pomegranate no. 2

Punica granatum

Height 46" Width 42"

This Pomegranate was once an orchard tree outside of San Diego, California in a generation now gone. The farming roots of California dominated a state full of promise and potential, a potential that once provided the United States with 80% of the produce we consumed as Americans. Time and culture have rapidly changed the shape of farming in California and farming on a global scale, and orchards that once stood as testaments to man's reliance and relationship with nature are now represented through the miniature stumps that carry that history forward. Over 100 years of time have passed for this tree, and it shows the beauty of those scars and lives lived. Donated to Mirai from the Wild Animal Park Bonsai collection by Mark and Kathy Edgar, this tree lives on, building a new generation of memories and an aesthetic that strives to remind us of our roots as organisms that still depend on this land and have an obligation to preserve it.