Bonsai Exhibition Garden
at The North Carolina Arboretum

go to construction photos

On October 8, 2005 the Arboretum officially opened the gates to a long awaited new display facility for its exceptional bonsai collection.  The Bonsai Exhibition Garden is a strikingly original creation, not only the newest public bonsai facility in the United States but one unlike any other before it.

 The $1.8 million dollar capital project was five years in design development. A team of more than a dozen talented people from the Western North Carolina region worked on the design, including Architect Bill Dechant, Landscape Architect Fred Blackley, Garden Designer Mike Oshita, several volunteers with expertise in landscape architecture and garden design, and key members of the Arboretum staff. The goal was to create the plan for a world-class bonsai display, which honors the traditional roots of bonsai art but innovatively establishes it in the context of the Southern Appalachian mountain experience.   This design vision was finally realized after a nearly two-year construction project, which also utilized local talent in the selection of artists, craftsman and builders.

The funding for the Bonsai Exhibition Garden construction came entirely from private sources, generated by the Arboretum's first-ever Capital Campaign. The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, the Janirve Foundation, the Glass Foundation and the Stanley Smith Trust Foundation provided major grants. Bonsai Societies in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia provided substantial contributions, and scores of individuals across the Eastern United States gave gifts ranging from $10 to $20,000.  The Bonsai Exhibition Garden is the first privately funded development project at the Arboretum, further underscoring the regionally based, homegrown identity of its bonsai collection.

Features of the Bonsai Garden include: 

• Specially designed display areas to showcase the bonsai collection in an optimal viewing arrangement
  
• An open air pavilion to provide shelter for visitors and house demonstrations and interpretive exhibits
  
• A unique landscape featuring a mixture of temperate plants from around the world, plus extensive use of native stone, designed to complement and enhance the bonsai viewing experience
  
• Upper and lower courtyard plazas and a deck overlooking the woodlands to serve as gathering points
  
• A winding boardwalk, custom designed wrought-iron gates and viewing windows, and a naturalistic water feature to add texture and depth
  
• Interpretive signs to educate visitors about the collection and garden

The Bonsai Exhibition Garden is now open to the public on a daily basis.  Hours of operation are: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.  Monday through Saturday; 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.  Please check the Arboretum's Hours of Operation for a listing of days when the Arboretum is closed for North Carolina state holidays.

During the winter (approximately November through March) the bonsai presence in the garden is greatly reduced, as most of the specimens are removed to an over-wintering facility that is not open to the public.  However, a small assortment of the most hardy bonsai remain on the display benches throughout the winter months, and the entire tropical portion of the collection can be viewed at the Greenhouse.

Please enjoy this selection of photographs showing the construction of the garden and scenes of people visiting the garden shortly after its opening.

(Please click on any image below to see a larger version of it.)

3. decorative ironwork under construction at Saluda Forge

4. placing large stone for water feature

5. water feature construction

6. preparation of main entry plaza

7. upper plaza taking shape

8.  the first upper plaza concrete pour was not successful

9. working the upper plaza concrete, second time

10. installation of tin roofing

11. sandblasting detail in upper plaza

12. view of entry plaza

13. preparing copper gutters for installation

14. phase I nearing completion

15. garden gate installation

16. looking through wrought-iron window

17. phase II begins

18. drainage work on phase II

19. footings being prepared for deck construction

20. form for deck construction

21. deck beginning to take shape

22. ipe wood being laid for decking

23. stone masons work on outer walls

24. view from the lower end of site

25. steel understructure for boardwalk

26. stonework being installed in landscape

27. granite bridge is placed

28. lower level landscape taking shape

29. view from deck looking down boardwalk

30. landscape installation begins

31. specimen pine being installed in entry plaza

32. upper plaza landscape work in progress

33. garden designer Mike Oshita

34. architect Bill Dechant

35. bonsai moving in

36. the bonsai garden opens at last

37. dignitaries in the garden: Bob Drechsler, Dr. John Creech, Janet Lanman

38.  E. Felton Jones, who started the ball rolling, at the dedication

| back to top of page |