There aren't very many advantages to being old. One benefit, however, is the ability to look back over an extended period of time and see how events unfolded, how one thing led to another and eventually resulted in the present reality. For example, you can recognize chains of people who lead one to another, with each connection creating new horizons, new possibilities, sending the storyline in directions that otherwise might never have happened

I met Jim Doyle at a bonsai seminar early on in my bonsai career, when I took a class he was teaching. Later I invited him to be guest artist at the 2001 Carolina Bonsai Expo, following which he returned in future years as an instructor, vendor and exhibitor, showing trees as a member of the Susquehanna Bonsai Club. As part of the established relationship with clubs participating in the Expo, I offered to travel to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania annually to present an educational program to the Susquehanna group. On several occasions Jim invited the nearby Lancaster Bonsai Society to join in for my programs. That's how I came to meet Roger Lehman, who was with the Lancaster club and also was the owner and proprietor of Meco Bonsai, a bonsai equipment and supplies dealer. The Arboretum started doing business with Meco and soon after Roger was also participating as a vendor and exhibitor at the Expo. Roger, in turn, introduced me to a couple of his bonsai mentors, older gentlemen in his club he had known for years, who had been in bonsai a long time and built respectable personal collections. One of those mentors was Kent Kise (previously written about here), who donated three fine trees to The North Carolina Arboretum. The other respected elder Roger introduced me to was a man named Melvin Martin.

Most people know there is a strong presence of Amish people in and around Lancaster, Pennsylvania — the area is often referred to as "Amish country". People are generally less familiar with another religious group known as Mennonites, who also have a strong presence in the region. Amish and Mennonite people are similar in some ways but different in others. The Amish religion grew out of the Mennonite church as a more conservative movement, becoming well known for simple living, plain dress and rejection of modern conveniences. The Mennonites believe in many of the same things, but generally they are less rigid about it. Mennonites, for example, are more flexible about interacting with modern technology.

Mr. Melvin Martin was a Mennonite. He was a machinist, engineer and draftsman, the founder of the Martindale Machine Company in Martindale, Pennsylvania. The concept of community is central to Mennonite life and Mr. Martin was highly respected in his community. He also happened to do bonsai. Bonsai is a niche interest anyway, but it's hard to imagine how strange Mr. Martin's pastime must have seemed to others within his community. I have no idea how he came in contact with bonsai in the first place.

Roger Lehman invited me to go with him to visit Mr. Martin after my program in Pennsylvania in 2010. At this time Mr. Martin was in his late eighties and no longer attending bonsai club meetings, and he was also beginning to think about what would happen to his little trees once he was no longer able to take care of them himself. Roger thought some of his mentor's bonsai would make a great addition to the Arboretum's collection. Because he was a friend and staunch supporter of bonsai at The North Carolina Arboretum, Roger voluntarily took on the role of being facilitator to a possible donation, just as he had previously done with Kent Kise. I trusted Roger's judgement on the matter and agreed to go have a look.

Mr. Martin's bonsai were very impressive to me. He had a diverse collection with some older looking specimens, and seemed to like his little trees to be on the large side. Most amazingly, a substantial portion of Mr. Martin's bonsai, including some of the larger, older looking pieces, were trees he had grown himself from seed. His collection looked healthy, albeit understandably a little overgrown, but also to a surprising degree naturalistic. Roger explained to me earlier that Mr. Martin did most of his bonsai work on his own. Although a member of the Lancaster club who had familiarity with a few well known bonsai authorities like Chase Rosade, Mr. Martin was something of a bonsai outsider due to the insular tendency of the Mennonite community. He knew a good deal about horticulture and loved trees, and living in the pastoral countryside of eastern Pennsylvania he had plenty of opportunity to study them. Mr. Martin's first-hand knowledge of trees in his local landscape naturally informed the way he went about shaping bonsai.

Mr. Martin himself was impressive in his quiet, humble and dignified manner. He didn't speak very much to me directly but Roger acted ably as a go between. I respectfully asked if I could take some pictures and Mr. Martin assented, even allowing himself to be in one of the photos, standing next to a particularly good American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana):

There was no mention made of a donation during this visit. I think Roger's purpose was to let me see Mr. Martin's collection while allowing Mr. Martin to meet me and hear a little about The North Carolina Arboretum. Later, in private, Roger talked to him about the possibility of having some of his bonsai in a public collection, where they would be well tended on into the future and enjoyed by many people. Mr. Martin was open to the suggestion but did not like the idea of donating his trees. Roger explained to me that Mr. Martin's reluctance was a product of cultural custom — a person did not simply give away things of value. His bonsai were the product of hard earned skill and years of labor and were therefore worth some honest return on the investment made in them. Mr. Martin didn't need the money. It was strictly a matter of principle.

Mr. Martin's not-unreasonable principle of expecting just compensation for his work ran smack up against a principle of my own regarding the Arboretum's bonsai collection. Our collection is comprised entirely of donated trees and others created at the Arboretum — to this day we have never purchased a bonsai. This fact had already taken on significance by the time of my coming into contact with Mr. Martin, and I was not prepared to deviate from it. This put Roger in the difficult position of being the person in the middle, patiently trying to find a way to make the transaction happen, a process that played out over the next four years.

Ultimately, due mostly to the looming end of his earthly life, Mr. Martin acquiesced and donated four of his bonsai to the Arboretum. One of these was a large Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) and the three others were American hornbeams. All of them were thirty to forty years old, grown from seed by Mr. Martin. The pear is a story onto itself and will probably be featured in a future Curator's Journal entry. Of the three hornbeams, one died about a year after coming to us, but the other two have thrived and are featured in this entry.

Of all Mr. Martin’s bonsai, I found one large American hornbeam particularly attractive. It was this specimen that I asked Mr. Martin to stand by when I made the photograph of him. Fortunately, and I’m certain Roger worked to make it happen this way, that same hornbeam was one of the donated specimens that came to us in October of 2014. The following images show an in-the-round view of the tree as it looked at the time we received it:

The following year I brought this hornbeam with me on a visit with the Black Creek Bonsai Study Group in Columbia, South Carolina. My friend John Geanangel was a member of the group and had, at the time, an active YouTube channel. John made a video of the work done that day, which can be viewed here. This photo was made at the end of the session:

Back at the Arboretum I repotted the tree in a Robert Wallace container and made another set of images showing the hornbeam from four different views:

Beginning in 2017, this big American hornbeam has been displayed every year in the bonsai garden. It has proven to be a popular specimen and lends itself well to being photographed, as evidenced by the following gallery (click on any image for full view):

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

What a fine old tree! This rugged but stately hornbeam hasn’t changed much over the years because there never has been any need to alter it, and because it has grown without any difficulty or issues in all that time. Note that in 2022 it was planted in a new container, another Robert Wallace pot of more recent vintage.

Right now the tree is once again emerging from winter dormancy, pushing forth new growth in preparation for another year of being admired by hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Arboretum’s bonsai garden:

Mr. Martin grew thousands of trees from seed, and because he was an avid amateur horticulturist he always had an eye out for individuals showing unique traits. Among his discoveries was one American hornbeam displaying a naturally dwarfed habit. This specimen grew vigorously and densely, but its leaves were smaller than usual and it did not seem inclined to get big. For reasons unknown to me, Mr. Martin never attempted to make a bonsai out of this tree. He kept it in a plastic nursery container for decades and let it go about its business with only an occasional trimming to keep it tidy. I took no notice of this hornbeam when I visited Mr. Martin in 2010, and didn’t pay too much attention to it when the tree came to us four years later. I didn’t even take a photograph of it to document its appearance when we received it.

At some point I finally realized the little tree’s potential and worked it up into a miniature bonsai. The first image available of this hornbeam shows it out on display in the garden in 2018:

Two more images were made in autumn of that same year:

There are multiple possibilities for the way this specimen is presented to the viewer. For that reason, having it in a pot that can be presented from multiple angles is useful. The container in which this tree was first planted is a funky old American-made pot of unknown origin that came with the original donation from the Staples family. It’s square in shape and can be viewed from any direction. Click on any photo in the following gallery to see a larger image:

2019

2020

2021

In 2022 the Arboretum purchased another unusual small container that lent itself well to accenting this particular specimen. It was made by North Carolina potter Robert Pruski:

Click on any photo in the following gallery to see a larger image:

2022

This little hornbeam is also presently pushing out new growth:

Melvin Martin passed away in 2016 at the age of ninety three. It’s unlikely he would have ever visited the Arboretum to see his trees on display anyway, but I like to think he would have been quietly pleased.

Friends In Pennsylvania