- Jardin botanique
Yesterday evening, Montréal Space for Life received a very special donation: a Sequoia sempervirens bonsai, estimated to be between 80 and 200 years old. The splendid specimen, from the personal collection of Californian bonsai artist Ryan Neil, will be a great addition to the Jardin botanique de Montréal’s bonsai and penjing collection. And here’s a secret: according to some experts, it could well become a national treasure within the next few years.
“Like the world’s great museums with their masterpieces, we are delighted to now have a Ryan Neil!”, says René Pronovost, Director of the Jardin botanique. “This sequoia is a unique and exceptional piece of plant art, and will be a superb addition to our North American bonsai collection. I can assure you that we will treat it with the greatest care, as we do all our specimens of miniature trees.”
Pierre Séguin, a longstanding member of the Montréal Bonsai and Penjing Society, made this generous donation. He was so taken by the beauty of the Sequoia sempervirens when he saw it at the Artisans Cup, a bonsai exhibition at the Portland Art Museum in 2015, that he decided to donate it to the Jardin botanique so that thousands of visitors could enjoy it every year.
The Sequoia sempervirens bonsai will be on display in the Jardin botanique lobby from May 26 to 28, during the Great Gardening Weekend. Afterwards it will join the extensive collection of North American bonsai in the courtyard of the Frédéric Back Tree Pavilion, all summer long.