The perfect blend of greens and reds highlights an altogether perfect tree. It's a Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) that has been in training since 1906. It was donated to the U.S. National Bonsai Museum by Ryutaro Azuma in 1978

I've been wanting to put together a new post on the U.S. National Bonsai & Penjing Museum for a while now. Problem is, I'm swamped and don't have time to do it justice, So here's the next best thing, a post that we put up in January. Some of you are first time visitors, so they'll be new to you. For the rest of us, it never hurts to see such exceptional bonsai more than once

The National Bonsai Foundation has a wonderful new website that features the  U.S. National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, home to some of the most outstanding bonsai in the world. Today is just a teaser from the Museum’s Japanese Collection. We’ll have more trees and more about the National Bonsai Foundation and the Museum soon. Meanwhile here are three maples from the Japanese Collection for your enjoyment

More perfection. This one is a root-over-rock Trident maple (Acer buergerianum) that has been in training since 1916. It was donated to the museum by Takeo Fukuda in 1978

Another root-over-rock (roots-swallowing rock?) Trident maple. This time in fall color. It was trained to grow over this rock as seedling beginning in 1919. It was donated by the Prime Minister of Japan, Keizo Obuchi in 1999