Bonsai trees stolen from Oakland garden near Lake Merritt

Thieves steal valuable bonsai trees from Oakland Lake Merritt garden

Tiny trees valued at more than $20,000 were stolen from the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt. Whoever stole them had to penetrate two fences and dodged surveillance cameras. The garden is staffed by volunteers.

OAKLAND, Calif. - In the East Bay, there was an unusual theft of priceless and cherished tiny trees.

It happened at the Bonsai Garden near Lake Merritt in Oakland on Wednesday morning, around 4:15 a.m.

Thieves stole eight artistic and valuable Japanese-style trees, valued at over $20,000. But it’s not the value, according to Director Gordon Deeg, who’s volunteered at the garden for over 20 years.

He said, "The fact is, they’re not replaceable." Surveillance video caught one of the thieves carrying off a tree. It's thought there were two masked burglars.

The thieves had to penetrate two fences, dodge surveillance cameras and seemed to selectively choose the bonsai specimens they carried off.

The garden is staffed by volunteers. Some who have put in several hours every week for years. The trees are donated, grown from seeds and some are very rare and valuable.

A volunteer carefully cares for a bonsai tree in the collection in the Bonsai Garden in Oakland near Lake Merritt.

Gary, who did not give his last name, is the curator of the garden, and has been coming at least twice a week for 23 years. He said, "This is the fourth time in two years. This time they came and just kicked in the fence and took wire cutters to cut the wired portions and carried out every tree they could carry."

Volunteers at the 25-year-old garden are asking people to keep an eye out online, as the bonsai trees stolen last April were found to be for sale on eBay.

Gary believes the bonsai were targeted for their beauty, rarity, and value.

An empty display table where rare and valuable bonsai trees were stolen in Oakland

He said, "They came in targeting two Japanese apricot trees that are in bloom for ten days out of the year, and they took them in their prime of their bloom."

The garden is free to enter, and the entire community will suffer the loss, according to volunteers.

The Bonsai Garden has been referred to as ‘one of the jewels of Oakland’ and ‘not to be missed’ in travel publications in years’ past.

Most of the bonsai have been donated from private collections or grown on the grounds of the garden from seed. Some are hundreds of years old.

All the tiny trees are carefully cared for by hand, by the volunteers who have run this serene and peaceful ‘museum of bonsai’ as it’s known.

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Gordon Deeg shared that the volunteers have been solemn about the fourth loss in two years that has removed specimens from what he says is, one of the finest Bonsai collections in the state, if not the country. He said, "We can’t replace those trees!"

For many of the volunteers who’ve put in time and effort into the garden and its specimens, it’s personal. Deeg said, "To steal a tree like that, just breaks my heart."

The following images are from the Bonsai Garden in Lake Merritt of the stolen specimens. Oakland Police are asking anyone who has information about this case, to please contact them.