The Art of Bonsai

S

imply put, bonsai are miniature
thetically pruned to how they lookpotted plants which are carefully if grown in nature. This achieves thestyled to achieve an aesthetic
effect of condensing the appeareffect. Many concepts of bonsai wereance of a natural tree or forest
imported into Japan from China more
within the container, hence creating
than a thousand years ago. Since then, a a miniture vista.
distinctive style of this art form has been Feng shui and bonsai are intercondeveloped in Japan. In Japanese culture, nected with ancient Asian lifestyles
a bonsai garden is a “style” of garden.
and beliefs. Both practices demonA scenic vista, miniturized to represent
strate how subtle the energy (chi)A workshop projectworlds within worlds.
which rules us and how deep the
MOST COMMON STYLES OF BONSAI: roots of beauty and simplicity can reach
Formal and Informal Straight: Thea life in harmony. There are so many
Vossbrink, GJG bonsai instructor transtrunk is straight, and the apex of thethings one can learn and adapt by theform a red pine, into bonsai.
tree is in line with the body and theright combination of the two disciplines. https://www.greshamjapanesegarden.
base. In an informal straight bonsai,
GJG’s bonsai instructor, Mark Vossbrink, org/red-pine-bonsai/
the trunk slants slightly, but the top
talks about how a single bonsai can beof the tree still ends up directly above a whole garden in itself. We can think
the center of the base.
about bonsai as a portable Tsuru Island
Slant: As the name suggests, the enthat can be enjoyed for the tranquility
tire tree is slanted to one side.
anywhere we live and work.
Cascade: Rather than upright, the tree Bonsai workshops at GJG take place
grows downwards to one side to aevery third Thursday and Saturday
degree where(Thursday’s class just opened up) at theits apex ends
Resource Center. In each workshop/classup at the same
students learn a new technique and areheight or lower
rewarded with a bonsai to take home.
than the pot,
Watch this Ask Jim! video of Mark
like a tree atthe edge of a cliff.
Forest and Multi-Trunk: Multiple
trees are grown in the same container,
POLLINATORS FOR YOUR
carefully fashioned to mimic a forest. A ORGANIC GARDENING
YARD
multi-trunk bonsai is similar to the for- FUNDAMENTALSSaturday, May 21, 1-2:30pm
est style, except multiple trunks have a Mon, April 4 - 6:30-8pm IN PERSON
Wed, April 6 - 6:30-8pm ZOOMIN PERSON
common root.
Rock: The tree grows on a rock with its Jim Buck, an avid organic gardener since childJoin Deb Peters in the Garden’s greenhouse for
hood,
has
a
stronginterest
innativeplantsanda discussion on native host plants for butterflies
roots anchored in the rock’s cracks ortheir uses by indigenous tribes. In this class Jimand how to create a pollinator yard.
in the soil below.
will cover how to improve your garden’s health
Learn where and how to plant milkweed and
Typical trees used in bonsai include
and our environment by growing organically. The other pollinators to attract butterflies and otherpines, broad leaf such as maple trees,class will include soil preparation, planting succes- pollinators. Learn about keeping mason bees too.
flowering such as cherry trees, and fruits sion tips, companion planting, avoiding diseases,
https://www.greshamjapanesegarden.org/
different types of composting, and elements ofsuch as quince trees. Techniques such asclass-registration/
permaculture.
the trimming of the roots and wiring are
https://www.greshamjapanesegarden.org/
used to keep the trees small, and aesclass-registration/

2022 Spring Classes - Free

Volunteer Newsletter Editors: Sue Hughes, Mary Taylor, and Mary Dickson. Photos by Bill Peterson.

April 2022

Tsuru Soars
Friends of the Gresham Japanese Garden Newsletter

Celebrate O-Hanami with Us
PHOTOGRAPHER’S VIEW
and eat together, andenjoy themselves underneath the beautiful
flower blossoms.
To celebrate o-hanami
this year, GJG has invitedOregon Koto-Kai toplay Tuesday, April 5th,
-hanami means “flower watchfrom 12-12:30pm in Ebetsu Plaza. Bringing” in Japanese. The practice of a lunch, sit underneath the blossoming
o-hanami is many centuries old boughs of the cherry trees, and relax toand a long-standing Japanese tradition of the sounds of Japanese harps.
welcoming spring. People gather to drinkO.寝心に花を算へる雨夜哉
ne-gokoro ni hana wo kazoeru
amayo kanamy sleepy mind, counting cherry
blossoms, a rainy night

Tuesday, April 5th
Oregon Koto-Kai
12-12:30pm, Ebetsu Plaza
south end of Main City Park

Designing and Pruning Tamamono and Endoh-kei

The Cherry Tree Myth

Source: Sukiya Living Magazine

Source: Sukiya Living MagazineT

he myth that cherry trees arecommon elements in Japanesegardens, is just that—a myth. The
flowering cherry tree is an important image in Japanese culture, especially eachspring when blossoms suddenly appear
for a week and people celebrate O-Hanami. O-Hanami is a happy, party-likecelebration that occurs underneathcherry blossom trees in wide-open public places, like Ebetsu Plaza where wehave 12 Akebono cherry trees. In Tokyo,
the most famous spot for viewing cherry
blossoms is Ueno Park.
Unfortunately, many Westerners associate this cherry blossom tradition withJapanese gardens. Seeing how both
encompass Japan and trees, it’s an understandable mistake. But they are very
different facets of Japanese culture.
One will not find cherry trees in a Japanese private garden. Japanese gardens
honor a more subtle, year-round role in
the lives of their owners. Plants are selected and rejected partly based on their
attractive image throughout all four
seasons. Some varieties of cherry trees
can also get quite large, and Japanesegardeners tend to plant and prune tree

varieties less than 15’
in height.
Cherry trees are absolutely stunning fora week or so, but for
the rest of the year
they have a woeful,
unattractive appearance. They haveother drawbacks as
well. Cherry trees areplagued with disease, mold, and insects
much of the year. They have an awkward
growth habit with long, heavy branches,that respond poorly to pruning, becauseof their susceptibility to infection androt. But, like most trees, they still needpruning allowing light channels to penetrate the tree, allowing a better fruit set
and ease of harvest (if you have a variety
that produces fruit.) Pruning enhances
the ability to battle and thwart disease.
Early spring is the prime time forpruning young cherry trees, shaping
and training the young tree before it
blossoms. Pruning should begin as buds
emerge, but wait until all chance of
extreme cold temperatures have passed
to avoid possible cold injury, as youngerT

trees are more susceptible to this. The
Gresham Japanese Garden volunteers
spent two days pruning the Akebono
cherry trees in the middle of March.
Some pruning should occur each year tocombat unruly and crossing branches.
If you are looking to include a flowering tree to your garden, there are manyvarieties that offer attractive blossoms
AND four-season beauty. These include
flowering plum, dogwoods, magnolias,
and crab apples.
Cherry trees are a lasting symbolof Japanese culture, but due to theirsignificant shortcomings, are generally unwelcome in traditional Japanesegardens.

Ask Jim!

Seeds for Planting

In this month’s Ask Jim! plant care video, he
discusses how and when to fertilize rhododendrens and azaleas.
Featured on our Facebook page,@greshamjapanesegarden.
Submit your Ask Jim! question to https://www.greshamjapanesegarden.org/ask-jim/.

The greenhouse is getting greener by theday. Milkweed and zinnia seeds have beenplanted for the pollinator garden and as
giveaways for the free pollinator class in May.
And our Exploratory program students
have planted petunias and lupine seeds tofill the planter boxes in Ambleside Annex.
Spring is here!

GARDENER’S TIP
April is great time to continue planting cool
weather vegetables such as lettuce, leeks, etc.
Apply organic fertilizer to roses and otherperennial flowers.
It’s also a good time to reseed bare spots
in the lawn. Cover the seed with a thin layerof sawdust to maintain moisture.
Start a compost pile or turn the material
in the one you have.
— Jim Buck, Garden Volunteer
and Organic Gardener

wo shapes of shrubs particularly
useful in Japanese gardens are
the semi-spherical tamamono
shape and the tall dome endoh-kei
shape. Both are almost always evergreen. A few plants that work well fortamamono are azaleas, Japanese Holly(Ilex crenata), Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata), and mugo pines (Pinus mugo).
There are many broad leaf plants thatare suitable for endoh-kei; osmanthus
frangrans, and camellias, to name a few.
When measuring the tamamono shape,
first measure its height. A tamamono
should be twice as wide as its height.
Normally, the largest tamamono are
waist to chest high. If the shrub gets any
wider or taller, it becomes too difficult toprune.
In contrast, the endoh-kei shape isessentially a cylinder with a semi-spherical dome on top. It can be any size, but
usually taller than 6.5’. Endoh-kei canstandalone in a garden, but never in theforeground, because of its size and density.
Now let’s talk pruning. At GJG, you willhear us discourage using shears, mainly
because it’s done for expediency, leav-ing heading cuts(see GJG December 2021 newsletter) and a disregard to the healthof the plant, but tocreate tanamomo
and/or endoh-kei,
shears are theappropriate tool
to use.
Also, when two
tamamono start
to bang into eachFig 1 - Tamamono shapes
other, you canmerge them together IF they are the
shrub says, “I’m notsame species. See fig 1. If they are differ- getting any photoent species, they must remain separate synthetic gains fromand must be pruned smaller to fit thethat branch, so why
space.
should I keep mainTamamono and endoh-kei are dense,
taining it?”and basically opaque. This opacity isn’t
The solution is toas much a concern with tamamono be- employ the dimple
cause the shrub is low and rounded, and technique and thinin most cases the sun travels overhead out the head, shouland hits almost the entire surface, which ders, and south side Fig 3 - Dimple technique
is healthy. See fig 2.
even more than usual. See fig 3.
If no sunlight is hitting a branch, theFind a dense spot of foliage, grab it, andinspect. You’ll often find a “fist”, which is athick branch ending in a tangle of smaller
branches. Remove the fist, or if that’s
too drastic, remove most of the thicker
branches in the dense tangle.
The final product should be a gradualtransition from thin foliage on top to
thicker foliage towards the bottom withdimples on the southern side allowing
sunlight into the interior.
As a homeowner, having a landscapeplan and a clear vision of how you wantshrubs to perform in the future is a key
aspect of proper spacing.
As to pruning ordinary landscapers
who are hired to prune, often have noclue about tamamono and endoh-kei.
It’s often more effective to prune thoseFig 2 - Pruning for sunlightshrubs yourselves, rather than hiring an
uninformed landscaper.

Designing and Pruning Tamamono and Endoh-kei

The Cherry Tree Myth

Source: Sukiya Living Magazine

Source: Sukiya Living MagazineT

he myth that cherry trees arecommon elements in Japanesegardens, is just that—a myth. The
flowering cherry tree is an important image in Japanese culture, especially eachspring when blossoms suddenly appear
for a week and people celebrate O-Hanami. O-Hanami is a happy, party-likecelebration that occurs underneathcherry blossom trees in wide-open public places, like Ebetsu Plaza where wehave 12 Akebono cherry trees. In Tokyo,
the most famous spot for viewing cherry
blossoms is Ueno Park.
Unfortunately, many Westerners associate this cherry blossom tradition withJapanese gardens. Seeing how both
encompass Japan and trees, it’s an understandable mistake. But they are very
different facets of Japanese culture.
One will not find cherry trees in a Japanese private garden. Japanese gardens
honor a more subtle, year-round role in
the lives of their owners. Plants are selected and rejected partly based on their
attractive image throughout all four
seasons. Some varieties of cherry trees
can also get quite large, and Japanesegardeners tend to plant and prune tree

varieties less than 15’
in height.
Cherry trees are absolutely stunning fora week or so, but for
the rest of the year
they have a woeful,
unattractive appearance. They haveother drawbacks as
well. Cherry trees areplagued with disease, mold, and insects
much of the year. They have an awkward
growth habit with long, heavy branches,that respond poorly to pruning, becauseof their susceptibility to infection androt. But, like most trees, they still needpruning allowing light channels to penetrate the tree, allowing a better fruit set
and ease of harvest (if you have a variety
that produces fruit.) Pruning enhances
the ability to battle and thwart disease.
Early spring is the prime time forpruning young cherry trees, shaping
and training the young tree before it
blossoms. Pruning should begin as buds
emerge, but wait until all chance of
extreme cold temperatures have passed
to avoid possible cold injury, as youngerT

trees are more susceptible to this. The
Gresham Japanese Garden volunteers
spent two days pruning the Akebono
cherry trees in the middle of March.
Some pruning should occur each year tocombat unruly and crossing branches.
If you are looking to include a flowering tree to your garden, there are manyvarieties that offer attractive blossoms
AND four-season beauty. These include
flowering plum, dogwoods, magnolias,
and crab apples.
Cherry trees are a lasting symbolof Japanese culture, but due to theirsignificant shortcomings, are generally unwelcome in traditional Japanesegardens.

Ask Jim!

Seeds for Planting

In this month’s Ask Jim! plant care video, he
discusses how and when to fertilize rhododendrens and azaleas.
Featured on our Facebook page,@greshamjapanesegarden.
Submit your Ask Jim! question to https://www.greshamjapanesegarden.org/ask-jim/.

The greenhouse is getting greener by theday. Milkweed and zinnia seeds have beenplanted for the pollinator garden and as
giveaways for the free pollinator class in May.
And our Exploratory program students
have planted petunias and lupine seeds tofill the planter boxes in Ambleside Annex.
Spring is here!

GARDENER’S TIP
April is great time to continue planting cool
weather vegetables such as lettuce, leeks, etc.
Apply organic fertilizer to roses and otherperennial flowers.
It’s also a good time to reseed bare spots
in the lawn. Cover the seed with a thin layerof sawdust to maintain moisture.
Start a compost pile or turn the material
in the one you have.
— Jim Buck, Garden Volunteer
and Organic Gardener

wo shapes of shrubs particularly
useful in Japanese gardens are
the semi-spherical tamamono
shape and the tall dome endoh-kei
shape. Both are almost always evergreen. A few plants that work well fortamamono are azaleas, Japanese Holly(Ilex crenata), Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata), and mugo pines (Pinus mugo).
There are many broad leaf plants thatare suitable for endoh-kei; osmanthus
frangrans, and camellias, to name a few.
When measuring the tamamono shape,
first measure its height. A tamamono
should be twice as wide as its height.
Normally, the largest tamamono are
waist to chest high. If the shrub gets any
wider or taller, it becomes too difficult toprune.
In contrast, the endoh-kei shape isessentially a cylinder with a semi-spherical dome on top. It can be any size, but
usually taller than 6.5’. Endoh-kei canstandalone in a garden, but never in theforeground, because of its size and density.
Now let’s talk pruning. At GJG, you willhear us discourage using shears, mainly
because it’s done for expediency, leaving heading cuts (see GJG December

2021 newsletter)and a disregard to
the health of theplant, but to create
tanamomo and/or
endoh-kei, shears
are the appropriate tool to use.
Also, when two
tamamono start
to bang into eachother, you canmerge them together IF they are
Fig 1 - Tamamono shapes
the same species.
See fig 1. If they are different species,
The solution is tothey must remain separate and must be employ the dimple
pruned smaller to fit the space.
technique and thin
Tamamono and endoh-kei are dense,out the head, shouland basically opaque. This opacity isn’t ders, and south side
as much a concern with tamamono be- even more thancause the shrub is low and rounded, and usual. See fig 3.
in most cases the sun travels overhead
Find a dense spotand hits almost the entire surface, which of foliage, grab it,is healthy. See fig 2.
and inspect. You’ll
Fig 3 - Dimple technique
If no sunlight is hitting a branch, theoften find a “fist”,
shrub says, “I’m not getting any photo- which is a thick branch ending in a tangle
synthetic gains from that branch, so why of smaller branches. Remove the fist, or
should I keep maintaining it?”if that’s too drastic, remove most of the
thicker branches in the dense tangle.
The final product should be a gradualtransition from thin foliage on top to
thicker foliage towards the bottom withdimples on the southern side allowing
sunlight into the interior.
As a homeowner, having a landscapeplan and a clear vision of how you wantshrubs to perform in the future is a key
aspect of proper spacing.
As to pruning ordinary landscapers
who are hired to prune, often have noclue about tamamono and endoh-kei.
It’s often more effective to prune thoseshrubs yourselves, rather than hiring an
uninformed landscaper.
Fig 2 - Pruning for sunlight

The Art of Bonsai

S

imply put, bonsai are miniature
thetically pruned to how they lookpotted plants which are carefully if grown in nature. This achieves thestyled to achieve an aesthetic
effect of condensing the appeareffect. Many concepts of bonsai wereance of a natural tree or forest
imported into Japan from China more
within the container, hence creating
than a thousand years ago. Since then, a a miniture vista.
distinctive style of this art form has been Feng shui and bonsai are intercondeveloped in Japan. In Japanese culture, nected with ancient Asian lifestyles
a bonsai garden is a “style” of garden.
and beliefs. Both practices demonA scenic vista, miniturized to represent
strate how subtle the energy (chi)A workshop projectworlds within worlds.
which rules us and how deep the
MOST COMMON STYLES OF BONSAI: roots of beauty and simplicity can reach
Formal and Informal Straight: Thea life in harmony. There are so many
Vossbrink, GJG bonsai instructor transtrunk is straight, and the apex of thethings one can learn and adapt by theform a red pine, into bonsai.
tree is in line with the body and theright combination of the two disciplines. https://www.greshamjapanesegarden.
base. In an informal straight bonsai,
GJG’s bonsai instructor, Mark Vossbrink, org/red-pine-bonsai/
the trunk slants slightly, but the top
talks about how a single bonsai can beof the tree still ends up directly above a whole garden in itself. We can think
the center of the base.
about bonsai as a portable Tsuru Island
Slant: As the name suggests, the enthat can be enjoyed for the tranquility
tire tree is slanted to one side.
anywhere we live and work.
Cascade: Rather than upright, the tree Bonsai workshops at GJG take place
grows downwards to one side to aevery third Thursday and Saturday
degree where(Thursday’s class just opened up) at theits apex ends
Resource Center. In each workshop/classup at the same
students learn a new technique and areheight or lower
rewarded with a bonsai to take home.
than the pot,
Watch this Ask Jim! video of Mark
like a tree atthe edge of a cliff.
Forest and Multi-Trunk: Multiple
trees are grown in the same container,
POLLINATORS FOR YOUR
carefully fashioned to mimic a forest. A ORGANIC GARDENING
YARD
multi-trunk bonsai is similar to the for- FUNDAMENTALSSaturday, May 21, 1-2:30pm
est style, except multiple trunks have a Mon, April 4 - 6:30-8pm IN PERSON
Wed, April 6 - 6:30-8pm ZOOMIN PERSON
common root.
Rock: The tree grows on a rock with its Jim Buck, an avid organic gardener since childJoin Deb Peters in the Garden’s greenhouse for
hood,
has
a
stronginterest
innativeplantsanda discussion on native host plants for butterflies
roots anchored in the rock’s cracks ortheir uses by indigenous tribes. In this class Jimand how to create a pollinator yard.
in the soil below.
will cover how to improve your garden’s health
Learn where and how to plant milkweed and
Typical trees used in bonsai include
and our environment by growing organically. The other pollinators to attract butterflies and otherpines, broad leaf such as maple trees,class will include soil preparation, planting succes- pollinators. Learn about keeping mason bees too.
flowering such as cherry trees, and fruits sion tips, companion planting, avoiding diseases,
https://www.greshamjapanesegarden.org/
different types of composting, and elements ofsuch as quince trees. Techniques such asclass-registration/
permaculture.
the trimming of the roots and wiring are
https://www.greshamjapanesegarden.org/
used to keep the trees small, and aesclass-registration/

2022 Spring Classes - Free

Volunteer Newsletter Editors: Sue Hughes, Mary Taylor, and Mary Dickson. Photos by Bill Peterson.

April 2022

Tsuru Soars
Friends of the Gresham Japanese Garden Newsletter

Celebrate O-Hanami with Us
PHOTOGRAPHER’S VIEW
and eat together, andenjoy themselves underneath the beautiful
flower blossoms.
To celebrate o-hanami
this year, GJG has invitedOregon Koto-Kai toplay Tuesday, April 5th,
-Hanami means “flower watch- from 12-12:30pm in Ebetsu Plaza. Bringing” in Japanese. The practice of a lunch, sit underneath the blossoming
o-hanami is many centuries old boughs of the cherry trees, and relax toand a long-standing Japanese tradition of the sounds of Japanese harps.
welcoming spring. People gather to drinkO.寝心に花を算へる雨夜哉
ne-gokoro ni hana wo kazoeru
amayo kanamy sleepy mind, counting cherry
blossoms, a rainy night

Tuesday, April 5th
Oregon Koto-Kai
12-12:30pm, Ebetsu Plaza
south end of Main City Park