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Dreams of Perfect Trees; Jim Smith’s Bonsai Legacy

By Tom Kehoe and Belinda Kehoe, USA
The beginning was sometime in the early 1950s. sharing his bonsai art. But in a way, his kind spirit lives Top left; Smith’s huge F.
James J. Smith, a mason, was paging through the back on in the trees he shaped.” Salicifolia banyan was the
of one of his wife’s magazines, perhaps Good House- When David DeGroot helped found the Pacific logo tree for the 2008 Florida
state bonsai convention. The
keeping. He could never remember. A small ad struck Rim Collection (now the Pacific Bonsai Museum) in convention was dedicated
his eye: Learn the Secrets of the Ancient Art of Bonsai. Washington state, Jim Smith was one of the artists they to Smith’s contributions to
For reasons he could never explain, even to himself, sought out for a tree. bonsai.
he decided to send in his $10—an exorbitant sum in “Jim Smith was an outstanding bonsai artist who was Top right; This enormous
those days. What he got was a packet of seeds and a lit- creating international quality bonsai when most of the Portulacaria Afra stand four
tle booklet. The seeds never became bonsai, but a life- rest of us in the bonsai community were experiment- feet tall. It’s the logo tree for
the James J. Smith Bonsai
long obsession had taken root—one that would grow ing with gallon-size nursery plants,” said DeGroot, the Gallery, and greet visitors as
and branch out like the vast banyan trees he loved. curator emeritus of the Pacific Bonsai Museum. “His they enter.
James “Jim” Smith, who may have been America’s encyclopedic knowledge of tropical plants and his vast
greatest living bonsai master, died peacefully in his hands-on experience in growing and developing them
sleep at Consulate Health Care facility in Vero Beach were unequalled in the U.S. His artistry lives on at the
on June 29, 2016. Pacific Bonsai Museum, Heathcote Botanical Gardens,
He leaves behind a legacy of a life devoted to and many other public and private collections. His hu-
teaching the art of growing miniature trees in pots. manity lives on in our hearts.”
Although he was hardly a household name in the Today, there are bonsai societies in every state in
United States, Smith’s reputation extended around the the union, and virtually every country in the world,
world—to communities of artists in lands as far flung but when Smith began, few Americans had ever seen
as India and Indonesia. —or heard of—bonsai. Although he was largely self-
“Having traveled to all the continents judging, taught, he studied with some of the greatest masters
teaching or demonstrating at bonsai events, I've wit- in America, including Yuji Yoshimura, John Naka and
nessed the global proportions of Jim Smith's influ- Tosh Saburamura.
ence,” said Rob Kempinski of Melbourne, Florida, a Most of his personal collection—valued at upwards
former president of Bonsai Clubs International, an in- of $500,000—is now on display as the James J. Smith
ternational association with many bonsai artists. “De- Bonsai Gallery at Heathcote Botanical Garden in Ft.
spite his international impact, he remained grounded Pierce, Florida. It is the largest public collection of
in his humble approach, focusing on creating great tropical bonsai in the United States.
bonsai art.” His work has been featured in numerous books and
Kempinski said that he has seen trees styled by collections around the world, including the Smithson-
Smith in Germany, Canada, South America, India, ian’s National Arboretum. He was a world-recognized
Japan, China and many more countries. “His pass- expert on the use of ficus and other tropical species
ing leaves us sorry, but the sadness is tempered by the for bonsai, and a founder of both the Treasure Coast
joy we had in knowing him, learning from him and Bonsai Society and Bonsai Society of Brevard.

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