Denver

Enthusiastic Denver garden curator tours Hilo’s Lili`uokalani Gardens

Posted on June 3, 2013 by usjapanesegardens

On Saturday, May 18, the board of directors of Friends of Lili`uokalani Gardens welcomed Ebi Kondo, curator of Sho-Fu-En the Japanese garden at Denver Botanic Gardens and a board member of the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA), to Hilo’s bayfront park along with several Hilo community leaders with long-time ties to the garden.

Ebi Kondo, curator of Sho-Fu-En at the Denver Botanic Gardens
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

Kondo was enthusiastic about Lili`uokalani Gardens. “This is an old-style pleasure garden,” he said. “You have so much history here. This is a great event to be shared with all who visit.

“There is such a good feeling to this garden, both casual and elegant. I see a welcome, peaceful, casual, approachable, carefree environment. This is a great combination of American-Japanese garden with Hilo Hawaii flavor.”

Ebi Kondo of Sho-Fu-En Japanese Garden in Denver Colorado explains the benefits of membership in a public garden organization. Nearby are Friends of Lili`uokalani members Harvey Tajiri and K.T. Cannon-Eger.

Ebi Kondo of Sho-Fu-En Japanese Garden in Denver Colorado explains the benefits of membership in NAJGA a non-profit public garden organization. Nearby are Friends of Lili`uokalani members Harvey Tajiri and K.T. Cannon-Eger.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

Kondo worked on the revitalization of the Japanese garden in Denver. “It takes everybody working together,” he said.

Sho-Fu-En now features a new roji (dewy garden path) to the tea house as well as a separate ADA compliant path. The tea house in Denver is like the one in Hilo in one respect: there are two areas for practitioners and participants — one more traditional with tatami floor and one Western with folding chairs.

Della Allison Yamashiro of Friends of Lili`uokalani Gardens, listens to Hiroshi Suga, president of the Japanese Community Association of Hawaii, speak of cooperation to promote and preserve Japanese culture, and foster harmony and fellowship in Hawaii County.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

Russ Oda speaks of Shoroan and the history of Urasenke in Hawaii.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

Kondo also was enthusiastic about the role of public gardens in communities. “To me, garden is a place to make memories. Happy people come here and are more happy. Sad people who come here are lifted.”

The casual tour wandered over to shade by the bamboo grove.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

Dwayne Mukai, president of Kumamoto Kenjin Kai, and Rev. Jeffrey Soga, Rimban for Hawaii Island’s Hongwanji join in the conversation.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

K.T. Cannon-Eger, Ebi Kondo and Philippe Nault ponder an ancient stone basin.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

Sho-Fu-En at Denver Botanic Gardens is one of the leadership gardens in the formation of the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA). Kondo took time to emphasize to the group the importance of sharing information. “There will come a time when you have a question and you need to find resources. That is the reason we have this association of public gardens…to be of help to each other with workshops on horticulture, stonescaping, pond building, fund raising, message presentation and all of the things you will face.”

NAJGA offers two regional conferences later this year. Woodworking skills and traditional hand tools will be held August 13-16 in Oakland, California with site visits to several gardens in the area. Constructing Japanese water features and selection and care of koi will be held September 20-21 at Shofuso in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Registration is open now for the woodworking conference in Oakland. More details on the regional conference in Pennsylvania will be available in July. Go to the NAJGA web site for further information. http://www.najga.org

For additional stories in this blog on Denver or NAJGA, check the category and tag lists to the right side of the screen.

Categories: California, Colorado, Denver, Hawaii, Hilo, Oakland, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia | Tags: Ebi Kondo, Liliuokalani Gardens, NAJGA, teahouse | 2 Comments

Sho-fu-en, the Garden of the Pine and Wind, in Denver makes great use of native plants

Posted on October 11, 2012 by usjapanesegardens

(photo by Bill F. Eger)

After obtaining his degree in horticulture in Japan and interning at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Akiyoshi (Ebi) Kondo joined Denver Botanic Gardens as a Horticulturist in April 2000 and was in charge of the display gardens and collections.

In 2003 Ebi was promoted to Senior Horticulturist and took responsibility of Sho-Fu-En, Denver Botanic Garden’s Japanese Garden. Originally designed by Koichi Kawana, construction on the two acre garden began in August 1978. Sho-fu-en, Garden of the Pines and Wind, was dedicated June 23, 1979.

“This was designed to be a provincial garden. Gifu-ken and Takayama-shi are next to the Nagano mountains, a very rugged area. Here we are amid the Rocky Mountains, also a rugged area,” Kondo said.

A simple clean pond edge, a clear reflection, careful maintenance, the contributions of garden designers and gardeners since 1978 all add up to the shibui feeling of Sho-fu-en.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

“This was one of Kawana-san’s last major gardens. It’s very shibui, very quiet.”

Koichi Kawana designed gardens in St. Louis, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; Memphis Tennessee; Los Angeles and San Diego, California among others. The Hokkaido native who became a U.S. citizen in 1971 died in 1990 at the age of 60.

Garden designer Koichi Kawana
(photo from City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works)

In 1979, the tea house was constructed in Japan “very mountain style,” said Kondo. “Not an ostentatious display; very good size for demonstrating tea ceremony.”

Ebi Kondo holds open the gate to the 1979 tea house at Sho-fu-en.

Built by Kumo Construction Company in Nagano, the tea house was disassembled and shipped to Denver. Company president Mr. Toshitame Hirabayashi and eight co-workers reassembled the teahouse along with the bridge and entry gate in 14 days. The teahouse was donated by the Eleanore Mullen Weckbaugh Foundation.

tea house interior with chairs set up for demonstration audience to the right

When the garden started, more than 130 character pines were moved from nearby Estes Park by the Rocky Mountain Bonsai Club. Permits were obtained from the U.S. Forest Service to collect Ponderosa pines. “Japanese gardens encourage the use of native plants. We have about 50 percent natives in this garden,” Kondo said.

Bob Kataoka and Kai Kawahara inspect pines near Denver for possible inclusion in the garden.
(photo from Rocky Mountain Bonsai Club history)

In 1977, Bob Kataoka, Kai Kawahara, Harold Sasaki, Floyd Sunshine, Bob Krueger, Keith Jepson, Larry Jackel and Malcolm Correll manned the first flatbed truck collecting eight or ten pines that trip. Kai Kawahara, was a gardener at Sho-fu-en from 1980 to 1993. He was one of eight founding members of the earlier Denver Bonsai Club that merged to form RMBC.

Head gardener Kai Kawahara in Sho-fu-en in 1987
(Denver Post photo archive)

As sometimes happens in the history of Japanese gardens in America, there came a period of disinterest, low funding and lack of maintenance. By 2000, the garden was in disrepair. “A garden without maintenance for even one season may take ten seasons to reclaim,” Kondo said.

He undertook the initiative of the garden’s restoration reaching out to Mr. Seki the Consulate General of Japan in Denver and ultimately partnering with Mr. Sadafumi Uchiyama from Portland Japanese Garden.

Sadafumi Uchiyama at a NAJGA regional meeting in Chicago, September 2011

Sadafumi Uchiyama created a master plan for the development of Sho-fu-en in 2003. Phase one included a minor repair of the Tea Ceremony House/garden path ways and phase two encompassed restoration/ renovation of the existing lake and was completed over the following years.

Some lanterns are designed for display near water.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

In 2007 with help from the Hosokawa Grant, Kondo founded Denver Botanic Gardens tea ceremony guild Sho-Fu-Kai. The guild’s mission is to expose the public and garden patrons to Japanese Tea Ceremony and support the Sho-fu-en. A new machiai, rojimon (gate), obote senko design, uchi roji (inner path), and soto roji (outerpath), were added to the tea garden, opening to the public in mid-June this year.

Sadafumi Uchiyama arranged for the new well at the tea garden to be shipped from Portland, Oregon.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

Now, Sho-fu-en is one of a few signature gardens at Denver Botanic Garden.”We work hard to keep our volunteers happy and enthusiastic,” Kondo said. “We have monthly cultural nights, and regularly scheduled nature hikes and movie nights.

“We need to continue developing and implementing a program, a vision for our garden,” Kondo said. “Otherwise, it is an ornament, not a garden.”

Future programs in development at Sho-fu-en include the Horticultural Therapy Program and Volunteer Docent Program.

Kondo and Uchiyama are among the leadership members of the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA), an organization newly formed for the purpose of networking public Japanese Gardens in North America. Kondo also is a member of the Japan America Society of Denver.

NAJGA holds its Connections conference in Denver this weekend (October 2012) with a full slate of workshops at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Also on the program is the premiere of David Slawson’s new film “Evoking Native Landscape Using Japanese Garden Principles” at the Sheraton Downtown on Friday evening. For further information, contact NAJGA at http://www.najga.org

Please feel free to comment on your experience with Denver Botanic Gardens and Sho-fu-en in the comment box below.

Other exhibits at Denver Botanic Gardens:

In addition to the Japanese garden, there are displays in other parts of the botanic garden grounds.

The bonsai club continues to hold juried shows and sales at Denver Botanic Gardens. This one was held Father’s Day weekend 2012.

Kizuna — West Meets East, a series of site specific bamboo installations by Tetsunori Kawana from Japan and Stephen Talasnik from America, continues through November 4.

close up of work by Tetsunori Kawana

Also in mid-June 2012, a bonsai pavilion and courtyard opened as a memorial to the late news writer Bill Hosokawa. It was funding from the Alice and Bill Hosokawa Fellowship that helped Sho-fu-kai, the tea ceremony guild, form in 2008.

the new bonsai pavilion shortly before it opened to the public June 2012

The Bill Hosokawa Bonsai Courtyard after a rain storm, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012.

To view a full size image of any photo, just click on it. Photographs not otherwise credited in this blog are by K.T. Cannon-Eger.

For more information on bonsai history and World War II internment camps, please see
http://www.magiminiland.org/BigPicture/Internment.html

For more information on Denver Botanic Gardens, please visit
http://www.botanicgardens.org/

[updated 8/6/2016 with new website for bonsai history and World War II internment camps]

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Categories: Colorado, Denver | Tags: Ebi Kondo, Kai Kawahara, Koichi Kawana, NAJGA, pond, ponderosa pine, Sadafumi Uchiyama, tea garden, teahouse | 3 Comments

Dinner in Denver at Domo — Delightful and Delicious

Posted on September 29, 2012 by usjapanesegardens

Research ahead of our trip pointed us in the direction of Domo Restaurant in Denver. Whenever we mentioned it to friends and family who live nearby, the response was an enthusiastic, “Oh yes! Go there!”

Our friends know us to be adventurous and willing to enjoy most everything.

It’s a country style building in a warehouse district near a public housing project — just a little out of the way, but so worth it. I was not bothered by the sounds of trains passing — in fact enjoyed hearing the whistle blow as night fell around us.

The entrance off the gravel parking lot

Our dear friend said he used to come here quite often a few years ago. It felt like home. But then it got discovered and crowded and he stopped going for a while.

soft light in the early evening before sundown — the view from our table toward the center of the garden courtyard

“The garden isn’t like anything you’ve been seeing. It’s much more informal. Like someone’s casual backyard,” he explained. And as we sat and looked around he commented how much the garden had matured since his last visit.

We were seated outdoors at a wooden table with wire chairs. Soon the table was covered with dishes — an abundant feast, tasty and hearty.

The garden a little later at night

The servers were attentive, but not overbearing, leaving us to enjoy our conversation and the surroundings.

The sake filled a square cup to overflowing. The overflow was caught in the round saucer. “I need help with my manners,” said my husband to our host. “You are among friends,” he replied. “Just bend over and slurp.” Note the abundance of food on the table and a slightly different view of the garden beyond Bill.

Folk art adorns the walls at Domo Restaurant in Denver in one covered dining area at one end of the courtyard.

the other side of the room

Take time to wander a bit. The place is packed with memorabilia. There is a museum at one end of the courtyard and an aikido dojo.

At one end of the courtyard garden is a large farm-style structure. One side is an aikido dojo. On the other side is a folk museum.

Domo Restaurant, 1365 Osage Street, Denver, CO (303) 595-3666 ‎ · domorestaurant.com

Photos not otherwise credited in this blog are by K.T. Cannon-Eger. Click on any photo to see a full size image.

Categories: Colorado, Denver | Tags: Domo Restaurant, Japanese garden | Leave a comment

The trip West continues

Posted on September 22, 2012 by usjapanesegardens

A more extensive article on Chicago’s Osaka Garden at Jackson Park will be posted soon. By 2013, the garden was re-named The Garden of the Phoenix.

Osaka Garden at Jackson Park in Chicago dates from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. It was recently renewed due to the efforts of an active Friends group with the expertise and guidance of Sadafumi Uchiyama and the cooperation of the Chicago Parks Department.

Meanwhile, here are a few photos from the rest of the journey from Chicago to Denver to San Francisco by train.

Here, we have included images from gardens in Chicago, Denver, Grand Junction, Berkeley, Oakland, Orinda and San Francisco to give you a little taste of the articles still to come.

Looking in one direction, Shofu-en displays one of the inspirations for its name — “Garden of the Pines and Wind.”

Looking across the pond in another direction, one could feel transported to similar gardens in urban Japan. The residents of the nearby condos must enjoy a beautiful view.

Entry to the Japanese garden in Grand Junction, Colorado, is through a conservatory with plants familiar to many in Hawaii and other tropical regions.

This is a small section of the pond in the Japanese garden at UC-Berkeley Botanical Garden. Iris were in bloom throughout our journey in June.

The Higashi Hongwanji in Berkeley (www.bonbu.com) has an elegant entry garden maintained in part with the assistance of the Aesthetic Pruners Association.

Every detail matters — and here a relatively new stone appears to have been in place for hundreds of years due to the lichen.

The living room is arranged to take full advantage of the garden in this private residence in northern California.

A rooftop corporate garden in San Francisco, created some years ago, was completely redone recently to address engineering problems that developed over the years. This is a small detail of an area separating the entry door, which leads to the garden, from a walkway that goes around the roof.
(photo by Bill F. Eger)

: Ginkgo leaves near the 1915 pagoda at the San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden

To see a full size version of any photograph in this blog, just click on the image.

Categories: Berkeley, California, Chicago, Colorado, Denver, Grand Junction, Illinois, Oakland, San Francisco | Tags: Japanese garden, pond | Leave a comment

Conferences, symposia, workshops, tours, festivals and exhibits crowd the fall calendar

Posted on July 27, 2012 by usjapanesegardens

If you have been reading right along from Hilo to Atlanta to this point in the blog, you must be as seriously interested in Japanese gardens as we are. And if that’s true, you may wish to have one or more of these conference/symposium/workshop events on your schedule.

Edogawa Commemorative Gardens at Gosford
by Janda Gooding

The 7^th International Symposium on Japanese Gardens: Japanese Gardens in the 21st Century will be held in Sydney, Australia, September 1 through 3. Early registration deadline already has passed. Among featured speakers are Mr. Iwatani, Mr. Yamada, Mr. Shiro Nakane, Ken Lamb, Kendall Brown, Mr. Kawase, Cap Saheki, and Mr. Mitsuhashi.

The symposium and hands-on workshops are hosted by Imperial Gardens Landscape and the International Association of Japanese Gardens. Also involved are the Edogawa Commemorative Gardens at Gosford and Auburn City Japanese Gardens. For more information and to register, contact: Imperial Gardens – Ken Lamb

18 Myoora Road, Terrey Hills NSW 2084

Telephone +612 9986 3968 Mobile +61 411 754 683

Email – enquiries@imperialgardens.com.au

Website – http://www.imperialgardens.com.au

The North American Japanese Garden Association will hold Connections 2012 in Denver October 12 through 14. The roster of speakers includes garden designer and author Marc Peter Keane, educator of Nishikigoi Mamoru Kodama, Writtle College, Essex, Reader in gardens and designed landscapes Jill Raggett, Portland Japanese Garden curator Sadafumi Uchiyama, Anderson Japanese Garden curator Tim Gruner, certified aesthetic pruner MaryAnn Burman, Chiba University professor of horticulture Eijiro Fujii, and garden artist and author David Slawson among others.

Hands-on workshops are planned at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

For further information or to register contact NAJGA at 503-222-1194 or send an e-mail

to info@najga.org or go to the organization’s web site: http://www.najga.org

summertime light at Anderson Japanese Gardens, Rockford, IL
(photo by K.T. Cannon-Eger)

The Maple Society will meet October 19 through 21 in Seattle with a post conference tour to Oregon October 22 through 24.

Speakers at the “Pacific Northwest Fantasyland Maple Adventure” include Matt Nichols, co-owner of Nichols Nursery, Flat Rock, NC; Charlie Morgan, owner Amazing Maples, Mukilteo, WA; David Degroot, author and Curator of Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection, Federal Way, WA; Don Brooks, Director Kubota Gardens, Seattle, WA; David Zuckerman, Head Horticulturist Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, WA; and Talon Buchholz, owner of Buchholz & Buchholz Nursery, and plant introductions extraordinaire, Gaston, OR.

Gardens to be visited during the conference include Kubota Gardens, Washington Park Arboretum & Japanese Garden, Bellevue Botanic Garden, Rhododendron Species Foundation, Weyerhaeuser’s Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection, South Puget Sound Community College, Amazing Maples and Bloedel Reserve.

The three day post-conference tour includes Portland Japanese Garden, Hoyt Arboretum, Buchholz & Buchholz Nursery, Iseli Nursery, J. Frank Schmidt Nursery, Don Schmidt Nursery, Whitman Farms, Oregon Botanic Garden, and Munn’s Nursery.

Please register before September 15, 2012. Credit Cards Accepted. Marielle Eykeman PO Box 2635 Pt. Angeles, WA 98362 (360) 457-6952. More information is available at the web site: http://www.maplesociety.org/nab-seattle-2012

Other opportunities

Every botanic garden we visited, and many we haven’t yet seen, had some schedule of workshops, speakers or art exhibits.

For example, every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 10:30 a.m. the Atlanta Botanical Garden offers a strolling tour with a knowledgeable volunteer.

The Birmingham Botanical Garden has a Fall Plant Sale coming up October 20, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and October 21 noon to 4 p.m.

The New Orleans Botanical Garden holds plant sales on a regular basis. Two coming up soon are at Pelican Greenhouse, 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, August 11, and Saturday, September 8. Check the City Park web site for more events. http://neworleanscitypark.com/

Fort Worth’s Japanese Garden will celebrate its annual Fall Festival 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, October 27.

September 1 is opening day of the Dinosaur Stampede at San Antonio Botanical Garden.

Sunday, August 5, is family day at the Elizabeth Hubert Malott Japanese Garden in Chicago Botanic Garden starting at 11 a.m. hands-on activities related to Japanese arts and culture. Family Sunday repeats on September 2.

Denver Botanic Gardens has a number of activities around the general theme Kizuma: West meets East. Large site-specific bamboo art installations by Tetsunori Kawana and Stephen Talasnik continue through November 4. A lecture on Japanese gardens in the US will be given by curator Ebi Kondo Wednesday, September 12. “Growing Autonomy – Gardening at Japanese American Internment Camps” is a talk by Dr. Bonnie Clark scheduled for Wednesday, October 10. Moonviewing or O-Tsukimi is slated for full moon in autumn Saturday, September 1.

Check the web sites of gardens near you for current events. There is a list of links to gardens we visited. Just click on Links at the top right side of the first page of this blog to get you started.

Categories: Colorado, Denver | Tags: conference, Japanese garden, maple, NAJGA, seminar, workshop | Leave a comment

More railroad fan photos

Posted on June 29, 2012 by usjapanesegardens

Old fashioned stations continued to be our delight as we traveled through Texas to St. Louis, Chicago, Denver, and Grand Junction ending at a newer station in Emeryville near San Francisco.

Fort Worth Texas makes use of portions of the old Union Station.

Inside, Fort Worth offers old style benches. (photo by Bill F. Eger)

Train for St. Louis arrives on track 3 in Fort Worth, TX.

Chicago’s old Union Station undergoing renovation

underground entry from the old station to the newer arrival and departure area across the street in Chicago, IL

I haven’t mentioned food. It was EXCELLENT and freshly prepared for every meal. We dined on BBQ ribs, breaded chicken, salmon, tilapia, steak, shrimp Benedict, lamb shank, and more and everything was delicious.

We went deeper in to the history of trains in the Chicago area with a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry before heading out back to Osaka Garden at Jackson Park, what once was known as Wooded Island at the 1893 Columbia Exposition.

Empire State Express engine 999 in the Museum of Science and Industry — as fascinating a place to me now as it was when I was a child.

poster describing the Empire Express engine 999 at the 1893 Columbian Exposition

Another spot to gain more insight into historical details was the Chicago Art Institute. We had just enough time after checking our large bags in the morning to grab a cab and spend a couple of hours wandering around another old haunt for each of us: me from my childhood and Bill from his college days at University of Chicago.

These tiles came from the Railway Exchange Building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, also known as the Santa Fe Building.

a museum tag explains the origin of the tiles and the connection to the 1893 Columbian Exposition

In Denver, we chose The Oxford Hotel because of its proximity to Union Station only to find that the station is undergoing a three year renovation which will result in combined services being available there. Meanwhile, the temporary station is quite a few blocks away. I would stay at the Oxford Hotel again at the drop of a hat. Wonderful staff, service, accommodations and location.

Denver’s Union Station at night

Denver’s Union Station from the front door of The Oxford Hotel

Another wonderful advantage to train travel is the view through LARGE windows. It was such a difference from the somewhat dangerous escapade of trying to see something from a speeding car while maintaining safety on the highway.

huge view of the changing countryside and geology as the train moved from Denver to Grand Junction, Colorado

The new station in Grand Junction, Colorado is right next to the old one, now closed and boarded up.

old Grand Junction sign notes “elevation 4,578” and “population 28,000”

heading west from Grand Junction through Utah and Nevada

a town in California advertises itself as “above the fog, below the snow”

End of the line — at least as far as train travel on this journey is concerned — at Emeryville, California.

Unless otherwise credited, photos in this blog are by K.T. Cannon-Eger. Click on any image for a full-size view.

Categories: Amtrak, California, Chicago, Colorado, Denver, Grand Junction, Illinois | Tags: Amtrak, railroad, train | 2 Comments

Denver

Enthusiastic Denver garden curator tours Hilo’s Lili`uokalani Gardens

Sho-fu-en, the Garden of the Pine and Wind, in Denver makes great use of native plants

Dinner in Denver at Domo — Delightful and Delicious

The trip West continues

Conferences, symposia, workshops, tours, festivals and exhibits crowd the fall calendar

More railroad fan photos

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