Japanese Bonsai Gardens To Visit

Hi,

Thanks for reading my Japanese garden blog . I apologise for not posting yesterday but as was attending a funeral. Sad but inevitable for all of us I suppose. The person concerned is at peace but will be sadly missed.

Following on from my post two days ago on Bonsai I am pleased to be able to post details of some Japanese bonsai gardens that are worth a visit.

As you know in a Japanese garden you are encouraged to reflect, observe and listen and the addition of bonsai is a very welcome thing indeed.

The US has a National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington DC – this has one of the largets collections of bonsai trees anywhere in the world.

The Japanese donated 53 bonsai trees in 1976 to mark the 200th anniversary of american independence and the garden has grown for there. If you visit you can also learn the art of ikebana which is Japanese flower arranging and it’s open 10 am to 3.30pm everyday of the year exccept Christmas day.

In Washington stste a great place to vivit is The Pacific Rim Bonsai collection in Federal Way. It’s free to get in and contains over 50 bonsai trees- several of which are award winners!!

Elandan gardens are located in Bremerton Washington it’s a family owned garden that is open to the public. Some of the trees here are more than 1000 years old. The owner is a man called Dan Robinson who has been an expert in bonsai trees for over 40 years.

Harvard University Arboretum is home to the Larz Bonsai Collection , most of these trees ahve been imported by Larz anderson when he returned to the US after being Ambassador to Japan in 1913. He brought in 39 trees but due to theft and dubious care only 15 of the originals are left- however the collection is still well worth a visit.

Tomorrow I will post more reccomendations to visit.

PLEASE NOTE: For everything you need to knwo about all aspects of Japanese and Zen gardens try my manual, it’s on special offer but will increase in price from September 7th 2007. You can by reading it claim your FREE Japanese Gardens Photo slide show- featuring 100 superb colour Japanese gardens photgraphs from all over the world. It’s stunning and you will really appreciate the beauty of some of these creations!

GO TO : WWW.JAPZENGARDENS.ORG

Have a great day!