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Japan?EUR??,,????'?????<
At a family nursery on the Kings River near Sangor, Calif., Dr. Kikuo Taira tended his own ume grove.
By the early 1990s his trees needed a new home, so Taira donated them to Fresno?EUR??,,????'?????<
The ume trees were given a site in an undeveloped portion of the 4.5-acre park adjacent to the parking lot. Because the area lacked sidewalks or other amenities, the freshly-planted grove was fenced off and not accessible to the public. There the 80 trees spent their first years in isolation, with their spectacular winter show only visible through a chain-link fence.
Even without publicity, the trees attracted a following. Park volunteers (along with Paul Saito, the Shinzen Garden?EUR??,,????'?????<
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The Taira Ume Grove opened its redwood gate in 2002. Appropriately, it is located adjacent to the Shinzen Garden?EUR??,,????'?????<
Located in Fresno, Calif.?EUR??,,????'?????<
In 1968, organizers arranged for Fresno-area landscape designer Kodo Matusbara to design the garden. Matusbara would eventually design the garden?EUR??,,????'?????<
In October, 1975, ground was broken with a ceremony presided over by a Shinto priest. Work progressed over the next five years, with workers moving close to 30,000 cubic yards of earth to create hills and rolling terrain. A total of 600 tons of granite boulders were purchased from a quarry near Yosemite National Park, soil-cement paths were set, and 550 trees and 700 shrubs were planted. All was then ready for the opening?EUR??,,????'?????<
The garden opened in May of 1981. The ceremony saw the planting of a Japanese black pine near the front gate?EUR??,,????'?????<
Japan and California have similar climates in terms of temperature variation, which means many plants can grow in both places. Low humidity is one factor that can keep Japanese plants out of Fresno?EUR??,,????'?????<
The garden is arranged in a horseshoe shape and is divided into four quadrants dedicated to each season of the year. In 2001, park volunteers raised more than $70,000 to replace soil cement paths with textured and colored concrete ones that are ADA compliant. The rest of the park features trees and plants that are grouped by season. The spring portion, for example, is filled with camellias, azaleas, daffodils, forsythia, flowering cherry and crabapple. Deciduous trees offer foliage and shade in the summer section. The fall section shows off trees of dramatic autumn foliage?EUR??,,????'?????<
The garden has overcome many obstacles in its quarter century of existence?EUR??,,????'?????<
Despite the damage, Saito and other park boosters have a bright future to look forward to. In accordance with a park vision dating from the late 1960s, Shinzen Friendship Garden wants to bring in a restaurant that will offer fine views of the grounds. (The city will lease the land and reap sales tax from the operation.) When built two or three years from now, the garden will add night lighting along the pathways. Assuming they?EUR??,,????'?????<
Visit Fresno, Calif.?EUR??,,????'?????< www.shinzenjapanesegarden.org
Admiring flowers while walking, eating and drinking with friends is a traditional Japanese way to enjoy nature. In Japan, the annual outings known as hanami include not only cherry blossom viewing in spring but also other types of plants. Ume (Japanese plum) flowers and narcissus that bloom earlier than cherry blossoms; peonies, irises, and azaleas flowering from spring to summer; and bush clovers, chrysanthemums, and other autumnal flowers all beckon people to the outdoors.
The changing colors of leaves each autumn also offer an opportunity for hanami (seasonal plant viewing) because observing the beautifully tinged leaves is similar to viewing colorful blossoms. And plants are not the only subject Japanese people appreciate in this way. The Japanese feel the same emotion in the chirping of crickets or other musical insects and in viewing the moon and snow?EUR??,,????'?????<
The Kansai region (in central Japan, east of Kochi) features an abundance of famous hanami locations. Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto, the Tsukigase Ume Orchard in Nara, and the Nanbu Ume Orchard in Wakayama are time-honored sites for viewing ume blossoms. For cherry blossoms, Arashiyama in Kyoto and Yoshino, are two locations that have been popular for almost a millennium. And Minoo Park, Osaka, is famous for its autumn leaves.
Events and customs for admiring the seasonal variety of nature are characteristically reflected in cherry blossom viewing. Hanami is said to have evolved from parties held amid plum groves at the palaces of Chinese emperors. After hanami?EUR??,,????'?????<
Ume was a plant introduced from China. In time, poems on ume came to be replaced by poems about the native cherry blossoms that grow in the wilds of Japan?EUR??,,????'?????<
The oldest record of a blossom viewing party describes that held by Emperor Saga at the Shinsen-en Garden in Kyoto in 812. Because of its long history, hanami is deeply rooted in Japanese society and widely accepted as a form of mass culture encompassing all walks of life. This aspect of Japanese culture, the appreciation of nature in every possible way, is the product of Japan?EUR??,,????'?????<
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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