Keep Oakland Beautiful Points of Interest remind us of how interesting and beautiful Oakland is and why we should care about protecting it. Please click on the photos to enlarge and clarify them.

Did you know that Oakland is home to the only major, all-volunteer bonsai garden in the United States?

Japanese Flowering Apricot (foreground, left) and Atlas Cedar (foreground, right).

The Golden State Bonsai Federation (GSBF) Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt has within its collection some of the most important bonsai trees in the country, including the historic Daimyo oak tree presented in 1863 by the Japanese government to the US ambassador to China. That’s not a typo – this bonsai was presented in 1863, while the American Civil War was in full swing. The Garden also has a tree in their collection that is more than 1,600 years old. http://keepoaklandbeautiful.org/keep-oakland-beautiful-point-of-interest-gsbf-bonsai-garden-at-lake-merritt/