Road Trip: The Bonsai Museum at the National Arboretum (Washington, DC)

This is another highlight of our Washington, DC road trip back in March! Anouk and Gus love the small bonsai collection at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, so when our friend A. suggested the Bonsai Museum at the National Arboretum, we knew we'd have to check it out!

And I'm so glad we did. These small, carefully cultivated trees are inspiring and fascinating to look at and the Arboretum's collection includes so many different versions! From tiny mountainscapes to mini flowering bushes to giant cedars in miniature form, each one is a work of art in itself. You can almost feel like you are about to see miniature people walk out and sit in the shadow of their branches.


































































































The museum has some especially fascinating specimens, including a white pine that is almost 400  years old...and survived the bombing of Hiroshima. Tough little tree! The collection also includes Goshin, which is considered to be a masterpiece of bonsai, perhaps even the best living bonsai in the world.



 After we had explored everything, we wandered up the nearby hill to check out the columns from the old Capitol building. What an amazing place to play! It made for some great photos, that's for sure.