Yesterday I took a field trip to the National Arboretum. It’s about a forty-five minute drive from my house. I have been there a couple of times before, both times in the early spring before anything was blooming. On this trip, I went late in fall, after everything was done blooming. Driving through the arboretum property was fun. It was HUGE! There were many places to park and walk on foot paths. One of these days I’ll go at a more appropriate time.
There is a huge bonsai display. It’s really very interesting to walk through. They have the trees sorted by bonsai-keeping style: Japanese, Chinese, and American. Some of the deciduous trees had already lost their leaves. Others had brightly colored fall leaves. The evergreens looked… well… green.
The most exciting tree to view was an old Japanese White Pine. It was actually quite large, at four feet by four feet. But it was quite old, too. The plaque said “In training since 1625”. The tree is 383 years old. It isn’t the oldest living organism I’ve met, but it IS the oldest one whose exact age I’ve known. Another cool fact: this tree survived being 3 kilometers away from ground zero of the Hiroshima bomb.
This morning I’ve tried to find some notable 1625 events. There seemed to be a lot going on with the Dutch in the 1600’s. Why aren’t they a world power? Something must have happened. Do you think it had to do with squished toilet paper rolls?
By the strange circular pattern under the pot, it would seem that the tree is rotated on a regular basis…tha’s probably what keeps it from getting grumpy.
And my favorite picture in that link was the one that read, “Masaru was pleased by Shigeru’s birth. Here he seems to be very happy.”
Heh. To the credit of the caption writers, it is the ONLY picture where Masaru is smiling. Maybe that’s how they figured he seemed to be happy.
Well, after reading that article, my original idea to ask you to ‘take along some toy dinosaurs next time for an action-filled bonsai picture’ seems a little trite.
Can you imagine the pressure that is on the gardener that takes care of that tree now! “Oh Miss Westling thank you for joining the arboretum team. I’m sure you will love working here. We have a great benefit package. Your job is to take care of this 383 year old plant that survived a bomb blast. Don’t screw it up..” NO PRESSURE.
Heh.
…and you have to ask why the plant is so large/old? 3 miles from atomic explosion!! Radiation!! EEEK! Did you bring a geiger counter with you on your trip?? Do you glow in the dark now???
[Did you never watch those Japanese horror movies on which I grew up, where the actors’ mouths move and then the sound comes out, and they always had a moral (e.g., “Take care of the Earth – she is our Mother”)?? They are classic and would have explained this all to you, sir.]
The perfect field trip-plants and history! Lovely!
That tree is amazing!!! I LOVE bonsai trees. Do you know how many times I’ve picked one up to purchase & then put it back? Now that I know they can survive an atomic blast, I’m clearing off my counter for one. Fear not, little Bonsai…