The Blue Atlas cedar in 2012, pot designed and produced by Sara Rayner
A “power couple” is defined as a pair of two people who are each independently influential or successful.
The Blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica Glauca Group) featured in this month’s Historical Tree Spotlight was gifted to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum by a power couple well known throughout bonsai and the overarching horticultural circles: Frederic and Ernesta Ballard.
Ernesta Ballard, a well-known horticulturist and women’s rights activist, previously owned a small house plant business. She developed a reputation in the Philadelphia community and was invited to display her work at the renowned Philadelphia Flower Show, put on by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS). Ernesta won a top prize for her submission, and she was eventually tapped for PHS’s executive director position.
In her new role, Ernesta revitalized the event, growing it into a more participatory and educational experience and one of the premier flower shows in the country. As the event regained traction and pulled in more money, Ernesta used some funds to engender the Philadelphia Green program, which transformed vacant lots into flower and vegetable gardens.
Simultaneously, she became known as the “godmother of Philly feminism” for campaigning for the Equal Rights Amendment and founding local chapters of groups like the National Organization for Women. Ernesta also wrote two books: Garden In Your House (1958) and The Art of Training Plants (1962).
LEFT: John Naka produced this sketch when Fred Ballard hired him as a consultant for the tree. The sketch was featured in the Journal of the American Bonsai Society with an article Ballard wrote about how important it is for other people to critique your trees and what it was like to work with Naka.
RIGHT: The Blue Atlas cedar in 1990
Frederic Ballard fell in love with bonsai through Ernesta’s influence and became so drawn to the art that he served as one of the inaugural National Bonsai Foundation directors and was appointed the second NBF president in 1990. Both Fred and Ernesta were founding members of the American Bonsai Society.
The Ballards bought the featured Blue Atlas cedar as a little shoot from Monrovia Nurseries in California around 1960. The sprout was meant to be a landscape tree, typical of the species, but with guidance from bonsai master Yuji Yoshimura, the couple trained it into a cascade-style bonsai. Bonsai master John Naka helped the Ballards develop the apex of the cedar.
Blue Atlas cedars are native to the Atlas mountains in Morocco. Their popular function as landscape trees means the species is drought and heat tolerant. But Museum Curator Michael James said this cedar becomes thirsty once it is transferred to a pot and paying attention to its water needs is very important.
“A lot of times with bonsai you can make the wrong assumptions by thinking about where these trees natively grow and applying those conditions to the potted plant,” James said. “But it doesn’t work that way when roots are constricted in a container. It needs a lot of water.”
The volume of water a cedar demands will depend on the humidity and temperatures of its growing conditions, but James said Museum staff working in Washington, D.C.’s climate frequently water the Ballard’s Blue Atlas cedar twice a day in the summer.
He added that resisting the temptation to cut back the cedar’s shoots too early and letting the tree elongate as it grows throughout the spring allows the tree to build energy. James said trees like the Blue Atlas cedar can even benefit from a lack of clipping long into dormancy.
“This cedar is a vigorous grower, so those new shoots in the spring will quickly grow out of the tree’s silhouette,” he said. “But it’s good for its health to resist clipping and let the roots build strength through the increased foliage.”
This cedar can be found among the Museum’s North American trees. The Ballards took part in the groundbreaking for the John Y. Naka North American Pavilion (pictured above) and christened the collection with their beautiful Blue Atlas cedar. Visit the virtual collection here.