Two maple cuttings have been planted in the Japanese Garden at Esquimalt Gorge Park, restoring a living connection to the site’s early history and the family who once helped shape it.
The cuttings trace their lineage to a maple tree that stood near the garden’s original tea house. When the Takata family was relocated to Ontario following the Second World War, they brought with them a cutting from one of the garden’s trees, preserving a piece of their former home.
That cutting was later transformed into a bonsai by Kensuke Takata, a prominent figure in Canada’s bonsai community and a founding member of the Toronto Bonsai Society. Over the decades, the tree remained within the Takata family, passing from Kensuke to his son George and then to his grandson David in Ontario’s Niagara region.
In time, the bonsai was entrusted to the Niagara Bonsai Society, where member David Culp assumed its care. As the tree continued to grow, it was later transferred to Michael McCallion, president of the Bonsai Society of the Royal Botanical Gardens, due to its increasing size and maintenance demands.
By that point, the bonsai had outgrown its traditional form. McCallion has since led a careful restoration effort to reshape the tree and return it to classic bonsai proportions.
As part of that process, several air-layer cuttings were taken to reduce the tree’s height. Two of those cuttings have now been planted back in the Japanese Garden at Esquimalt Gorge Park, bringing the tree’s journey full circle and re-establishing a living link to the landscape from which it originated.
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Erin Haluschak has been a journalist in British Columbia since 2008. She has worked in print, magazines and online spaces and is a mentor with Digital Women Leaders through the Online News Association…
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