We lived in Birmingham, AL many years back. The botanical garden there had a very nice Japanese garden, with a wonderful Donor gifted Bonsai collection. They were displayed on open tables, under a Japanese style pavilion, right beside a city street separated by only a few feet and a tall fence. One night, someone parked beside and climbed the fence, then took maybe 10 of the very best bonsai in the collection. I guess they knew what they were doing, because they took the most valuable pieces. Now the collection is much smaller, and the benches are enclosed with burglar bar cages. Really sad loss for the garden. Always wondered where (to whom) the trees were sold.
About that pavilion, it’s now a fairy garden or maybe a miniature railroad garden. It’s a shame, and was a disappointing surprise to the bonsai club, since one of the early club members actually donated the money to build it to house bonsai.
The problem was that the garden was responsible for daily care/watering, but the garden’s employees actually work for the city of Birmingham. Nobody actually had to water, since the cages were under an automatic watering system. They just needed to check each day that they had been watered. Several years ago, we were in a draught, and all watering systems were shut off by the city. It took a few weeks for the club to become aware of the issue, and by that point many trees were damaged and some were killed.
The club met with the gardens and they were unable to guarantee watering, so we made the decision to move the trees to members’ homes to receive rehab and care. Once the draught ended, we would reopen the discussion with the gardens about moving trees in. Which we did, and still we had times where water would be shut off and we would arrive to find dead trees. So they were moved out again, at the objection of the gardens. Over time, we decided to sell the trees and hold the money in preparation for building a new collection when the gardens were able to ensure a constant water supply.
Here are some of those trees from back then.
The club always participated in the Cherry Blossom festival, and we would solicit members to bring trees to display in the pavilion, since the pavilion was in the Japanese Garden area, and so were many of the cherry trees. One year (2017?), a bunch of members showed up to display trees, and lo and behold, all the cages had been cut down, and little plants had been inserted in the gravel beds. No more bonsai pavilion. No notice. The “powers that be” must have gotten word that the trees were sold, and decided to commandeer the pavilion for other use.
Recently, one of our members has established a new bonsai garden at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover. I have not been, but have heard the display is nice.
We have a don't ask don't tell rule here. 
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