Delivering bonsai to the Portland Japanese Garden has one hairy bit. After grinding up a steep hill you come to the roof panels on the spectacular Kengo Kuma buildings, which are conveniently lower than the top of a 26’ U-Haul. But by taking this arrival slalom at 0.5 mph, in the past eight years both bonsai and buildings have survived materially unchanged.
The garden itself was featured the first installment: Portland Japanese Garden: Part I. Part II is about the Gardeners and volunteers who’ve made the bonsai display a success over the years.
Upper courtyard of the Portland Japanese Garden just after opening in April 2017. The living roof was green right out of the gates.
To the left, the first bonsai on display.
The posts and backdrops were raw wood at first. This was eight years ago with none of the silvering seen today.
This larger bonsai area in the courtyard is the Ellie M. Hill Bonsai Terrace, with trees from the first 2017 display.
The upper display area, the Jubitz Oregon Terrace. In 2017 we didn’t have the wall platforms up on the white wall, where we now display kusamono.
One of the first open-air demos I did there. Many garden visitors had never seen bonsai before, let alone one being worked on.
Another demo from the early days.
Fast forwarding to the last few years. Here’s a big Trident Maple forest coming in for one of the three seasonal displays we do annually with bonsai on loan from local artists. Evan and Masaki are carrying. Phone cameras sure have gotten better.
There’s always a lot of carrying. The hidden courtyard—the Jubitz Oregon Terrace—is up a flight of stairs, so we use many hands and feet instead of a cart. Head Gardener Jacob Knapp to the left with his team who do a great job taking care of the bonsai on a daily basis.
A display from 2023, on delivery day.
Inside the truck in 2025, which is of course the best place for adjustments.
Erich, one of our longtime volunteers.
Engelmann Spruce in 2022.
A Satsuki show in 2022.
Mountain Hemlock up top in the Jubitz Terrace in 2022 (up the stairs in the gift shop building).
Colin and Evan booted up for water in the Jubitz, with platforms where we display kusamono.
A display in 2022. With any post display it’s a challenge to not only find a balance of deciduous and conifer, but to get the flow right so that trees are relating to one another.
Patch and Evan placing a tree in 2025.
Colin watering the bonsai in 2023. The bamboo guardrails are changed out every year or two. And now the wooden stands have silvered in the sun.
Cheers to the Gardeners, our volunteers, and the rest of the Portland Japanese Garden administration and staff—fantastic partners in this decade of public outdoor bonsai display. Almost 500,000 visitors come through the garden every year, which is perhaps 3-4 million over the last eight years who have seen these bonsai displays. Many new eyes on this art we love.