Bonsai trees are living art, an artform that will never be completed or finished. It can take years to create an envisioned tree shape, followed by a lifetime of care. The Pacific Bonsai Museum in Federal Way, one of only two bonsai museums in the United States, presents bonsai as fine art pieces. The elegant, architect-designed outdoor setting offers seasonally rotating displays of fifty to sixty bonsai out of the museum’s 150 trees, some hundreds of years old.
The exhibit was a private collection established in 1989 on the state of Washington’s 100th birthday. The exhibit transitioned to a nonprofit museum in 2014. Trees are protected by acrylic enclosures when the temperature drops and are watered multiple times a day on hot days. Though it’s open-air, it’s still a museum, complete with themed exhibits, talks, demonstrations and tour guides. Admission by donation.