6/26/2025
It’s hard to know where to began writing about the experience I had at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum back in May 2025.
There’s a feeling that has stuck with me since the experience of working on an old bonsai. Not just any old bonsai, this is an old bonsai I would have only dreamt about working on. And not only did I get the honor to touch and work on this old bonsai, I got a once in a lifetime chance to work on it with its original creator.
This story goes back a little ways, but not too long ago since I’ve had the chance to sit down and write this. The earliest memory of this experience goes back to September of 2021. I was in Rochester, NY, for my second time displaying a bonsai at the 8th National Bonsai Exhibition, at the Double Tree Inn having drink at the hotel bar. This was a common meeting spot after each day of the exhibition for bonsai people to get together and just unwind and hang out. I was hanging out with my good friend and podcast show co-host, Carmen Leskoviansky, and she was introducing me to various bonsai people she knew. This is where I met Michael James and Andy Bello, the curator and co-curator of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, officially for the first time. It was an unassuming conversation about where we were from and if we had trees on display, how was the drive, and how were things going in general.
Micheal James came up to me a little later on during the mingling time at the bar and asked, “Would you happen to know Guy Guidry?”
I said, “Well, of course. Being from Louisiana and being part of the local clubs, I’ve seen him a good bit. I used to hang out at his own bonsai nursery back I first discovered bonsai. It’s since closed though.”
Michael looked thoughtful for moment, then asked, “I’m trying to get in contact with him, he donated a bonsai to the collection years ago and we feel that we need his advice on it. It’s not in great health.”
I replied, “I hate to say it but I haven’t actually seen Guy in years. The last time I actually got to sit down and talk with him was when had to close his New Orleans shop, Nola Bonsai.”
I could tell Michael was feeling a little put out and he said, “Okay, if you see him or know who I can contact to get in touch with him, let me know. Thanks.”
I just kind of took that conversation for what it was. I wish I could have told Michael more but there’s a lot that had happened over the coarse of a decade when it comes to the bonsai scene in Louisiana. I’d seen a few posts on Guy’s social media about him working on a few bonsai here and there but Guy never really put himself out online. I had a few more drinks that evening and chatted away with the other bonsai people. That year’s Exhibition ended and everyone went home.
A year or so later, Justin Dardene visited Underhill Bonsai to buy supplies for a tree he was intending on training into a future bonsai. He told me he had been working on it with Guy and I told him that’s interesting because I had been assuming Guy was done with bonsai. At least done with bonsai to the point where he wasn’t working with other people on bonsai openly. I think at this point my last meeting with Guy had been nearly 10 years before. Justin told me that Guy was his neighbor and he was hired to cut Guy’s lawn. From there Justin became obbessed with Guy’s trees and he was hanging out with Guy and getting advice on how to start his own collection. I almost couldn’t believe his story but there wasn’t a reason for him to lie about. Justin lived in the Covington, La, area and I knew that Guy was somewhere around there as well at the time.
I told Justin, “Let me know if Guy ever says anything about Underhill Bonsai or me. He’s welcome to pop in whenever.”
I didn’t think Guy would ever take that invitation seriously. I had no idea where he was in his life or his feelings on bonsai at the time. So, it was strange to see Guy walk up to the front door of the shop at the nursery in late 2023. I was excited to see him but I was a little callous from him putting off from meeting with me for so long. Since his bonsai nursery had been out of operation for so long and Underhill Bonsai had been open since 2019, I figured he would end up here one day. There wasn’t hard feelings, just straight into talking about bonsai. Guy’s excitement and enthusiasm about bonsai negated any disappointments I would have had before. He was here now, willing to work on trees with me, willing to teach me.
Guy and I worked a lot of trees in the following year. We carved trees in the ground, we collected trees from the growfield, we repotted some of his oldest trees. These were trees that I remembered from his nursery and now I was working on them. I got to work on high level trees and I got learn the things I felt I was lacking in my bonsai knowledge for some time. Working together on trees built up a mutual respect between Guy and me. He began to trust my work and took my advice on bonsai in some cases, which is rare for Guy!
One day in late 2024, Guy mentioned that Michael James had contacted him about working on a bonsai he donated to the Arboretum. I told him that’s so awesome and it sounds like an amazing opportunity. He mentioned that he felt like if he had an assistant, he could give the lecture he wanted and give the bonsai the reworking it deserved. I asked him, “Would you mind if I joined you then?”
Guy was all about it and we got to work planning out how we were going to approach the tree. I spoke with Doug about what was happening and it was mentioned that Guy wanted to put the tree in a deeper pot to regain vigor. Doug was more then inclined to donate a bonsai container for the cause. Doug did it without question.
We shipped the donated container up to Washington, DC, and I began to coordinate with Michael James about my trip out there. I learned that this wasn’t just a trip up to work on the bonsai, but it was also World Bonsai Day. In addition to that, the Potomac Bonsai Association was putting on a festival the same weekend. The icing on top as well, is that there was a ceremony celebrating the Yamaki White Pine’s 400th year anniversary as a bonsai.
It was an overwhelming amount of information but I told myself, this is worth it. Go with the flow and let this be an experience I woudn’t forget.
The old bonsai I am referencing is a bald cypress that Guy collected in 1987 and developed into a beautiful formal upright. According to Guy, one day after a bonsai club meeting, John Naka and Vaughn Banting visited Guy’s garden. John saw the bald cypress and told him it reminded him of “an old man’s tree.” John Naka was telling Guy that the bald cypress had the character of an old bonsai even though it was still very young in training, John was saying the bald cypress had “Mochi komi”. John asked Guy if he would gift the tree to him. Guy couldn’t tell John Naka no.
Mochi komi means very old bonsai in Japanese. It’s the only word in the Japanese language to poetically describe the feeling of standing in front of a bonsai and sensing the spirit of an old tree.
Little did Guy know, but John didn’t just want the tree, he wanted it for the newly opened North American pavilion at the National Arboretum. Here’s the picture I shared in an earlier post of Guy and Vaughn with their bonsai that were being shipped up to the Arboretum in 1990.
Here’s the same tree on the cover of Bonsai: Journal of the American Bonsai Society, Fall 2001, Volume 35, Number 3.
NOTE: If you are reading this and have seen or have photos of this tree in the time period before this cover, send them to me, evan@underhillbonsai.
And then this is the same tree in the mid 2000’s, I’m thinking closer to 2010.
Photo credits to the National Bonsai Foundation. Source: bonsai-nbf.org
Notice the major change in character of the bald cypress as time literally has molded and wrapped the tree’s image. If you look closely you can see that the entire section of the trunk where Guy carved the tree to create taper is now hollowed out. A few branches in the mid section of the tree have also died as well. This is either a result of the tree being transplanted into smaller a container then what it originally was in or an aesthetic decision made by a past curator.
Guy believed the reason for the die back was because the container was too shallow for the tree and it needs a “new life” in a deeper container moving forward.
The photos shown above are of the bald cypress before we began work. It had been allowed to grow freely for two grow seasons (almost two full years for a relevant timeframe). As you can see, the tree has singificantly increased the sizes of its branches and the vascular system is buidling up new layers of bark.
Here’s a photo of me and my son, Rory, right before work began on the bald cypress. As you can see the scale of this tree is quite nice. Guy’s carving for taper really has lasted the test of time. Right after this photo was taken, Guy and I jumped straight into working the tree’s branches back and getting wire on them due to the amount of time allotted to us. We were attempting to cut all the branches back, adjust the height of the apex, redefine the line of the tree, wire every single branch, choose a new front for the tree, and repot it all in only 4 hours.
In later photos of this article you will see the extent of the die back in the mid section of the bald cypress’s trunk. Where the hollow was higher up has now expanded down more then half way down the trunk. New cambium has rolled and pushed out the new live veins giving the area of die back more of a shari (deadwood within the trunk) look. The problem area has been well maintained and cleaned by Michael and Andy so there wasn’t much work to be done there.
After the tree was cut back and wired out, Guy and I removed the tree from its container and began to work the exterior of the root system. Guy was very adamant to explain that this type work was done out of season but because the tree was allowed to grow freely for two years that it had plenty of stored energy to recover.
As I worked the extieror root system, Guy stared addressing where the new front should be for this tree. Guy and I had discussed before that putting the deadwood feature front and center was better then trying to hide it. We believed that this deadwood feature and hollow is well suited for the tree because ancient bald cypress in nature begin to hollow out in the same manner. We saw it as a great opportunity to get a win-win out of the situation.
For me, at that moment is when everything changed in my mind about bonsai. My outlook on long term bald cypress bonsai was turned upside down.
Pictured above: Guy explaining to the crowd about how opening up the root system underneath the tree will began to reinvigorate the entire tree’s vascular system. Andy and I, assisting in hold the tree at an angle so Guy could work the roots. This was after 3 hours of work and we still had a good ways to go.
We had two containers to show to the audience that were an option for the tree’s new home. Eli Adkins, Waldo Street Pottery, donated a container as well for this event. Eli is a strong believer in the thought that North American bonsai should be potted into North American bonsai pottery. I also believe in that as well. So, Guy and I moved the tree between the two containers as a demonstration of how this type of process works for the audience. We only had two options but Guy’s mind was already made up. The tree would go into the container that Doug donated.
Eli’s container is a very significant container. It is what is a called a “Third Wheel” container, meaning that Eli Adkins, Rob Wallace, and Preston Tolbert all created it together. This is like a trifecta of North American bonsai pottery superpowers all in one. Michael James told Eli that the container would still be used for a tree in the collection in the near future.
After well over 5 hours of work, (we went over our time limit) Guy and I finished the restyling and repotting. The bald cypress was given a new life.
Guy was teary eyed when he said “This tree now has the opportunity to be appreciated by many future generations of bonsai admires and bonsai enthusiasts to come.”
The lighting and shadows in the courtyard area we were working in was a little off and we got better photos of the finished work when the tree was moved back to the North American pavilion.
I was so overwhelmed with emotions and just trying my best to be present in the moment and then I was asked if I wanted to water in the tree after it was placed back on its stand. This is where the connection is set between the bonsai and the bonsai artist. Watering in a bonsai is like the closing of a ceremony. Guy invited me to do the honors of watering the tree in and I’ll never forget that moment.
It’s weird to look at the original photos of this tree from 35 years ago and then the photo of only 10 years ago. It doesn’t look like the same tree compared to the one above. Look at the roots and you’ll see the nebari (surface roots) match but something significant has changed in the trunk. The die back and the thickening of all the branches has caused certain parts of the trunk to swell and move. It’s almost like looking at a topical map that shows how a river has changed it’s coarse over many decades. Guy also told the curators that he wanted the bald cypress to grow into the wider weeping style to further the feeling that the branches are large and heavy. It’s debatable, at least in my mind, that one day the top of the tree should be made into a deadwood jin (trunk or branch deadwood feature). Bald cypress in nature tend to die back slowly from the center and their tops die off from hurricane force winds.
Guy also told me that he made a change in his approach that day for this bald cypress. He’s always stressed to me that has always been a student of John Naka and that the classical style is what he prefers. Guy told me he wanted a melding of a more naturalistic style while maintaining the tree’s original classical structure. I’m glad he made this choice because I believe the bald cypress is absolutely beautiful in the stage of it’s life as a bonsai.
One more thing to note, look at the swelling right above the hollow section of the trunk. The bald cypress has formed a burl and that area has bulged out. This would have normally been removed to bring taper back into that part of the trunk line but we decided that it was an interesting enough feature to just leave it be. Character like this takes an incredible amount of time to develop and become believable.
Note: The Potomic Bonsai Festival was a large event. It also included Andrew Robson giving demonstrations and workshops that weekend as well. There were many vendors selling bonsai wares and the local club had their own exhibit apart from the Bonsai and Penjing pavilions.
I want to thank LeAnn Lulling of the Potomac Bonsai Association for allowing me to assist Guy and be part of their event. Also, a special thanks to Michael James and Andy Bello for being warm and inviting as this was my first time trip to the National Arboretum.
And a very special thanks to Guy Guidry. Thank you for mentoring me and being a friend.
This trip meant so much more to me that my family was able to be there to witness it as well. Caitlin was behind the camera the entire time. I can’t wait to show Rory these photos when he’s older.
Here are photos of the bald cypress after it has leafed out and started to recover. I found these photos on various social media platforms. I’ll keep an eye out for more and post updates as the bald cypress settles into it’s new styling and repot.
The first photo is the new front and the second is now the back. The tree gets rotated every few weeks to make sure it grows out evenly.
Thank you for reading and until next time, folks.
-Evan