GRESHAM JAPANESE GARDEN

Send Questions and/or Comments to:

Tsuru Island
James Card:

EditorFall at the Garden

Island is planted with specimens of palmatum maples

When preparing the Garden design many plants werethat will reveal an explosion each season. Remember thatconsidered for the colors and textures provided, not justwe planted a new specimen maple called Yukon last

because of what they looked like at a certain time of year

spring that we are anxious to see that extra element ofbut for the changes they are making in that process.

color. The design has achieved a deliberate balance ofWhen visiting the Garden, take note of the plant leaves.
Some look leathery while others look very shiny as
though wet. Other plants provide a special color to theleaves during the spring growth and yet some may nothave leaves during the winter but produce a show ofberries and bark.
The garden does not have many blooming perennials at
this time. That is by design. Typically, Japanese stylegardens do not have shows of color other than theblooming shrubs like azaleas. You might also realize that
there are no blooming trees in the Garden such as thecherry trees, these are usually found outside a Japanesestyle garden. The reason for this is to NOT distract thecolors on that west end. The colors begin at the bottom of
the slope and continue to the crest of the garden and thencontinue to the north side, moving to the back of themature maple grove. Each of those mature maples on thenorth side provide a different color with the largest andlast one in line remaining green until it is fully defoliated.
If you remember from past articles the reds in the garden
during the winter can be spectacular. Several shrubs willproduce and keep red leaves until spring; others will have
red bark only in the winter and of course there are the redberries of the nandina and the holly bush.
Come and enjoy the fall in the Garden and take notice ofthe details appearing by the variety of plants that havebeen chosen to represent Tsuru Island.

visitor from intended images. The amount of clean upneeded for perennials and blooming trees becomes anissue also. The only blooming perennial in Gresham’s
garden are hostas.
The leaf color on deciduous trees takes place each fallseason. Their placement in the garden is done by design
also. Starting in late September the show of color
proceeds until the last of December. The biggest hit ofcolor comes in November with the reds, yellows andoranges from the maple trees. The west end of Tsuru

ISSUE 21

SEPTEMBER 2017 EDITION

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organizations. Thank you for theMain City Saturday

Exercise for Your Mind

time and efforts that you haveprovided to Main City Park. Someby James Cardof the groups are mentioned are
Periodically updates will appear inmentioned below.

this newsletter to provide generalawarenessandgainmoreCub

Scouttroop456,

PortlandWorkingvolunteers. One of the programs

Concepts,Adventist

that has taken off is Main CityAcademy, Rotary Club of Gresham,Saturdays. The program started in

East Hill Church, Gresham Senior

January of 2017. There has been a

Volunteers, Trinity Lutheran Church,group every month except July

Warner Pacific College, First Baptistand August.

Church of Gresham, Kaz Kids, LDS
Volunteers

The MCS volunteers come fromgroupsseekingvolunteer

experiences. Many groups havecome from Joe Walsh and his staff
at the City.
Manygroupshave

relatedadifficultly getting other locations
to call back about volunteering fortheir function or area. The Tsuru

Where can I take that specialpicture?

Island garden makes an effort toThe word is getting out that Tsuru

respond the same day if possible.

Island is a great place for

These

MCS

folks

cannotworkonsometimes
aSaturday

volunteer day, especially during
school hours.

The KAZ KIDS

come on a Friday each month towork in the park. Saturday is a

individuals to bring the camera
and find an area to take thosespecial family pictures. Thesepictures include the engagement,graduation, new born, special firstbirthday, and more.

good day because Jim Card is at

The Garden provides an excellent

thetheplace for those event photos. You

Other days can beare invite, especially during thepark

specificallyGarden day.

accommodated.

forMore than one

group per month is acceptable.
One Saturday we had three groups
totaling 50 people on the sameday. Jim broke the volunteers into
groups of 5 and gave each groupan assigned area to work in.

spring and fall months when thecolors are fabulous.
If you appreciate all the hard workit took to make this a special place,please think about providing theGarden with a donation.

All thedonations

togo

directly

theMain City Saturday groups comepurchase of supplies.

from several different sources such

nonprofit organization run directly

asby volunteers.

cubscouts,churches,companies,andnon-profit

ISSUE 21

This is a

SEPTEMBER 2017 EDITION

I have always been a project oriented
person and enjoy figuring out how tosolve a problem, including the researchand how to go about it. As I wasgetting ready to retire, I found myself
thinking about what I wanted to dowith my time and energy. A person
has all kinds of choices from sitting on
the couch and eating all day toclimbing a mountain or sky diving. Iwould like to think that I chose
something in-between.
Actually I found myself doing a
number of the same things that I had
done in my careers because I enjoyedcertain aspects of the work. I stillwanted to do them, just in a different
way or mind set. Because I wanted to;
not because I had to.
Then one day the Japanese Garden
came along and I had a new project tokeep my mind active. I was drawn inby things related to horticulture. I
started in this industry because I loved
plants and being creative and putting asmile on people's faces with the work
completed.
Now at retirement I get to go back andlearn some of the things that I missed
out on during the busy career,practices that I can apply, subjects that
I can learn in depth. I see the benefits
that I get from working at the Garden.
I try to make them available to thevolunteers and the community byoffering programs that will allow theopportunity to explore something newand exercise their body and mind.
Some people never learn how to enjoy
being in the garden. Some of thevolunteers have expressed theirsatisfaction at being at the garden thanwhatever they were doing otherwise.
Cont. on page 3

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VANDALISM BY JAMES CARD
Over the past 6 years the garden
has experienced a number ofsituations involving vandalism
and other issues that result fromdisrespect for the area. I havewritten about these things several
times and taken action and asked
for others to provide assistance.
I hear from visitors as well asvolunteers, how much they arebothered by these acts and thedamage they have created, not tospeak of the time and cost of
making the repairs needed. One
person felt so troubled by this lackof respect, they decided to write apiece to temper their anger.
Vandals
Why would you destroy the gift thatyour neighbors have given you?
The beauty, the grace of this sacred
place
Their hearts, their hands, their love,
knowledge, money, sweat, tears
and joy have created this community
garden and public space.
It was created for all to enjoy, from theone time visitor to the longtime
resident
who have seen it born, decayed andreborn again
to grace us with its beauty and peace.
Who is it that is so lacking in theirsoul thatthey could even think to destroy thisgift given us.

of cash donations. We have evenreceived donations as the result ofarticles in the OUTLOOK.
The hope is that these situations
will get better because we will gain
more respect. We will provide
awareness to those visitors thatcome to the park. We hope to havemore people present during thetimes that we believe thesesituations take place. In themeantime we need to be patientand be willing to makes those
repairs. Maybe other options canstill be accomplish. New signage
will be added to remind people tobe on their best
behavior while
visiting thegarden. The
trick is to getthem to read the sign.

Exercise for your mind cont.

At one point the thought of having
the "Resource Center" closer to thegarden for convenience; especiallywhen going after a forgotten item.
Actually that is not the case because
the peaceful leisure walk enables us
to enjoy our surrounds.
The garden is one way to benefit
your body and mind and Tai Chi isanother. Research shows that thisslow going martial art is good foryour balance, legs, back, muscles andyour mind; the slow rhythmic
movements are related to cognitive
functioning. It is also low impact
which is good for those that have notbeen active for a while and is easy on
the joints.
The Garden is available to volunteers
every Saturday from 9am until noon.
Tai Chi is held on Tuesdays andThursdays from 9:30 am- 10:30 am.

Proud Of the Volunteers
A story in the August issue featured the History Museum (shown above) / The oldchurch refurbishment project that did not get completed on the 1st volunteer day.
James estimated 10 volunteers, 8 wheel barrows and the Dingo, and could befinish in about 2 hours.....John Clark did not believe it, the bark dust pile was toobig.
The request for Garden volunteers was answered with 10 volunteers not including
John and Jim. The plan was to load the bark into the wheel barrows using theI am bothered and stressed bythese issues. The stress comes fromasking volunteers to do it over andover again, knowing that I cannot
do anything about it. Some ofthese acts cost money to repair.
Much of the product and material
were donated. Examples include
the lighting provided byDingo, each volunteer wheeling the bark to the designated area that John would
point out. (There were 8 wheel barrows). Back and forth the wheel barrows went
dumping the bark dust in 1.5 hours. John and Jim remained to clean up theparking lot and to excavate some additional areas around the church. Thank you
to the Garden volunteers hard work.
The following items are left to complete this project. Level the grass behind thechurch and overlay with bark. The bloodgood Maple at the corner of the old
Church needs to be pruned in the fall when it does not cause stress on this senior

Kichler Lighting, wood was
donated by Carl Diebold Lumber
while other things were the result
ISSUE 21tree. It has been a privilege for Jim Card and the Volunteers to be involved in
restoring the look of the museum and old church.
SEPTEMBER 2017 EDITION

Page 3

Keeping Plants Healthy byJames Cardsecondary roots pressing up against

Once the questions around putting

the primary roots reduce food andin a new plant is settled, such as

water which causes destabilization.

locations,andAnother scenario with too muchwatering needs, the plant still needs

mulch is the soil under becomes too

to be placed in the ground. If it isdry.

not placed in the proper way it may

irrigation and rain will not penetrate

see a decline in a few months.

through to the soil. Feeder roots willsun

exposure

If the mulch is too thickthen venture to the upper mulch area

It is necessary for us tolearn from others’
mistakes. You will notlive long enough to makethem all yourself.
Hyman George Rickover

If the plant deteriorates in a shortlooking for moisture. Later when the

period of time it may be the before

upper layer of mulch dries out thosementioned

may

feeder roots dry out and become

assume the plant needs more water.

stressed. A fungus can build up in theThis is a huge mistake. In my years

deep layer of mulch and instead of theof experience I have seem morewater getting to the roots it willtrees and shrubs die from too much

simple be shed off to the sides of thewater than not enough.

plant. If the roots of the plant havesituation

topics.

isSomeThus thecompoundedand

not grown beyond the layer of mulch

instead of solving the problem thisthey will never get the food and water

action makes it worse.

they need to survive.

Older plants over time will begin toRules of planting:have a buildup of mulch around thebase of the plant. With mulch more

the root ball above ground andcan show yellowing leaves, earlybring a layer of mulch to the baseleaf drop and even crown die back.

of the plant.

gresham.japanese.garden@gmail.com

The weight of the plant, especiallyplant will cause extra moisture,when wet, will make the overallcausing a fungal rot. Once the rot

plant sink into the planting holesets in, it slowly girdles a plant byover time, then it becomes toodamaging the cambium layer ofdeep for the health of the plant.

cells, which transports food andwater up and down the plant. This

Never over fertilize new plants,

Check the history of the plant androt also will draw insects that will

see if it even needs any fertilizer

tend to bore into the area. Excess

and check the root ball to see if themulch can also create a condition

grower or nursery have alreadythat allows the plant to sprout

provided the nutrition that thesecondary roots. When these roots

plant needs for the season.

reach a dryer zone in the area
Send Questions and/or Comments to:

Always leave at least one third of

is not better. Over mulched plants

Heavy mulch around the base of theOne of the things I learned the hard
way was that it doesn’t pay to get
discouraged. Keeping busy andmaking optimism a way of life canrestore your faith in yourself.
Lucille Ball

Last but not least, when cleaning

beyond the heavy mulch, they begin

up the beds, clean out the base ofto circle the main root system

the plants to minimize the amountchoking the original roots. Theof mulch built up around theplant.

ISSUE 21

SEPTEMBER 2017 EDITION

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