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Friday May 13th, not you would think an auspicious date for so significant an occasion as the opening by the Japanese Ambassador, Mr. Nagami, of the new Japanese garden surrounding and adjacent to The National Bonsai Collection. However how wrong could you be - the weather was very kind, sunny and quite warm (for an English May), if a little windy and the morning went without a hitch, culminating in a luncheon fit for a grand occasion. Indeed a ‘Grand Occasion’ it was; we have waited fifteen years for this day so how grateful we the volunteers and committee are that it proved so memorable. |
| The National Collection, to be sited at The Birmingham Botanical Gardens & Glasshouses was first the dream of the late Graham Gavin back in 1988 before his untimely and very early death later that year. It became more than just a dream by 1990 when, with the foresight and imagination of Philip Aubrey, the Director of the Gardens, we, a small nucleus of The Federation of British Bonsai Societies, were able to envisage the possibility of extending the very small existing courtyard into part of the car park and thus making feasible the site you can now see as the home of The Collection. The idea of a National Collection was not new in the gardening world. Many such collections exist, clematis, hostas, rhododendrons, ferns, roses and many more comprising representative specimens of each variety. In the early 1980's, what was then the dream of the Federation of British Bonsai Societies (FOBBS) started to be realised. They began looking for a possible home and had discussions with a number of the major gardens up and down the country. The primary consideration was to be the provision of a highly secure, walled garden to ensure the safety of this, as yet, non existent collection. Early in the summer of 1989, an offer was received from the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Glasshouses (BBGG) via the Midland Bonsai Society, to host the National Bonsai Collection. |
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A meeting was arranged with the Director of the BBGG, Philip Aubrey during the course of which the Federation representatives were shown around new building developments being undertaken at the Gardens. An important and very appropriate feature was the establishment of a Japanese Garden. It was along the periphery of this garden that Philip Aubrey thought a bonsai collection could be established. The area was very small, but it was recognised that, by redirecting and extending a wall about to be constructed, a larger area could become available. To the surprise and delight of FOBBS, the BBGG took on board this idea and within two weeks, had obtained both the necessary planning permission and revised the architect's drawings incorporating a redesigned area for the display of a bonsai collection. The main obstacle on the horizon was the raising of the necessary £60,000.00 needed to construct and secure the bonsai garden. In January 1990, FOBBS and the BBGG concluded an agreement that, subject to financial provisions, suitable facilities could be built and incorporated into the new developments within the Gardens complex. The Botanical Garden's trustees provided just over half the funding and fund-raising enterprises within the Federation raised the remainder. Thus in 1991 at the time of The International Bonsai Convention at the International Convention Centre, the construction of the site for the Collection was well under way and was opened to the public in 1992. |
| However, still no Japanese Garden, just an area with a vaguely ‘Japanese feel’ and two extremely large, dubious and unhealthy beech trees. As all will realise and for all the right reasons, it is very difficult these days to get permission to remove large, well established trees, so perhaps their lack of health did us a favour, as finally they became a threat to the health of plants in other parts of the Gardens as well as to the trees in The Collection; they were finally removed in 2003 leaving the space now ready for development and, thankfully, no more dead leaves to remove from the bonsai display. |
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The Japanese Garden Society was then brought into the equation and thus by March 2004 a final plan was submitted and approved for The Japanese Garden. Work could begin, the Garden is described as a Courtyard Garden or ‘tsubo- niwa’ (‘garden between buildings’), and was built with the help of members of the Japanese Garden Society. The Garden, although set in a courtyard, contains elements of several styles, whilst also recognising that the garden is an important route between buildings and to the National Bonsai Collection housed in its own courtyard. The space can also be viewed through a large moon window from the Tropical House. |
The Japanese see a garden as a true retreat, sealed from the outside in a world of its own. The garden aims to create an idealised conception of nature in miniature. Objects often have a symbolic significance, deriving from Buddhist or Shinto ideas. You see here on this momentous occasion the result, it is finally a dream becoming reality; it has been long coming but it is well worth the wait. The Birmingham Botanical Gardens now have something to be truly proud of “a little bit of Japan” here in Birmingham – it has all the atmosphere of peace and tranquility that belong alongside the bonsai collection. Here you have a place to sit, admire and meditate upon all that was envisaged so long ago. Congratulations to everyone who has contributed so much over the years. |
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