Bonsai tree

This Shimpaku juniper was stolen recently from New England Bonsai.

Bonsai theft

There’s a long list of businesses and individuals who have had prize bonsai stolen. The other day it was New England Bonsai Gardens in Bellingham Mass. Fortunately, they have photos of all four of their missing trees and a local TV station featured them on a news program. Unfortunately, the chances of survival of stolen bonsai is low. Unless they are recovered soon, odds are whoever ends up with them won’t be able to keep them healthy. Years ago a friend (and customer of New England Bonsai) had some prize bonsai stolen from his back yard. The good news was the police found the bonsai during a drug bust. The bad news was, they found them dead in a closet.

Stolen bonsai registries

Strangely, we were just discussing stolen bonsai in the comments of a post the other day (turns out the lead tree in the post, a prize Buttonwood by Ed Trout, was stolen). This led to checking out stolen bonsai registries on the web. I don’t know how much good they do, but I do appreciate the effort. Here a few that came up in a quick search. Facebook, Stolen Bonsai, the National Bonsai Foundation, and American Bonsai Society. If you know of others, please let us know.


This rare and wonderful old California juniper was one of the trees taken from New England Bonsai.

The thieves (thief?), also got this redwood.





This Ezo spruce forest also went walking.

Source: Bonsai Bark