Treebeard

Just thought I'd dredge this old thread up to say:

I got the book for xmas, and lo! between pages 67-69 there are two bonsai, and a small write up. The bonsai are a juniperus occidentalis and a zelkova serrata from Huntingdon gardens near LA.

And what a strange mix the write-up is...

lots of talk of imprisonment, gentle torture, bondage, artificial, deformity etc, but there is also this:

"Bonsai gardeners rightly pride themselves on their patience and artistry. The tree is imprisoned in a small pot or tray to make it small and beautiful, rather as Chinese ladies of fashion used to have their feet bound. But here the analogy fails. By contrast with the Chinese ladies, who were crippled by foot-binding, confining the bonsai sets it free from the constraints of ageing, and gives it a kind of perpetual youth... ...Bonsai experts believe that a bonsai might become virtually immortal - or at any rate live for thousands of years - if properly disciplined." from "meetings with remarkable trees" by Thomas Pakenham

I think it is clear that Mr Pakenham does not like bonsai much, and it is obvious that he is more than a little mis-informed, but at the same time it seems that he understands at least some of the the whys and wherefores of bonsai.

Regards,

TB

__________________
"Do not be hasty, that is my motto"
-JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers.
-----------------------------------
christopherguise.co.uk