|
|
Article: Bonsai enthusiasts thrive in a small world; Arboretum hosts festival for the delicate art.(WASHINGTON WEEKEND)(COVER STORY)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- May 18, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Washington Times LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Byline: Audrey Hoffer, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Jim Hughes, the soft-spoken fourth curator of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum, stands bent over a wooden table, squinting in bright sunlight with his nose and the khaki rim of a baseball cap almost touching the spindly needles of a small, 200-year-old Ezo spruce.
He holds pruning shears in his right hand while his left, gently probing for dead branches, burrows through the interior canopy of this multitrunked miniature tree native to the towering forests of the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
"You need to keep stepping back and ask yourself what shape you ...