Bonsai

Bonsai - Body

Bonsai

Japanese Garden

Expand image Bonsai Olive Tree in a small brown pot.

Olive tree

Expand image Pyracantha Bonsai with orange flowers in a small blue pot.

Pyracantha

Expand image Green Bald Cypress Bonsai in a small brown pot.

Bald Cypress

Expand image Orange Crabapple Bonsai in a small brown pot.

Crabapple

  • Bonsai (pronounced “BONE-sigh”) is a horticultural art form that started in China and then became popular in Japan.
  • The Japanese word bonsai translates as “tree in a pot.” Bonsai are living plants, typically a tree, shrub, or woody herb grown in a pot and trained to develop characteristics found in a very old tree.
  • The Huntington has more than 400 bonsai trees in its collection.
  • There are two ways to measure bonsai age: real age (how long the tree has been alive) and the age of training (how long it has been worked on by a bonsai designer).
  • Some of the bonsai at The Huntington were grown using plant material that was more than 1,000 years old!

Activity

Write a four-line poem about one of the bonsai trees. Think about color, shape, line, and texture.

Click on these links to explore more

Bonsai Collection

“Lifelines/Timelines” exhibition

Listen to a podcast on Bonsai