Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s gardener of the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum discusses bonsai, his path to the Garden, and BBG’s collection.
BBG Before we learn more about you, can you explain what bonsai is?
David Castro There are many different definitions, but bonsai is basically a tree potted in a tray or pot that is then styled to mimic a tree in nature, but in miniature. Bonsai may be several inches tall to almost three feet in height. The tree and pot must remain in proportion to look natural. You can take most any plant material and turn it into a bonsai by letting it first grow out and then cutting and shaping it back using age-old techniques. Generally, the tree is shaped to mimic a style of tree in nature, reflecting its environment. For example, a tree that would grow on a windy mountaintop might be shaped as bonsai to cascade down a miniature rock side or more often a cascade pot.
BBG How did you become interested in bonsai?
DC This was a hobby that turned into an amazing career change. I often used to pass by a bonsai shop in Brooklyn, and one day I finally walked in and said, Let me try one. I tried another and then another, and soon I had ten trees in my apartment. As the hobby grew, I wanted to learn more and kept finding new nurseries and facilities. After visiting one nursery five or six times, the owner asked if I wanted to apprentice on the weekends instead of just looking. I started joining clubs, following and studying with artists and teachers, and attending conventions and workshops.
After Superstorm Sandy destroyed much of the printing industry, where I was employed as a graphic artist, I had to think outside the box. Amazingly, I was offered a great job caring for the bonsai division at a major landscape nursery, as well as working on all the other plant material and even the koi fish. That job and my extensive experience as a bonsai hobbyist and gardener led to my becoming gardener of BBG’s collection. In my spare time, I also still care for my own collection of bonsai, but it’s now slimmed down to about 50 trees.
BBG What is your typical day as the bonsai gardener?
DC After watering and observing each of the 400 trees individually, I spend my time doing maintenance work, which includes weeding, styling, pruning, shaping, repotting, and fertilizing to keep the trees healthy. I always say I come to work at BBG with a smile on my face every day and leave with a smile every day.
I change the display seasonally and also bring in flowering and fragrant trees as much as possible, and unique trees at special moments, so that the visitor’s experience is always fresh and exciting. We have so many bonsai and this is such a rare collection, it’s easy to display something different.
BBG Do you have a favorite bonsai in the collection?
DC The Rocky Mountain juniper is a tree that really shows the beauty and struggles of life and nature. The majority of the trunk is dead and looks sculpted by nature. There is only one live vein that feeds and keeps the tree alive. The shaping is just beautiful.
BBG What advice do you have for those tending bonsai at home?
DC Each bonsai is special and individual; you have to know your tree before you do anything to it. You also need to study up on that tree’s unique needs. If you have space outside to keep your trees in the summer and an unheated garage area to keep them indoors during the winter, you will be able to maintain most any bonsai. Apartments are better suited for tropical trees. Place them by a window with good sunlight and no drafts.
Always you need to factor time, environmental tree needs, and space. There will be failures but more often there will be personal satisfaction and most important, inner peace.
Bonsai Collection Centennial
Brooklyn Botanic Garden is celebrating 100 years of its incredible Bonsai Collection with an expanded display of bonsai specimens along with new interpretive signage plus special tours, exhibits, and workshops. Celebrate a century of tiny trees with us!
