The garden club was pleased to welcome Ryo Sugiyama to the October meeting to speak on ‘Nitobe Memorial Garden – A bridge across the Pacific and Japanese gardening. Ryo told members a little bit about his personal history. He obtained a degree in horticulture in Japan and came to North America in 2005 not really intending to stay. In 2010 he was offered the job of Curator of the Nitobe garden and has been there ever since. He is now settled with a family but still enjoys playing 45+ soccer.
He started his talk with a quick overview of some gardens in Japan and pointed out some differences between Japanese and Canadian gardens.
The Nitobi Memorial Garden is thought of a ‘Bridge across the Pacific Ocean’. The founder Imazo Nitobe was interested in World Peace and international cooperation and wanted to bring western culture to Japan and Japanese culture to Canada. In 1935 a very small Japanese garden was built at UBC but unfortunately Imazo Nitobe died soon after this. His friend Norman Mackenzie who was president of UBC from 1944 -62 carried on the initiative which resulted in the garden we know today. The present garden was designed by Kannosuke Mori and opened in 1960. It is 2 acres in size and contains special stone from Japan. It was renovated again in 1992 by Shunmyo Masuno.
Ryo, the 5th curator of the garden is keen to help visitors understand and enjoy Japanese garden culture.
Ryo talked about his first visit to the garden which was in fact closed but the curator of the time was just leaving work and gave him a personalized tour. Ryo walks around the garden daily and decides on tasks that need doing. He is the principal staff member with some help. Ryo then talked about Japanese garden techniques and the art of pruning with examples.