Have you seen this tree?
Anyone who has ever been burgled or mugged can sympathise![]()
with John Trott of Mendip Bonsai. Last month while he was exhibiting at the NEC, thieves broke into his nursery and stole seventeen of his precious trees.
These are not just plants, or even precious plants, for John they are part of his psyche, part of a lifetime's work and totally irreplaceable.
No doubt the thieves regarded them as a valuable commodity and chances are they were stolen to order, but they were never for sale. It's sad to think that they may end up in the hands of someone who doesn't know how to care for them properly, and even sadder if they end up at a car boot sale where they will realise just a fraction of their worth.
Three of the trees were on John's Chelsea exhibit, a bougainvillea trained over a rock, an ancient Gingko biloba tree and a tiny Chinese Elm. This picture shows John at Chelsea with his Chinese Elm. Look out for it for him and if you see any established Bonsai trees for sale in strange circumstances, take a closer look, he'd love to get them back and you may help to track down the heartless thieves that have blighted his collection.