Manga Workshop
Two days of exploration and drawing
Oct 14-15, 9am - 4pm
Curriculum is designed for all ages ofManga artists - ONLY $45

October 2023

Tsuru Soars
Friends of the Gresham Japanese Garden Newsletter

Taught by local artist
Brian Gonzales. a
professional artist who
was born in the lateseventies and proudly
grew up in the eighties. He
devoured entertainment,
fashion, and products that defined his generation, andespecially fell in love with the medium of comic books,
science fiction, toys, and animation.
REGISTER HERE

Pruning Classes
Pine Pruning for Character: Saturday, October 14th, 12:30-2:30pm - $45
LAURA DUFALA, INSTRUCTOR: Watch Laura unlock the hidden character of a pine tree by removing unnecessary branches
and needles, both for the aesthetics and the health of the pine tree. Laura will cloud prune in the niwa method on the blackand shore pines on Tsuru Island.

New Signage at Tsuru Island
PHOTOGRAPHER’S VIEW

Structural Pruning Upright Japanese Maples: Saturday, November 18th, 12:30pm–2:30pm - $45
LINCOLN PROUD, INSTRUCTOR: This course is offered when the Japanese maples are in silhouette. It’s the best time tosee the structure of your upright maples. The class will begin with a short lecture on basic botany and growth habits of
upright maples and then Lincoln will prune various upright maple and teach how the fundamentals are applied in various
circumstances. Finally, you will learn how you can prune your own maple trees.

a stone lantern
near the garden pathshadows passing by- Bill Peterson

Fundamentals of Pruning, on Zoom: Thursday, December 7th, 6-8pm - $20
LINCOLN PROUD, INSTRUCTOR: In addition to how to make cuts and shape plants, Lincoln will discuss why we prune,
what tools should be used, and even some basic plant biology—all of which form the foundation and provide the necessary
background knowledge needed to prune woody plants correctly. After covering these topics, he will describe how toapproach a variety of plants found in landscapes. Zoom courses are recorded and available for two weeks after the course date.

REGISTER HERE
Volunteer Newsletter Editors: Mary Dickson, Mary Taylor, and Sue Protz. Photos by Bill Peterson.

The sign to the left of the Tsuru
Island and the A-frame sign both
received a face lift. The newinterpretive sign spans the history ofvisitors.
We asked our 28-year-old volunteer tohelp us with the re-wording on the our
A-Frame NOTICE sign, and this is what
Tsuru Island from the early ‘70s to 2023. she came up with. We suspect it will
We’re quite proud of the rich history, and get a laugh, but more importantly, thethe milestones GJG has accomplished,message.
and felt it was important to share with

Koto-ji Lantern‘Best NAJGA Regional Workshop’ AwardA

L

by Mary Dicksonby Sue Protz

new lantern will soon grace
Tsuru Island Japanese Garden.
Its style is known as koto-ji. The
most famous koto-ji lantern is foundat the Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa,
Ishikawa Prefecture, often described as
one of the three most beautiful gardens
in Japan.
Kenrokuen Garden is on the grounds ofthe Kanazawa Castle, where influential
lords lived during the samurai era. The
garden was the outer garden of thecastle for many years.

the most famous is at the Kenrokuen
Garden, others have been presented as
symbols of friendship with Kanazawa’s
seven sister cities around the world.
There is also a large one at the Portland
Japanese Garden.
When I was in training to become aTour Guide at the Portland Japanese
Garden, I learned that the lantern there
is a copy of the one
at Kenrokuen. It
is called a koto-ji
lantern because thelegs resemble thebridge of the koto,
The brigde of a koto the 13-stringed
Japanese
instrument.
Traditionally, one leg of a koto-ji lanternis set in the water and the other on land,
symbolizing the interdependence ofland and water.
The new koto-ji lantern at Tsuru Island
will be located on the banks of thestream, near the entrance to the garden.
Mary Dickson at the Kenrokuen Garden in
Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture It comes from Pacific Stonescape, Inc.,out of Corvallis, and was donated by
The koto-ji lantern design is unique
Judy Beattie, Mary Dickson, Bill Peterson
since it has two legs rather than theusual four of other lantern designs. While and his daughter, Sabrina Peterson.

Backyard Clean Up

Movie NIght
Celebrate the 65th anniversary of thePortland-Sapporo Sister City Association on October 22nd with a beautiful,deeply moving film written by George
Takei about the era of Japanese camps.

Download flyer

Bamboo Fence Repair

GARDEN TIPS
Prevent vegetable or annual flower
growing areas from becoming saturated
and hard-packed this winter by planting acover crop you can turn over in the spring.
Crimson clover germinates easily in
our climate as does annual rye grass.
When you turn it over the cover crop will
decompose adding tilth and nutrients tothe soil. Healthy soil is 10% air in minusculepockets and this process will help inject
air into the soil.
— Jim Buck, Garden Volunteer
and Organic Gardener

The back of GJG’s Kyoudou Center was notspared either in the clean up and preparation for the NAJGA workshop. The foundation and first row of the concrete blocks
were set by Cardscapes, Inc., and thenvolunteers Chuck and Scott, almost single
handedly, built the rest of the retaining wall.
Each one of those blocks weigh 80 pounds.
They weighed them!

After 10 years of wear, the bamboo fence
on Tsuru Island required a major overhaul.
Luckily few of our newest volunteers wereinterested in learning bamboo fence building. Between stained fingers and blisters
Sarah and Mark completed the fence—again
in time for our big workshop.

ast spring, the North American
Japanese Garden Association(NAJGA) asked the Gresham Japanese Garden to co-host a regional workshop. We were so honored to be asked,
and frankly a bit reluctant to say yes.
After the shock wore off by the ask,
the question was ”why us?” “We were
so happy to ask the Gresham Japanese
Garden to host a NAJGA Regional because
they epitomize the NAJGA spirit, a wonderful garden that is strongly connected
to its community and embodies resilienceand cooperation,” said Jeanette Schelin,
NAJGA Board President.

REGIONAL WORKSHOP AGENDA
THURS, SEPT. 21: GARDEN TOURS
Oregon State Penitentiary: Only
healing garden in a maximum security
prison run by the adults in custody.
Garden designer, Hoichi Kurisu wasonsite to answer questions.
Tom Dufala’s workshop on pruring black pines.

came to fruition. The below retrospectsums it up.

The Gresham Japanese Garden conference was powerful. All the attendants
seemed to be so happy to be with you and…they epitomize the NAJGA spirit, involved with your event. Everything wasextremely well organized and executed.
a wonderful garden that is
The tours of Iseli Nursery, Schmidt Nurserystrongly connected to its
and Bentwood Tree Farm were a special
community and embodies
treat most people will never have. The
resilience and cooperation.
Bartlett Tree Experts presentation on root
This response from NAJGA opened our invigoration was important and helpful
information for all levels of participants
eyes to the realization that they wereasking us to hold a workshop that wasn’t and gardeners.
Workshops were taught by top-levelcompletely centered only around Tsuru
passionate
professionals. The black pine
Island.
With a background in marketing, I knew pruning workshop by Tom Dufala of the
my first action item was coming up with Bentwood Tree Farm was the most inforthe vision for the workshop. What makes mative I have ever attended. Tom madethe Gresham Japanese Garden unique? sure we all had the opportunity to underAnd, given that some of the participants stand what he was teaching.
The group workshop on laying stones forwould be coming from the Northwest
the nobedan path entryway at the Kyoregion, what makes Gresham unique?
udou Center was very well managed andWe had 21 volunteers involved in theexecuted. You let the participants do all
workshop, making buddha bowls andthe work learning new skills and shining inlemon bars, driving the 18-passenger
their accomplishments as a team. The end
bus borrowed from Gresham Ford, toleading the GJG tours. Everyone that could product is impressive.
Your passion and dedication are revealed
help did help in some fashion or another,in your magnificently designed and meticand the participants felt the energy.
We knew that touring the Oregon State ulously groomed garden. I feel the NAJGA
family grew here and so do others.
Penitentiary would be a once-in-a-life— Jim Elmore, NAJGA member fromtime event, so Marisa Rodriguez, NAJGA
Arkansas
Manager and I worked many months on
securing this highlight, and that it was.
After I mapped out all the places andactivities, a jam-packed 4-day schedule

NOTE: Jim could not participate in Day 1
because he was busy buying trees from thenurseries.

Oregon Garden: Pruning instructor
Maryann Lewis gave a private tour of
the Conifer Garden.
Arbutus Garden Arts: Norm Jacobs
shared his urban strolling garden in SE
Portland.
FRI, SEPT. 22: NURSERY TOURS
J. Frank Schmidt & Son: One of thelargest wholesale nurseries in theworld right in our backyard. And, they
allowed us to bring in lunch to theirbeautiful arboretum.
Iseli Nursery: Known for their vastarray of high-quality, unique cultivars
and they’re located in Boring.
Bentwood Tree Farm: Specializes incloud pruned 2-needle pines. After ournursery tours we had a catered backyard dinner on a beautiful fall night.
SAT, SEPT. 23: AT GJG
Participants spent the entire day at GJG
learning about who we are and what
we do. We sent them into downtown
Gresham for lunch so they could get afeel for our town. We ended withhappy hour at our new deck and Kyoudou Center.
SUN, SEPT. 24: BUILD THE
GARDEN’S NOBEDANFrancheska Snyder led the work project
to build the nobedan.

Fourth day, building the nobedan.

Koto-ji Lantern‘Best NAJGA Regional Workshop’ AwardA

L

by Mary Dicksonby Sue Protz

new lantern will soon grace
Tsuru Island Japanese Garden.
Its style is known as koto-ji. The
most famous koto-ji lantern is foundat the Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa,
Ishikawa Prefecture, often described as
one of the three most beautiful gardens
in Japan.
Kenrokuen Garden is on the grounds ofthe Kanazawa Castle, where influential
lords lived during the samurai era. The
garden was the outer garden of thecastle for many years.

the most famous is at the Kenrokuen
Garden, others have been presented as
symbols of friendship with Kanazawa’s
seven sister cities around the world.
There is also a large one at the Portland
Japanese Garden.
When I was in training to become aTour Guide at the Portland Japanese
Garden, I learned that the lantern there
is a copy of the one
at Kenrokuen. It
is called a koto-ji
lantern because thelegs resemble thebridge of the koto,
The brigde of a koto the 13-stringed
Japanese
instrument.
Traditionally, one leg of a koto-ji lanternis set in the water and the other on land,
symbolizing the interdependence ofland and water.
The new koto-ji lantern at Tsuru Island
will be located on the banks of thestream, near the entrance to the garden.
Mary Dickson at the Kenrokuen Garden in
Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture It comes from Pacific Stonescape, Inc.,out of Corvallis, and was donated by
The koto-ji lantern design is unique
Judy Beattie, Mary Dickson, Bill Peterson
since it has two legs rather than theusual four of other lantern designs. While and his daughter, Sabrina Peterson.

Backyard Clean Up

Movie NIght
Celebrate the 65th anniversary of thePortland-Sapporo Sister City Association on October 22nd with a beautiful,deeply moving film written by George
Takei about the era of Japanese camps.

Download flyer

Bamboo Fence Repair

GARDEN TIPS
Prevent vegetable or annual flower
growing areas from becoming saturated
and hard-packed this winter by planting acover crop you can turn over in the spring.
Crimson clover germinates easily in
our climate as does annual rye grass.
When you turn it over the cover crop will
decompose adding tilth and nutrients tothe soil. Healthy soil is 10% air in minusculepockets and this process will help inject
air into the soil.
— Jim Buck, Garden Volunteer
and Organic Gardener

The back of GJG’s Kyoudou Center was notspared either in the clean up and preparation for the NAJGA workshop. The foundation and first row of the concrete blocks
were set by Cardscapes, Inc., and thenvolunteers Chuck and Scott, almost single
handedly, built the rest of the retaining wall.
Each one of those blocks weigh 80 pounds.
They weighed them!

After 10 years of wear, the bamboo fence
on Tsuru Island required a major overhaul.
Luckily few of our newest volunteers wereinterested in learning bamboo fence building. Between stained fingers and blisters
Sarah and Mark completed the fence—again
in time for our big workshop.

ast spring, the North American
Japanese Garden Association(NAJGA) asked the Gresham Japanese Garden to co-host a regional workshop. We were so honored to be asked,
and frankly a bit reluctant to say yes.
After the shock wore off by the ask,
the question was ”why us?” “We were
so happy to ask the Gresham Japanese
Garden to host a NAJGA Regional because
they epitomize the NAJGA spirit, a wonderful garden that is strongly connected
to its community and embodies resilienceand cooperation,” said Jeanette Schelin,
NAJGA Board President.

REGIONAL WORKSHOP AGENDA
THURS, SEPT. 21: GARDEN TOURS
Oregon State Penitentiary: Only
healing garden in a maximum security
prison run by the adults in custody.
Garden designer, Hoichi Kurisu wasonsite to answer questions.
Tom Dufala’s workshop on pruring black pines.

came to fruition. The below retrospectsums it up.

The Gresham Japanese Garden conference was powerful. All the attendants
seemed to be so happy to be with you and…they epitomize the NAJGA spirit, involved with your event. Everything wasextremely well organized and executed.
a wonderful garden that is
The tours of Iseli Nursery, Schmidt Nurserystrongly connected to its
and Bentwood Tree Farm were a special
community and embodies
treat most people will never have. The
resilience and cooperation.
Bartlett Tree Experts presentation on root
This response from NAJGA opened our invigoration was important and helpful
information for all levels of participants
eyes to the realization that they wereasking us to hold a workshop that wasn’t and gardeners.
Workshops were taught by top-levelcompletely centered only around Tsuru
passionate
professionals. The black pine
Island.
With a background in marketing, I knew pruning workshop by Tom Dufala of the
my first action item was coming up with Bentwood Tree Farm was the most inforthe vision for the workshop. What makes mative I have ever attended. Tom madethe Gresham Japanese Garden unique? sure we all had the opportunity to underAnd, given that some of the participants stand what he was teaching.
The group workshop on laying stones forwould be coming from the Northwest
the nobedan path entryway at the Kyoregion, what makes Gresham unique?
udou Center was very well managed andWe had 21 volunteers involved in theexecuted. You let the participants do all
workshop, making buddha bowls andthe work learning new skills and shining inlemon bars, driving the 18-passenger
their accomplishments as a team. The end
bus borrowed from Gresham Ford, toleading the GJG tours. Everyone that could product is impressive.
Your passion and dedication are revealed
help did help in some fashion or another,in your magnificently designed and meticand the participants felt the energy.
We knew that touring the Oregon State ulously groomed garden. I feel the NAJGA
family grew here and so do others.
Penitentiary would be a once-in-a-life— Jim Elmore, NAJGA member fromtime event, so Marisa Rodriguez, NAJGA
Arkansas
Manager and I worked many months on
securing this highlight, and that it was.
After I mapped out all the places andactivities, a jam-packed 4-day schedule

NOTE: Jim could not participate in Day 1
because he was busy buying trees from thenurseries.

Oregon Garden: Pruning instructor
Maryann Lewis gave a private tour of
the Conifer Garden.
Arbutus Garden Arts: Norm Jacobs
shared his urban strolling garden in SE
Portland.
FRI, SEPT. 22: NURSERY TOURS
J. Frank Schmidt & Son: One of thelargest wholesale nurseries in theworld right in our backyard. And, they
allowed us to bring in lunch to theirbeautiful arboretum.
Iseli Nursery: Known for their vastarray of high-quality, unique cultivars
and they’re located in Boring.
Bentwood Tree Farm: Specializes incloud pruned 2-needle pines. After ournursery tours we had a catered backyard dinner on a beautiful fall night.
SAT, SEPT. 23: AT GJG
Participants spent the entire day at GJG
learning about who we are and what
we do. We sent them into downtown
Gresham for lunch so they could get afeel for our town. We ended withhappy hour at our new deck and Kyoudou Center.
SUN, SEPT. 24: BUILD THE
GARDEN’S NOBEDANFrancheska Snyder led the work project
to build the nobedan.

Fourth day, building the nobedan.

Manga Workshop
Two days of exploration and drawing
Oct 14-15, 9am - 4pm
Curriculum is designed for all ages ofManga artists - ONLY $45

October 2023

Tsuru Soars
Friends of the Gresham Japanese Garden Newsletter

Taught by local artist
Brian Gonzales. a
professional artist who
was born in the lateseventies and proudly
grew up in the eighties. He
devoured entertainment,
fashion, and products that defined his generation, andespecially fell in love with the medium of comic books,
science fiction, toys, and animation.
REGISTER HERE

Pruning Classes
Pine Pruning for Character: Saturday, October 14th, 12:30-2:30pm - $45
LAURA DUFALA, INSTRUCTOR: Watch Laura unlock the hidden character of a pine tree by removing unnecessary branches
and needles, both for the aesthetics and the health of the pine tree. Laura will cloud prune in the niwa method on the blackand shore pines on Tsuru Island.

New Signage at Tsuru Island
PHOTOGRAPHER’S VIEW

Structural Pruning Upright Japanese Maples: Saturday, November 18th, 12:30pm–2:30pm - $45
LINCOLN PROUD, INSTRUCTOR: This course is offered when the Japanese maples are in silhouette. It’s the best time tosee the structure of your upright maples. The class will begin with a short lecture on basic botany and growth habits of
upright maples and then Lincoln will prune various upright maple and teach how the fundamentals are applied in various
circumstances. Finally, you will learn how you can prune your own maple trees.

a stone lantern
near the garden pathshadows passing by- Bill Peterson

Fundamentals of Pruning, on Zoom: Thursday, December 7th, 6-8pm - $20
LINCOLN PROUD, INSTRUCTOR: In addition to how to make cuts and shape plants, Lincoln will discuss why we prune,
what tools should be used, and even some basic plant biology—all of which form the foundation and provide the necessary
background knowledge needed to prune woody plants correctly. After covering these topics, he will describe how toapproach a variety of plants found in landscapes. Zoom courses are recorded and available for two weeks after the course date.

REGISTER HERE
Volunteer Newsletter Editors: Mary Dickson, Mary Taylor, and Sue Protz. Photos by Bill Peterson.

The sign to the left of the Tsuru
Island and the A-frame sign both
received a face lift. The newinterpretive sign spans the history ofvisitors.
We asked our 28-year-old volunteer tohelp us with the re-wording on the our
A-Frame NOTICE sign, and this is what
Tsuru Island from the early ‘70s to 2023. she came up with. We suspect it will
We’re quite proud of the rich history, and get a laugh, but more importantly, thethe milestones GJG has accomplished,message.
and felt it was important to share with