This is what I would imagine a forest for gnomes to look like - small, organized, and easy on the eye.
The Huntington Gardens in San Marino remains the best place to view a large collection of bonsai in southern california.
The bonsai sit, respectfully, in the Japanese garden area, right past the amazing zen garden of rock, sand, and stone.
'Bon' means 'shallow', and 'sai' means 'plant' in Japanese, as in 'plants that grow in a shallow container.' The art of training miniature trees to resemble their larger brethern first originated in China and is super complex, just like Asia itself. You need all sorts of fancy tools, none of which I have ever seen at Home Depot. About a thousand years ago, back when Japan looked heavily to China for cultural inspiration, they snatched upon the idea and bonsai has been added to the list of 'Japanese things we recognize,' but its far more than that.
*Terri and Sue-ki Yaki eye the bonsai.
Since 1968 when it first opened to the public, the bonsai garden at the Huntington represents the practice at its finest with over 30 plants.
Trained, twisted, pinched, and plucked, these minature trees and plants are meant to resemble the natural world, only smaller. With most things in our present culture getting bigger and bigger, the movement back to a small, managable scale can best be seen in bonsai plants. Small is beautiful. The striking look of a giant tree in minature reminds us how far we've gotten away from the meaning of the word "beautiful" and that big does not equal great.
Now, if only we coult do the same thing with cars.
Shinto elements seen in the signage as well.
New hobby for the year - bonsai!
