The Curator’s Journal by Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura offers the ultimate insider’s view of bonsai at The North Carolina Arboretum. Regular entries chronicle growing an art and growing an enterprise. Some journal entries will be long and others more brief; some will be mostly words and others mostly pictures; some will be close-up studies of detail and others will step back to take in the wider scene.

The path will not be linear, but all the entries will be steps on a journey. You’re invited to come along.

Preview the latest entries and resources offered below. With Joura as a knowledgeable guide, you can forgo the map and travel in time to meet remarkable trees, each with stories and life lessons worth sharing.

REcent Journal Entries

Featured
Ongoing Development of a Slippery Elm
Ongoing Development of a Slippery Elm

It turned out that keeping this elm under control while giving it the freedom of growing in the ground was not practicably possible. When I cut it back in the spring the tree would simply explode with new growth, as if it would just as soon be a big bushy shrub if I wasn’t going to let it climb up to the sky.

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Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking

People who get into bonsai in a big way typically go through a phase early on in which every woody plant they see is evaluated for its potential to be made into a bonsai. That is, they will look at any smaller sized tree or shrub in a pot or in the ground and imagine how it might literally be turned into a designed miniature tree.

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Rest in the Shade of the Trees
Rest in the Shade of the Trees

After twenty minutes or so, Duane came to my office and stood silently in the doorway. I looked up at him. "I think you better come look at this," he said. I walked down the short hallway to the headhouse work area, and there was the landscape planting out of the pot and sitting on the table.

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The Last Encounter
The Last Encounter

We talked easily enough. Mr. Yoshimura's new surroundings were newer, cleaner and less cluttered than his home in Briarcliff Manor had been, and it felt different encountering him there. One thing hadn't changed, though — he still spoke to me in riddles sometimes.

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Mr. Yoshimura's Time in Asheville
Mr. Yoshimura's Time in Asheville

Nine thirty the next morning I was at the hotel and Mr. Yoshimura was not waiting in the lobby. I stopped at the front desk and asked the woman working there what room Mr. Yoshimura was in. She told me the number then asked if I wanted her to call his room and let him know I was there. "No," I said. "He's expecting me."

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Recommended viewing

Featured
The American Elm
The American Elm

From a simple seed grows a mighty tree — and a great new video by Ben Kirkland, content creator of the popular YouTube channel Appalachian Bonsai. He documents Arthur Joura in the 2019 styling demonstration that was the making of The American Elm.

A Radical Redesign: Tanuki
A Radical Redesign: Tanuki

Life, death, rebirth. Bonsai curator Arthur Joura undertakes an unusual and challenging redesign of an old juniper bonsai from the Arboretum's collection. The work was recorded live and edited by Visiting Artist Ben Kirkland, creator of the YouTube channel Appalachian Bonsai.

Creating a Tray Landscape
Creating a Tray Landscape

In Creating a Tray Landscape, Arboretum Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura creates a new planting featuring a lone weathered hornbeam and woody shrubs assembled with sculptural rocks on a natural stone slab. It makes for a scene evocative of the craggy Southern Appalachian highlands.

Repotting the River of Dreams
Repotting the River of Dreams

An iconic tray landscape — The River of Dreams — is de-constructed and its individual elements are reassembled to create a new composition, which is then replanted into a new and larger American-made container.

Out of the Box
Out of the Box

This second video of the series, "Out of the Box," shows what happens in several years when a bonsai-in-training is ready to take another significant step toward becoming a presentable piece.

A SMALL Sampling OF Bonsai IN THE Arboretum’s COLLECTION

Captions may not be supported when viewing on a mobile device. Find a list of the bonsai currently on display here.

“We use bonsai as an interpretive tool to help excite people about nature, to help engage them, to make their visit to the Arboretum special... That focus exclusively on the natural aspect, that’s what sets us apart. Here, bonsai is a way for people to see nature differently. ”
— Arthur Joura