LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – This weekend, Waterfront Botanical Gardens is hosting its 4th annual Bonsai Weekend, a three-day celebration of the traditional Japanese art of bonsai.
The organization is working to expand its bonsai program, with its first-ever Bonsai Curator, Angelica Ramirez, leading the charge.
“You’re building something that people will come and enjoy for generations to come,” Ramirez said. “It’s not just preserving a collection of beautiful artworks, living artworks, it’s also preserving a community. Each person that works on their tree and leaves a little bit of themselves within that tree, it’s like a living piece of you that stays behind well after you’re gone, so my role isn’t just caretaker of the trees, it’s caretaker of legacies.”
Ramirez takes care of 35 trees currently, but with plans to expand their bonsai gardens, that number will soon be 150. She makes sure to water the trees and trim them as needed.
She has her own bonsai, which she’s trained and practiced on, a legacy tree, as it’s called, because it was handed down to her from her mentor.
“This is a Ficus microcarpa, or commonly known as a Green Island Ficus. This is actually the tree that started my obsession with bonsai, it’s the tree I saw at the local nursery in my hometown, that it was like getting struck by lightning the first time you see it, and this was the catalyst to pursuing all my education in bonsai.”
Ramirez was introduced to bonsai by happenstance.
“I discovered bonsai when I was looking for a new hobby to relax from flight school. I was studying to be a helicopter pilot, and once I discovered bonsai, I fell so in love that it just became my life.”
Her education journey has taken her to apprenticeships in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
And now to Louisville as the bonsai curator since April.
For James Keith, a longtime bonsai hobbyist and member of the Greater Louisville Bonsai Society, Ramirez is already making an impact.
“She’s great, she has so much energy and so many great ideas, the lighting that you see here is what she came up with, and I was a little skeptical to begin with, and we looked at what it would look like, we did a mock setup, and I said this is awesome, let’s go.”
This weekend’s bonsai event includes dozens of bonsai trees on display.
The Waterfront Botanical Gardens is looking to expand its bonsai gardens from 35 to 150 trees.(WAVE)
Last year, more than 2,000 people from 18 states attended the event.
A sign that bonsai has made its impression on Louisville.
“It’s been a nice surprise to see the quality of trees on display here, but also the community, one of the sweetest communities I’ve ever been a part of. I could not be happier.”
Bonsai Weekend continues on Sunday from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
For tickets, click or tap here.
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