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FOREWORD

The U.S. National Arboretum, where science meets beauty, is proud to be the home of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, the world’s first public museum dedicated to the horticultural arts of bonsai and penjing. Founded in 1976 with a gift from Japan to the United States in honor of its Bicentennial, the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum is a focal collection within the U.S. National Arboretum.

Established in 1927, the National Arboretum is itself a living museum and research center. More than half a million visitors visit the grounds annually, where they enjoy the beauty of our 16,000 varieties of plants, the balance of our cultivated gardens and natural landscapes, and the quiet of our 446 acres only a few miles from the U.S Capitol Building.

What they may not know is that they are visiting one of the world’s leading horticultural science institutions with collections that include a large and invaluable inventory of germplasm and her-barium specimens to support research by scientists worldwide. In the United States, the National Arboretum is credited with introducing more than 650 cultivars of woody and herbaceous plants into the country. As an entity within the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Arboretum continues to develop new cultivars and new approaches to detecting and treating plant diseases, ultimately benefitting people in the U.S. and around the globe.

The National Arboretum salutes our National Bonsai & Penjing Museum on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. We applaud the commitment and skill of all those who have made possible the museum’s masterpieces of horticultural artistry.

Dr. Richard T. Olsen

Director, U.S. National Arboretum

The 22 National Capitol Columns, installed at the U.S. National Arboretum in the 1980s, date from 1828 when they graced the U.S. Capitol’s East Portico.

The National Arboretum’s Asian Collections, begun in 1949, include a dazzling array of plants where something is blooming every month of the year.

A Japanese White Pine (Pinus parviflora), the same variety of tree used for many bonsai and penjing, is also popular in Japanese gardens. This tree greets visitors at the museum’s entrance.