The
already outstanding Matthaei-Nichols bonsai collection just got better.
A
recent purchase of twelve trees from local bonsai teacher, demonstrator,
lecturer, and bonsai guru Jack Wikle brings our collection to well over
50. Wikle, who has been active in the bonsai community for decades, also has
long-standing ties to Matthaei-Nichols as a volunteer, bonsai adviser, and
member of the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society.
Of
particular interest in the new acquisitions are an American hornbeam group (Carpinus
caroliniana) and a larch (Larix laricina) group. Both species are
native trees.
The
hornbeam, which dates to 1964, was Wikle’s second bonsai tree, says staff
member Carmen Leskoviansky, who oversees the Matthaei-Nichols bonsai
collection. “Hornbeam is special because it’s native, not traditional bonsai
material, and more difficult to work with,” she says.
The
larch forest resembles a miniature woods and sits atop a slab, a
bonsai vessel that’s even shallower than the usual bonsai pot. While the
Matthaei-Nichols bonsai collection has three other larch specimens, this
is the first larch forest. As a woods in miniature the larch
forest is convincing enough that it’s easy to imagine yourself in the midst of
a Michigan tamarack bog. Such realism is what makes this acquisition particularly
exciting, says Leskoviansky.
The
twelve news trees come from a collection many years in the making. Wikle, who
turned 80 last winter, offered the collection for sale to several area
organizations and individuals, including Hidden Lake Gardens in Tipton, Mich. Frederik
Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Mich., and
Matthaei-Nichols. As bittersweet as saying goodbye to his bonsai must have
been, Wikle says that he and his wife now see these trees, which were a big
part of their lives, “bringing pleasure and inspiration to others in the years
to come after we are gone.”
Many
of the new additions and those from our permanent collection will be on display
in the new bonsai and penjing garden currently under construction at Matthaei
Botanical Gardens.
A
list of the twelve new trees:
Carpinus
caroliniana Group
(American hornbeam)
Carpinus
caroliniana Single
Trunk (American hornbeam)
Thuja
occidentalis (white
cedar)
Larix
laricina Forest
(American larch)
Hypericum
kalmianum (Kalm
St. John’swort)
Pinus
sylvestris (Scots
pine)
Acer
buergerianum (trident
maple)
Carpinus
koreana
(Korean hornbeam)
Prunus
subhirtella var. autumnalis (fall flowering Higan cherry)
Cotoneaster
multiflorus (many-flowered
cotoneaster)
Chaenomeles
speciosa var.
(flowering quince)
Tilia
cordata (littleleaf
linden)
