ESQUIMALT, BC—Two maple cuttings have made their way back to the Japanese Garden at Gorge Park, reconnecting the site with a living piece of its past. The cuttings originate from a bonsai tree that can be traced back to the original tea house in the park’s Japanese garden. When the Takata family relocated to Ontario following the Second World War, they brought a cutting from one of the garden’s maples with them, preserving a link to their former home.
That cutting was cultivated into a bonsai by Kensuke Takata, a key figure in Canadian bonsai culture and a founding member of the Toronto Bonsai Society in 1964. The tree remained in the family for decades, passing from Kensuke to his son George and later to his grandson David in the Niagara region.
Eventually the bonsai was entrusted to the Niagara Bonsai Society, where longtime member David Culp took over its stewardship. In later years, the tree was passed again—this time to Michael McCallion, the president of the Bonsai Society of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario —as its size and maintenance needs increased.
After years of growth, the bonsai had become overgrown and lost its traditional form. A careful restoration effort led by Mike McCallion has been underway to return the tree to its classic proportions.
As part of this restoration, several air-layer cuttings were taken to reduce the tree’s height. Two of these cuttings were recently planted in the Japanese Garden at Esquimalt Gorge Park bringing the bonsai’s story full circle and reestablishing a living connection to the garden’s original landscape.
