Public Domain Picture: 20110329-ARS-LSC-0456

Assistant Curator Aarin Packard (green fleece jacket and knit cap) talks to second grade students from Sidwell Friends School, Washington, DC, who visited the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service's National Arboretum, in Washington, DC, on March 29, 2011. Mr. Packard told the children the story of the man who created this setting of bonsai trees to represent his grand children, and that of the 11 trees in this plot, the smallest represented the eldest grand child who at first did not like that, but was told that the two most important trees were the biggest and the smallest. The smallest tree on the edge is the first to lead the group to becoming a larger group. Packard used several other trees to explain the many special needs of caring for bonsai trees, and that the trees are simply regular trees, trained and controlled to grow in a small form. The trimming of trees is given great consideration over long periods of time before a major cut would be made. Packard also expressed that the trees may be small but they are often hundreds of years old. Before the tour, he did some research and found that Princess Chichibu of Japan, 1928 alum of Sidwell Friends School, donated one of the bonsai trees. USDA photo by Lance Cheung.

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Agricultureresearchservice, Ars, Bonsai, Capitolcolumns, Cherryblossom, Dc, Nationalarboretum, Princesschichibu, Sidwellfriendsschool, Unitedstates, Unitedstatesdepartmentofagriculture, Usda, Washington

May 7, 2014