There was mention of "containerised miniature trees'' before Jesus walked the Earth, and they appear as well in many paintings from the pre-Christian era.

Bonsai, the "living art'' of growing potted miniature trees that give an illusion of age and character, has clearly been around for a very long time, and this month -- officially at least -- it is coming to Bermuda, with a four-week exhibition by the Botanical Gardens in Paget of some of the best examples of bonsai that the Island has to offer.

In many respects, of course, the exhibition -- the last four days of which will be devoted to the submissions of ordinary Bermudians -- will simply be a public presentation of an Oriental art form that has long been in vogue with gardening-mad locals.

"Bermudians,'' said Ms Jo-Ann Curnow, the manager of Tulo Valley Nursery and a former technical assistant at the Gardens, "have been into (bonsai) for quite some time now.

"This exhibition,'' she continued, "is really a showcase for them to show off their plants and their various techniques. I think we're going to see some very spectacular examples.'' Before the four-day public exhibition starts on October 26, however, the Botanical Gardens' J.J. Outerbridge Building will also play host to the facility's own collection of bonsai from October 9 to 25.

"To augment that,'' Ms Curnow stated further, "we'll be putting in other Asian plants of interest,'' including such specimens, she said, as jasmine, potocarpus, liniope and pittosporum.

Plants from the East, the botanist told Taste, have had a long and successful history in Bermuda, which shares many of the soil and climate conditions of Asia's subtropical regions and is therefore conducive to growing them.

In a similar vein, the art of bonsai, which likely originated in China but is widely associated with Japan, has become a favoured focus of the Island's steadily growing gardening community.

"There was bonsai at (this year's) Agricultural Exhibition, and it seems to be a popular pastime,'' Ms Curnow said from her office in the Botanical Gardens' Visitor Centre this week. "But though bonsai is very soothing, and highly therapeutic, I wouldn't just call it a pastime. It really is an art form.'' Indeed, the art of bonsai, which is literally translated as "planted in a tray'' or "potted dwarf tree,'' is founded on a system of quasi-religious beliefs, which Ms Curnow describes as "a philosophy of minimalism and simplicity, of being in touch with nature.'' "The philosophy,'' the Bermuda Botanical Society elaborated further, "encompasses a link between nature, man and God,'' and reflects, like the principles of Japanese gardening generally, "the aesthetic and spiritual experience of gardens as an expression of our personal relationship with nature.'' Consequently, Ms Curnow said this week, "there are some techniques'' that a gardener needs to master to successfully take part in bonsai, but it's basically very accessible.

"People,'' she said, "are needlessly intimidated by it. In some ways, you do have to have some vision of the result -- an idea, since it's really a work in progress, of what it will look like in 10 or 15 years -- but it's easily something that anyone who enjoys plants and gardening can do on their own. You don't have to have any specialised skills.'' It is, in fact, an indication of just how many people are "doing it'' that the Botanical Gardens is mounting this month's exhibition and the Botanical Society is sponsoring a lecture on Japanese garden design on October 26.

At 8 p.m. on that date, Mr. Stephen A. Morrell, the curator of the John P.

Humes Japanese Stroll Garden in Locust Valley, New York, will speak in the Botanical Gardens' Horticultural Hall on the adapting of Japanese garden design to the North American landscape, where gardeners and landscape designers have been inspired by "the beauty, simplicity and underlying philosophy'' of Oriental gardens for more than a century.

Using examples from both traditional gardens in Japan and the Humes garden in Locust Valley, Mr. Morrell will attempt to instil a sensitivity to the "rhythm'' and "movement'' of a garden by making attendees aware of the "existing contours, structural elements and cosmic forces'' of a site.

Anyone, consequently, who is interested in the preservation of a site's natural character or adapting the Japanese model to their own Bermudian gardens can take the first step toward doing so by calling the Botanical Society at 236-5291.

In the meantime, Ms Curnow is encouraging any local bonsai gardeners who would like to display their creations at the four-day exhibition at the end of the month to phone her at 236-4201 or 292-2503.

"In Asia,'' the botanist told Taste, "many bonsai plants are handed down from generation to generation, the result being plants that are over a hundred years old.'' While she didn't expect to see such bonsai in this month's exhibition, she did say that "we are anxious to see what Bermudians have been up to in this area.

The response to the exhibition has so far been very good.''