Garden Tour – October 25:

We will be visiting 4 Japanese style gardens throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, California, which have been created and developed by various garden builders and designers in collaboration, including Hiroaki Eto, Marc Keane, Bill Castellon and Avram Dalton. Each garden is a unique expression and demonstrates a variety of garden building and pruning techniques.

The gardens on this tour will feature the work of various pruners including Hiroaki Eto, Bill Castellon, Dina Blackwell, Michael Hemes, Avram Dalton, and Lara Miranda.

Dinner at The Gardens at Lake Merritt – October 26:

Join us for an informal dinner and panel discussion with Hiroaki Eto, Avram Dalton, Bill Castellon, and guests! They will discuss the gardens visited on the tour, the building process, and the particulars of pruning in the gardens.

An Exploration of Pruning Techniques from Japan – October 26 & 27:

When we think about Japanese style pruning, we typically think of a very stylized Japanese black pine. There are, however, a myriad of styles of pruning practiced in modern Japan based on regional differences, garden type and historical eras which are practiced on a wide variety of plant material.

Join Hiroaki Eto, a second generation Japanese garden builder from Kyushu, Japan, and APA/NAJGA member Avram Dalton—who is based in Southern California and has been assisting Hiroaki Eto for the last decade building gardens in the United States—as we explore different styles of pruning.

You can read more about Hiroaki Eto here: https://www.sui-raku-kai.com
This pruning event will include both demonstrations and hands-on activities. We will be working on various plant material within The Gardens at Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.