Bonsai - the smallest trees of the new year

Have any of you noticed that I've never posted about bonsai? How can this be? I think I was waiting for the perfect bonsai situation to present itself, which it did – this past weekend at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Though, from the looks of the photos on their site, I'll have to visit again in April and again in the fall. Even bonsai trees bloom in the spring and change colors in autumn!

What's not to love about bonsai?
1) they are miniature
2) they are works of art
3) they are trees
Plus, they usually come in cool ceramic pots and frequently have tufts of spongy moss growing at the base.

They are beautiful. And cute! Bonsai are so exquisitely manicured and pruned so that some of these less-than-two-feet-tall little trees are actually over 100 years old. It's really quite amazing. Looking closely at a bonsai, I sometimes wish I were the size of a fairy so I could sit underneath one of them and take a nap. That moss would be so soft! bonsai surely must be the smallest trees of their kind in the world.

"Bonsai" refers to little trees in pots...and the art to coaxing a tree to age without growing big has to do with trimming both the leaves and roots. But there is more than just careful clipping involved: Bonsai "demands a spiritual involvement" by the artist. Julian Velasco, curator of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden bonsai collection, says that "the stronger the connection between artist and tree, the more the artist can bring out in that particular tree." The creator has a very intentional role, using wire to gently guide the trees into position.

There's much more to be said and learned about bonsai, but for now let's just enjoy them as works of art, shall we?

Oldest tree in the world

"Methuselah", a bristlecone pine, is the oldest known tree in the world. It is, in fact, the oldest still-living organism documented on earth. (!!)

The tree in the photo above is not Methuselah. U.S. Forest service, in order to protect it's anonymity, will not disclose the exact location of the oldest-tree-in-the-world, but you get a 360 degree view of the "Methuselah Grove" here, which is in the White Mountains of California. So cool! These bristlecone pines seem to live forever.

Methuselah the tree is about 4,839 years old. That's very old. This ancient tree actually sprouted in 2832 BC and grew for about 485 years during the life (should you choose to believe this) of the Biblical Methuselah, who supposedly lived to be 969. Of course...the Biblical character would have been living somewhere in the Middle East, whereas both the oldest and the tallest trees in the world can be found in California, USA.

What a life. Imagine the stories...

(The screen shots below are taken from a Nova News Minute that can be viewed here). This is what Methuselah actually looks like:

Hyperion, the tree

There is a new "Tallest Tree In The World." Three, in fact. Last September (2006) three giant Coast Redwoods were found to be taller than the previous record holder, Stratosphere Giant. Our new winners, Hyperion, Helios and Icarus, all put old Strat to shame. Hyperion, our beloved winner (and Tallest-Living-Thing-In-The-World) is 379.1 feet (115.55 m) tall. That's more than 72 of me stacked up on top of myself! It's also 75 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty and more than one third the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Don't you just love trees with names?

The photo above may or may not be Hyperion (probably not). The exact location of the tree is not being disclosed for fear of too many visitors who may disrupt the surrounding ecosystem, or try to climb old Hype. I don't blame them. I'd love to see these trees. We do know that they reside in a remote area of Redwood National Park in California.

Read more about it here
and here.
(That last link is a really cool website about Redwoods and has some amazing tree pictures.