This past weekend the bonsai viewing season at the Arboretum officially began. After a concerted effort by staff and volunteers to make it happen, the benches in the bonsai garden were once again graced by the full complement of miniature trees and landscapes. A good-sized crowd of happy people were on hand to welcome them back. Saturday was also World Bonsai Day and the local Blue Ridge Bonsai Society staged an educational display out in the garden pavilion, including live demonstrations and knowledgeable club members answering questions from visitors. The Arboretum's bonsai garden volunteer docents were there, too, providing a friendly greeting and making all our guests feel welcome and appreciated. There were a few rainy periods both days, but more of the time it was sunny and mild. All in all the pleasantness of spring was much in evidence and the feeling throughout the weekend was carefree and happy.

Although I had much to keep me busy, there were moments when I just stopped a while and soaked it all in. To see the garden green and beflowered, the bonsai shining in the sunlight, the skinks and lizards scurrying about and the birds flitting from here to there, while smiling people move through the scene and fill the air with soft sounds of wonder and appreciation, is to know a moment of serenity and contentment. That is something to hold on to.

The bonsai garden is once again in a state of completion. It can be so only when the little trees are out on display and the public is there to experience them in the context of that special place created just for their enjoyment. The garden is not whole until the bonsai are in it. Just as the Arboretum, wonderful as it is, is more wonderful still when the bonsai garden is whole.

Please enjoy this selection of images made this past weekend in the bonsai garden:

Blue Ridge Bonsai Society members Bob Thatcher (left) and Stuart Rogers (right) answer visitor questions

Volunteer docent Frank Simpson being friendly and informative

The always alluring Mountain Spring water feature

Hornbeam display, left to right: Korean, American, Japanese

Approaching the middle level with mist in the air

Many people asked if the Yoshimura Island planting was dead (it was taken out of cold storage only two days earlier)

Here are four bonsai that didn’t get shown in the garden last year (click any image for larger view):

Japanese Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii)

Elf Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia 'Elf')

Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)

Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)

And finally, a bonus gallery. On Monday following the World Bonsai Day weekend I took some time in the evening and headed up the Parkway to a favorite stretch of the Mountains to Sea Trail. At the higher elevations spring is only in its early stage, so going up there is like turning back the calendar several weeks. Here is just a sampling of the sights (click on any image for larger view):

Whole Again