“It’s so violating,” Packard says. “It’s hard not to feel like you have failed in your job to steward these trees. They’re not just little trees in pots for us.”

Thieves took a silverberry that’s been part of the collection since the museum's founding in 1989; they also stole a Japanese black pine that arrived from the Bay Area one year later. The museum values the trees at $85,000 together, according to Cmdr. Kurt Schwan with the Federal Way Police Department.

After three days of high anxiety, at 11 p.m. Tuesday, security guards discovered the trees on the side of a road leading to the museum.

The Japanese black pine, left, and silverberry bonsai trees stolen from Pacific Bonsai Museum in Federal Way were discovered intact on a road near the museum Tuesday night. (Pacific Bonsai Museum)

Packard woke up to a call soon after.