Sadly, Money Doesn't Grow On Bonsais

by Joe Fiorito

May 10, 2006. 07:06 AM

David Johnson lives in the west end of the city, in a neat house on a corner lot, with at least 200 trees in his backyard.

Big yard? Small trees.

Johnson is the president of the Toronto Bonsai Society. He is a busy man. His forest, as elegant as it is tiny, requires daily watering, tending, training and clipping, according to the season.

The trees are not the only things getting clipped this spring. The Bonsai Society has a couple of shows every year, traditionally on weekends at the Toronto Botanical Garden. Last year, the society rented the big Floral Hall for $250 a day. This year, the rates jumped to $1,750 a day. Next year, the rates will be even higher at $2,370 a day.

Yikes.

No tree or flower grows as high or as quickly as those spurting rental rates. There will be a show of bonsai this spring, but it will last only half a day and not two days, as has been the case for the past 40 years.

Johnson was timber-cruising in his yard on a recent morning with friend and fellow club member Norman Haddrick. I, a bonsai ignoramus, was there to get an education.

I learned that the form has its, um, roots in China. There, it is known as penjing, or "a tree in a pot.'' In Japan, the word for tree in a pot is "bonsai."

Haddrick said, "It comes from an appreciation of ancient trees in nature. Intellectuals used to go into the mountains to meditate. They would see small trees in crevasses, struggling to survive. They used to meditate on these forms. Someone had the idea to take one home and put it in a pot." This is the human impulse.

Johnson pinched the tip of a tiny green branch with his fingers; the gesture was brutal, casual and tender. This, too, is human.

Among his trees in pots, Johnson has Arctic willow, juniper, cedar and spruce. One looks like the cold northern wind given form; another, grown from a tree laid on its side, has the appearance of a shady grove. My favourite resembles a Hokusai wave, except it is conifer and not tsunami.

Of a favourite tree, Johnson said, "I got this from a man who passed away. His wife gave it to me. It's 35 years old. That's a lot of labour." Haddrick has a tree that is 240 years old. How much labour is that?

Some members of the society take their trees to the cottage in the summer to make sure they are properly cared for. Others flinch at the notion of a cottage, because it would mean they'd have to leave their trees behind.

In pursuit of tiny, weather-beaten specimens, collectors have climbed down to the lower, almost Arctic reaches of Ouimet Canyon, near Thunder Bay. Others patrol the hard northern shores of Lake Superior looking for tiny, ice-prone, water-whipped trees whose trunks might be as thick as your thumb.

It is not necessary to travel so far.

Johnson pointed to a tree and said, "This is a cherry from the Niagara area. There was some farmland being sold for development. I asked if I could prowl around and see if there was anything worth collecting. This is going to be beautiful."

It is beautiful now.

So, fellows, the truncated spring show is almost upon us. What do you make of the jump in rental rates? They suggested I call the botanical garden.

Margo Welch is the executive director. She said, "Rental rates for horticultural groups hadn't increased since before 1990."

I said, "Oh."

She said, "Every other horticultural group has worked around the change. The rates apply on weekends between April and December." I said, "Why those months?" She said, "The facility is in great demand for weddings."

Ah, yes, the money-raising floral-nuptial photo-op.

Welch said, "We need $100,000 in additional revenue to maintain the gardens we're putting in. Next year, the society can try booking long weekends ‹ Sundays and Mondays ‹ which avoids the issue."

Well, not entirely, it doesn't.

She said, "We tried to make accommodations as best we could. We're a charity. We get $25,000 a year from the city. That hasn't changed in 30 years." She added, "Our goals overlap with horticultural groups, but we're not here to serve horticultural groups."

I sensed I was about to become pesky.

Welch, perhaps sensing impending peskiness said, "We're not like Montreal. The botanical gardens there have a budget of $24 million. They get $18 million from the city. We get $25,000. Our facility is owned by the city, but 80 per cent of our funds come from the private sector."

One wonders about the value of such a public-private partnership, when the operation is subject to charitable whim, and when those who have the most logical interest in the use of the place are unable to afford it.

The annual spring show and sale of the Bonsai Society of Toronto takes place this year on Sunday, June 11, from noon to 5 p.m., at the Toronto Botanical Garden.

The clipped version.

Joe Fiorito usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Email: jfiorito@thestar.ca

Reprinted with permission.

Reprinted with permission.