on deck effort,\u201d Copeland said. Each bonsai is checked three times a day to make sure it\u2019s not dried out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe watering schedule is always the most tentative, the most careful process of spring,\u201d Copeland said. \u201cIt’s really dangerous for any of these trees to be too dry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ArnoldArnold Arboretum bonsai curator Chris Copeland stands by a hinoki cypress started in 1737, previously owned by Larz Anderson. Copeland holds a clone of the tree, started in 2017. (Robin Lubbock\/WBUR)<\/p>\n

Balancing it all can be a little nerve-wracking, especially when working with such treasured trees. The youngest bonsai, only 25 years old, is a European olive tree propagated from a clipping intended for a crown for the winner of the 1996 Boston Marathon.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Field Guide to Boston: Discover \u2014 and rediscover \u2014 your Boston.<\/a><\/p>\n

The oldest, a 289-year-old hinoki cypress, was inherited from Larz Anderson, who imported the tree from Japan in 1913. It\u2019s also one of the oldest cultivated bonsai in North America, second only to three bonsai at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York.<\/p>\n

Copeland says his colleague, plant propagator Sarah Shank, has come up with the perfect term to summarize the pressure around keeping these delicate plants \u2014 and their legacies \u2014 alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cBonsai-ety,\u201d said Copeland. \u201cSort of extreme anxiety from just the daily calculations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe wide base of a bonsai European olive tree at the Arnold Arboretum, propagated from a clipping meant for the 1996 Boston Marathon. (Robin Lubbock\/WBUR)<\/p>\n

But from \u201cbonsai-ety\u201d comes solutions. In the past, staff would transport the bonsai trees using a motorized forklift, which vibrated a bit too much for the trees\u2019 liking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would really shake these trees as we moved them from one location to another, which can be damaging and \u200aa little too aggressive for what we consider to be museum sculptures,\u201d Copeland said.<\/p>\n

So, a few years ago, they ditched the forklift in favor of a hydraulic lift.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a manual cart that we can raise and lower with a pedal. If there’s a speed bump in the parking lot, we can communicate, \u2018let’s slow down while we go over this bump,\u2019\u201d Copeland said. \u201c[It] just took a lot of the anxiety out of moving one tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SeasonalSeasonal gardener Aberdeen Bird works on the moss at the base of a bonsai pine at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. (Robin Lubbock\/WBUR)<\/p>\n

If you visit from now through November, you’ll see 15 bonsai on the pavilion. About 30 different bonsai go on display over the course of a season, according to Copeland. But it\u2019s never the same crew of trees; the staff likes to rotate the display every two to three weeks in line with seasonal interests. Springtime brings flowering miniatures, like cherry blossoms, lilacs and a wisteria vine tree (which is actually a bonsai clone of a larger tree in the Arboretum). In the summer, you\u2019ll see more hinoki cypress and pine trees, which can better withstand the heat. Autumn brings gingko trees and Japanese maples to the forefront for their rich yellow and red colors.<\/p>\n

After that, they\u2019re gone again for another winter \u2014 but thanks to meticulous care, it may be centuries before they truly bid Boston farewell.<\/p>\n

P.S. \u2014 The Massachusetts Horticultural Society\u2019s \u201cTulip Mania\u201d also began this week. There are more than 7,5000 tulips blooming now at their Garden at Elm Bank in Wellesley, and you can check them out (and pick-your-own) now through May 2. Click here<\/a> for ticket details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor’s Note:\u00a0This is an excerpt from WBUR’s Saturday morning newsletter, The Weekender. If you like what you read…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-263241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}