From Our President:

Is spring here?  Has it arrived yet?  The calendar says so, but as I write this the day is cold.  This is a good time though to head to the Garden because, as always this time of year, the activity in the Garden is heating up and the plants, animals, insects and humans are stirring. 

I would like to bring to your attention one very important activity that is heating up and now taking place followed by a plea to all volunteers. First is the current ongoing activity.  Zee Straight-Weiss has been guiding a contingent of Board Members through the process of updating the Kubota Garden Foundations Long Range Plan.  The revised Long Range Plan will be presented to the Full Board at the May Board Meeting.  Those involved with this process share ideas, have a better understanding of the Kubota Garden Foundations working relationship with the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, and an increased knowledge of the history of the Garden.

 We have revisited and reaffirmed our Mission Statement and Goals and revised and changed some of our Objectives and developed new ones.  Listed below in numerical order are our Goals: 

G-1   ADMINISTRATIVE: 
            To provide for the efficient and professional administration of the Kubota Garden Foundation.

G-2   PUBLIC RELATIONS:
            To increase public awareness of the Kubota Garden and the Kubota Garden Foundation and our mission.

G-3   MEMBERSHIP:
            To maintain and increase a membership base for the Kubota Garden Foundation.

G-4   FUNDRAISING:
            To develop and implement a plan to raise funds and establish resources that will support the operating and capital budget objectives of the Kubota Garden Foundation.

G-5   RESEARCH:   To support research of the history and development of the work of Fujitaro Kubota and the Kubota Garden to enhance the public awareness of its value and significance.

G-6   EDUCATION:
            To increase public understanding of the historical and cultural significance of the Kubota Garden through educational programs and interpretive projects.

G-7   MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS:
            To encourage and assure the proper maintenance and operation of the Kubota Garden and its facilities.

G-8   PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT:
            To participate in planning and development for the future of the Kubota Garden.

If you are interested in looking at the completed Kubota Garden Foundation Long Range Plan leave a message and your phone number on our voice mail at 725-5060 and I will get back to you to make arrangements for you to see it.

Before I leave this subject I want to thank Zee Straight-Weiss for her hours of work guiding us through a very complicated process and the writing of the final document and also thank those board members who have worked diligently to complete this task.

The Long Range Plan is a working document that lays out the direction the Kubota Garden Foundation is going and shows how far we have come.  There is much work ahead as we continue to strive to meet new challenges and with your continued volunteer help and donations we will continue to meet these challenges.

And now for the plea to volunteers.  As reported in our year ending report we accumulated 3,065 volunteer hours in 2007 and that was good.  But we know there were many hours of work donated to the Garden that were not recorded.  So this year those in charge of volunteer projects are going to work extra hard to get volunteers to sign volunteer sheets.  I know volunteers do not like to write in all that information so we are revising and simplifying the sign in sheets.  So, I ask for your cooperation and please sign in.   Volunteer hours are very important for funding.  And while I am on the subject of funding don't forget to send in your membership for this year.

I do think of the Kubota Garden Foundation as a family.  Each person contributing to our family in their own way, helping make the reason for our being, The Kubota Garden, such a rich and wondrous place.  I thank you all.  See you in the Garden! 

 Rusty Llewellyn, President

From the Gardener:  April 2008
Spring finds us happy in our new building, occasionally escaping from this unusually cold spring.  More than most years I’ve noticed how our Magnolias and many other plants seem to be a week or 10 days behind many others throughout the city of Seattle.  We are definitely in a bit of a cold spot here.  In spite of that many things are blooming and it’s a beautiful time of the year.

What were we able to accomplish this past winter?  Major projects included a fairly large renovation of a section of the Japanese Garden and the moving of a number of large plants.  Of a more personnel note is the installation of the Palm Garden in our nursery area.  Come to the Plant Sale this spring and you can ask us just why do we have a Palm Garden!  Near the future new pond we moved 4 large pines.  See if you can spot them.

The Japanese Garden project was our biggest of the winter.  This involved draining the Pond, after first relocating the fish, and removing some 30 yards of silt. Next we made repairs in the stone walls to eliminate the leaks that had been keeping the water level low.  Several plants were relocated and a new path was built up to a large gravel area near the stone lantern. Some of the stepping stones were also reset. Our hope is that it will make the area much more accessible to all as well as opening up the views from that area. Perhaps next winter we will be able to take on the other side of the garden.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that I will be taking a brief sabbatical of 5 months.  After 20 years here (thanks to all for the wonderful recognition lunch!)I’m going to spend the summer walking around the mountains of Alaska and Washington.  I leave the Garden in the more than capable hands of our wonderful staff, Marcia High and Giles Morrish, and I know that all of you will give them your full support.

I’ll be back in October planning on at least another 10 years working at this wonderful place.  I’m so fortunate to have a job that I still look forward to coming to every morning that the years simply fly by.

   Don Brooks, Senior Gardener

Spring Plant Sale, Saturday, May 3, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The foundation’s first Plant Sale was held back in 1991.  Each year we learn something new and useful and can confidently announce that the 2008 sales will be the best ever.  Offering many plants similar to those found at Kubota Garden, surprise donations by friends of the garden, trees, shrubs, and perennials, this sale will delight you with low prices and high quality.  Knowledgeable plant advisors will be available and foundation member Jesslyn Howgate has assembled a fine reference library for the sale. Foundation merchandise will be available as well as the famous cookbook “A Cook’s Tour of Kubota Garden.”

Volunteers will work at the nursery on weekdays from 9 a.m. To 1 p.m. beginning on April 22.  There is work suitable for everyone so please consider stopping by to lend a hand.  Weeding, arranging plants, labeling, identifying mystery plants, designing displays ... It all needs to be done and the volunteers have a good time doing it.  Volunteers are also needed to staff all aspects of the sale itself.  Call Chairperson Rusty Llewellyn at 206 725 5060 to volunteer for sale day work.

If you have extra plants please consider donating them to the nursery.  Just dig them with some soil and put them in a plastic sack with the green exposed.  Please include a note saying what they are and who you are.  If you leave them by the nursery door near the Maintenance Office, the volunteers will pot them up for the next sale.  This is good for you, good for the sale, good for the foundation, good for Kubota Garden and good for the gardeners who take home bargain plants to beautify homes and neighborhoods.

Volunteer Recognition, The Board says "Thank You"
On Monday, May 16, 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. the Board of Trustees of the foundation is sponsoring a barbecue at the garden to honor all of our volunteers.  If you have volunteered at the garden at any time, and if you have not already been contacted by mail, phone or e-mail, please contact Jean Hobart at 425-271-0371. Jean will give you all the information and an invitation.

From "Bob Weisenbach"; Subject:  Good news...
Tomorrow morning Seattle Parks will dig the trench for the next 158 feet of wall.

Chris Burdge and I have been busy talking to the training program folks at  Seattle Central Community College about working on the ornamental wall project. They have started on the first section of roof (15 feet long) to see how that goes. Another group has committed to building the footing for the next 158 feet of wall sometime around the middle of April. They have also asked us to identify a list of our projects that they might be able to help us build--very exciting times.

In the meantime the Masons Apprenticeship program has committed to building the next 158 feet of wall this year and we have a donation for all the mortar they will use. It also appears we are only a few days from having a commitment to getting a donation for the entire concrete block that we will need for the project.

We do not have the material costs yet associated with these projects. As soon as we have these costs we will be e-mailing the Foundation Board for their approval.

Bob Weisenbach, Design Committee

 Long Range Planning - 2008 
In February 2008, a stalwart band of folks came together once again with the express purpose of planning for the future of both the Garden we love and the Foundation that was created more than two decades ago to preserve, protect  and enhance our "hidden treasure."

This is the fourth time the Long Range Plan has been updated since the initial plan was created back in 1995.  And this time around, there has been great enthusiasm for and welcoming of the process. The energetic and earnest efforts of the dozen or so Board members who have chosen to get and stay involved from beginning to end have helped to create a plan that will serve both the Foundation and the Garden through 2010.

We were especially grateful that head gardener Don Brooks participated in the session concerning the maintenance and operations and the planning and development of the Garden.  The contributions of the Design Committee were also a key factor in getting these most important parts of the plan "right."

As in years past, credit goes to all the people who have chosen to be involved in the hard work of determining what we want for the future of the Garden and defining the what needs to be done to achieve our vision for 2010.

 Zee Straight-Weiss, Chair, Long Range Planning Committee

2008 Garden Tours
Pass the word! Free Public Tours for 2008 are at 10 a.m. conducted by Many Anne Parmeter on the fourth Saturday: April 26, May 24, June 28, July 26, August 23, September 27 and October 25.  Reservations are not required.  The tour lasts about 1 hour and 45 minutes and offers historical and horticultural information about Kubota Garden. 

Private tours for eight or more visitors may be arranged by calling the foundation’s voice mail number at 206 725.5060. Please call three weeks before the desired tour date.

All tours are free of charge and are provided by Kubota Garden Foundation volunteers.

 2008 Adopt-A-Park Work Party Dates
Every third Saturday, April through October, volunteers gather at Kubota Garden to do hands on work under the direction of the professional gardening staff.   They plant, weed, deadhead, prune, pot up volunteer plants, whatever is needed.  The work starts at 8 A.M. and stops at noon but you are welcome to join at any time.    Treats and tools are provided. If you would like a reminder e-mail, please leave that information on the foundation’s voice mail number 206 725.5060.  Work Party Coordinator Alison Snow will make sure you get a reminder.  The 2008 dates are May 17, June 21, July 19, August 16, September 20 and October 18.

 Denny Award Given to Jean Hobart:
Seattle Parks gives the yearly Denny Award to outstanding volunteers in recognition of their efforts in support of Seattle’s public spaces.  On November 13, 2007, Jean Hobart received the Denny Award in recognition of her years of volunteer work for Kubota Garden.  Jean is a founding member of the foundation, a long time board member and has contributed to all aspects of the foundation’s support of the garden. All who have worked with her over the years felt that this award was richly deserved. Here is a selection from her remarks at the presentation event:

Thank you.  I accept this honor not for myself but for the Kubota Garden Foundation and for all the people who have worked to make Kubota Garden.

The first honor must go to Fujitaro Kubota who thought that a proper garden should be twenty acres.  Starting with five acres in 1927 he persisted in his vision, buying additional properties, bit by bit, until he had his twenty acres.

When the property was put up for sale in the mid 80’s, neighbors of the garden, Rainier Valley Community Groups and garden lovers across the city went into action.  Honors to them for persistently advocating for the garden.  Honors too to the City Council who decided to purchase the property for the city in 1987.

Honors to the Parks department for two things: for hiring our one and only Head gardener, Don Brooks and for the partnership that the foundation and the department have maintained. It really is a cooperative working relationship, pooling money, materials and labor until the goal is reached.

Honors to the group of people who in 1989 started the Foundation as a “friends group.” They were community activists, landscape students, neighbors, artists and garden lovers.  Together they built a good base and the board struggles to live up to their vision.

Honors to the Kubota Family.  They have maintained a strong presence on the board of the foundation and remind us of the vision of Fujitaro and his son, Tom Kubota. 

Next to all the volunteers.  Some have more time available to help the garden than others but every hour they give is valuable and appreciated and adds to the garden.

Some Letters from Garden Visitors:
Thank you for the wonderful care given to the garden.

and

I recently spent two enjoyable hours walking through the Kubota Garden and viewing its diverse flora and landscaping.  I would like to thank the Volunteers and the Foundation, as well as the Seattle Parks Department, for their continuing efforts to maintain and upgrade the garden.  The Kubota Garden really is a treasure.

and

Hi, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed my visit this morning - the garden was sparkling after the previous night’s rain.  I brought a friend whose last visit to Kubota Garden was in 1987.  He could not believe the transformation.  Thank you to the gardeners for their sensitive work and thank you to the foundation for its on- going support.  Keep up the good work!

2007 Tour Report:
In spite of a slow start we ended up with 40 scheduled tours.  May was a quiet month (only 8 tours compared with our usual 15 or 16) but summer and fall requests were double the previous year.  Our busiest day was the October visit of members of the National Parks and Recreation Association.  Two groups with about 40 people in each group were ushered around the garden and had their questions answered.  They seemed most interested in the volunteer aspects of the foundation and in the uniqueness of the garden as a public space.  Linda Fricke, Rusty Llewellyn, Jean Hobart and Joe Toynbee were happy to share their knowledge and love of the garden.  Jacquinot Weisenbach sold foundation merchandise and was so happy to collect money.

Thanks as always to our wonderful guides.  In addition to the above guides are Lois Griswold, Mary Anne Parmeter, Katie Tamada and Ann Wiltse.  They are wonderful garden ambassadors.  They rarely say no to a tour and always remember to send in their tour reports.  We are indeed fortunate to have such dedicated volunteers.

Jean Hobart, Tour Coordinator

P.S. We need more guides.  Give me a call at 725 5060.

2008 Sword Fern Work Party:   Another Big Success
Saturday, March 15 at 9 a.m.. (rainless!) saw twenty-four folks gathered, full of energy, determination and with a single purpose.  They were armed and ready to clear the old weathered fronds from the garden’s many many Sword Ferns. What a tremendous effort! Thanks to good preparation by the garden staff and clear direction by staff member Giles Moorish, we were able to move swiftly, make huge piles of fronds and go onto new areas untouched last year.  Many of us noticed that it was an easier task this year than in 2007.  This may be due to the new fronds being still in tight bud, but more likely it was easier because of the good clean up we did a year ago.  We only had one year’s growth to cut, not the detritus of several years.

Ursula Haigh and Mary Anne Parmeter provided home baked goodies for our snack.  Big thanks to them and to all the volunteers.  Consider yourself hired for next year, third Saturday, March 2009.

Our stellar 2008 crew:Ellie Adman, Lacia Bailey, Peggy Baille, Amy Bryant, Steve Erickson, Kitty Fujino, Phyllis Grant, Jean Hobart, Suzanne James, Frank Klievier, Richard Knight, Gwenda Llewellyn, Rusty Llewellyn, Dean Logen, Karin Logen, Keith Mastenbrook, Mary Anne Parmeter, Greg Posick, Susan Roberts, Ib Rosen, Jan Schlichting, Hongyan Stewart, Alison Snow, Brianna Snow and Sharlene Welsh.

Jean Hobart, KGF Board Member

Ginkgo Trees:
I have resisted my impulse to save this article for the Fall newsletter because I hope to call your attention to the beauty and strangeness of the Ginkgo tree throughout the year.  There are three prominent Ginkgoes at Kubota Garden and two new trees are planted next to the Maintenance Building. I am a great fan of the Ginkgo and as I watched the trees last fall I realized that each was behaving in a unique way.  Each branch structure, summer color, time of leaf out, fall color, time of leaf fall, was unique to each tree. The unique fan shaped leaf, split into one or many lobes, flutters in the slightest wind and the color is glorious.  I first fell in love with the Ginkgo on a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home and Studio in Oak Park, Illinois.  The tree fills the entire courtyard with great bending branches which then sweep up to tower over the house.  It was probably 20 years old when the house was built in 1889 and  Wright, with his discerning eye, decided to build his home around it.

Strangeness: to begin with, there is the name.  The European plant explorer Kaempfer scrambled his letters back in 1691 and identified the tree as ‘Ginkgo”.  It should be “Ginkyo” which in Japanese means “Silver Apricot” because of the silvery sheen on the fruit.  In 1771 Linnaeus added the specie name of biloba to designate the two lobbed flat leaf.  Everyone I know calls the tree “Gingko” which is easier to say and closer to the correct name anyway. 

The Ginkgo tree is called a living fossil because it is found in the fossil record from about 270 million years ago. The fossil record gradually almost died out and the native tree is found only in a very small area in southeastern China.  Buddhist priests planted the trees near their temples and as Buddhism spread throughout the far East, the Gingko followed. There are some trees in China estimated to be 2,500 years old. As the paleobotanist, Sir Albert Seward (1938) remarks: "It appeals to the historic soul: we see it as an emblem of changelessness, a heritage from worlds too remote for our human intelligence to grasp, a tree which has in its keeping the secrets of the immeasurable past."

More strangeness: the leaf division is not consistent.  A handful of leaves will show no lobes, one lobe, 2 lobes, 4 lobes, and all from the same tree.  A Ginkgo tree is either male or female. The female does not fruit for 20 to 25 years and then produces an almond shaped fruit with a nut inside.  The nuts are considered a delicacy in the East however the rind smell is so foul that in the West cloned male trees are generally offered in the nursery trade. Botanically the tree occupies it’s own genus, the biloba is the only Ginkgo there is today.  Ginkgo is considered to be related to the conifers, except by those botanists who consider it to be closer to the cycads.  It is truly unique.

At Kubota Garden, you will find a slender Ginkgo standing all by itself on the lawn next to the big lantern.  From year to year it does not seem to grow much and is a lovely clear light yellow gold in the fall.  It is a gentle exclamation point. Our star tree is the large, voluptuous lady tree at the southern end of the Tom Kubota Stroll Garden.  In the fall this tree turns an incandescent gold color with maroon undertones.. The gardeners are careful to sweep up the fruit because as long as the flesh is not bruised by foot traffic, it is not objectionable. Don Brooks dug this tree years ago in a plant nursery.  It was dug on a cold wet winter day and the tree was sitting in a hole full of water.  Someone had to get in the hole and chain it up.  Don did and today Kubota has a truly spectacular tree; to walk under it on a bright fall day is to wonder at the beauty of creation. The third tree, slender and tall, is hiding near the Spruce Sea on the upper road.  Since it is situated against taller green trees it is easy to miss until it colors in the fall.  At the Maintenance Center, two new trees of the variety “Magyar” are amusing in their symmetry.  They are twins and seem very well behaved.

Named variety ginkgoes are usually male trees and they are the ones usually planted.  This avoids the mess of the fruit but there is concern in the botanical world that scorning the girls means shrinking the genetic variety in the population. Gingko is on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Plants.

All the books will tell you that the Ginkgo drops all of its leaves at once: one day you see a golden tree and the next day a golden carpet.  I have observed that this is sometimes true and sometimes not.  I do think that each Ginkgo tree writes its own rules.       

Last Fall I found the brilliance of the tree by the Tom Kubota Stroll Garden to be unsettling. It was electric.  There was something of danger in it; it seemed a visitation from another sphere.  In my research for this article I found this poem by Howard Nemerov, Poet Laureate of the United States in 1988.  He loved to walk along an alee of Ginkgoes and I think his poem expresses the power of these unique trees.

The Consent

 Late in November, on a single night

Not even near to freezing, the Ginkgo trees

That stand along the walk drop all their leaves

In one consent, and neither to rain nor to wind

But as though to time alone: the golden and green

Leaves litter the lawn today, that yesterday

Had spread aloft their fluttering fans of light.

What signal from the stars? What senses took it in?

What in those wooden motives so decided

To strike their leaves, to down their leaves,

Rebellion or surrender? and if this

Can happen thus, what race shall be exempt?

What use to learn the lessons taught by time,

If a star at any time may tell us: Now.

Poem by Howard Nemerov from "The Western Approaches", 1975

2007 Kubota Garden Foundation Officers
 Rusty Llewellyn, President
Marguerite Russell, Vice-President
Phyllis Grant, Treasurer
Mary Anne Parmeter, Secretary
Jeff Izutsu , Historian
Zee Straight-Weiss and Linda Dupuis-Fricke, Past Presidents
 

Georgia Kinkade, Web Master

 Foundation Voice Mail Telephone: 206 725-5060