Yugi Yoshimura

now in retrospect, i can't believe the amazingly good fortune i had, to have worked at the New York Botanical Garden when i did. i was surrounded by people who were the top in there respective fields. Some, the leading authorities in the world!! i remember asking Arthur Cronquist questions about botany!! That was like being able to ask Babe Ruth about playing baseball. if i had questions about ferns i could ask John Mickel!! I had the NYBG library to peruse at lunchtime and after work. It was unbelievable the resources i had while at NYBG. At the time, and still today, i was madly interested in pruning miniature trees, Bonsai. I took Yugi Yoshimura's classes at NYBG and realized that he knew. He knew how to do that thing that would make miniature trees hold poses like still photographs of dancers in mid step. and i couldn't get enough of him. i attended presentations and lectures he gave at NYBG, took all his classes. joined the bonsai society where he would give demonstrations. i would stop to chat and ask questions whenever i ran into him on the grounds or at the conservatory. i often wondered if he thought i was stalking him. Apparently not, he seemed very pleased by my enthusiasim and was as excited to share his knowledge as i was to seek it. Yugi was one of the first bonsai masters to introduce bonsai to the united states back in the 1950's. He passed on in 1997. While going thru my older bonsai books about a year ago, i found this post it stuck onto the first page of John Nakas bonsai techniques volume one. It has a lot of meaning for me and so i framed it. Its a note Yugi gave me stuck onto an article in the New York Times he wanted me to read.

Bob Weber- Bob the tree god

Bob Weber is in the middle, Chris Roddick to the left, and me. this picture was taken in 1997 judging by the date stamp in the bottom right corner. The year before i had gone down to North Carolina to work in the cleanup of hurricane fran. Bob had organized a bunch of climbers from around the country to lead 4-man tree crews. each crew had a climber, skid steer operator, crane operator, ground guy, and a monitor from the army corp of engineers. this was one of my favorite experiences doing tree work. it was like going away to war for tree climbers. we would travel from town to town encountering horrific tree disasters. tall pine trees half uprooted towering precariously over peoples homes. multiple trees piled on top of homes. all the fallen trees under tension. one wrong cut and your saw would get pinched or worse yet you would unleash a log under tension , which is the equivalent of playing with dynamite. situation after situation of the tree removal scenarios usually encountered only once or twice a year. 2 0r 3 a day, day after day. we would work from morning till night, no days off. 7 days a week. staying in dinky little motels. we would all meet after work to eat and exchange war stories. i had never worked with cranes before and a lot of what i was doing was the first time. i was excited as hell, like a kid at camp. for Bob, all the complicated rigging scenarios were just business as usual. people began refering to "Bob the tree god".

Travis Wolf/brooklyn botanic garden conservatory

Travis Wolf pruning indoors at Brooklyn Botanic Garden Conservatory. Travis works with my pal Chris Roddick at BBG. they are the two staff arborists there.

Erwin Vermuyten/tree work in New York city

just about every year or so i get the privilege of hosting a climber from overseas. usually they are here for the tree climbing competitions. every one so far has been an inspiring and fortunate experience. this last year was no exception. Erwin was the Belgium chapter champion for 2009 and our mutual pal Bob Weber arranged for us to meet at the competition being held in Rhode island. Erwin stayed with me for a few weeks to work and check out New York. went out to the west coast to travel up route one and see the giant trees over there. came back for another week or so. I have yet to meet a tree climber from overseas who wasn't just fantastic to spend time with. Erwin was such a great person. then of course, there was all the brilliant ideas and techniques he shared with me. as well, rather isolated as i am here in the states doing tree work. what a pleasure to work with people who are passionate about trees and tree climbing. I have my employees, but besides them tree people in the states don't mingle and travel to work with different companies like they do in europe. for the most part. in fairness though the situation over there is a bit different regarding tree work though. i have met lots of fantastic tree people from the states over the years at conferences, workshops etc., but, unfortunately the american tree work mechanism just isn't setup in a way that encourages interaction between colleagues much. i am myself entrenched in that 'work mechanism' unfortunately.

Erwin Vermuyten/ Yonkers NY

japanese garden pruning workshop

Doug Roth, publisher of 'Sukiya living' formerly 'The Journal of Japanese Gardening' a bi-monthly publication, and Tamao Goda art director for Sukiya living . they are the instructors for this workshop given every year on Japanese garden pruning. of all my educational experiences/worshops, seminars, lectures etc., this is my absolute favorite. this workshop entails pruning in a subject matter which is one of the most gratifying pleasures for me in this life. I swear, i must have been a pruning shear in a japanese garden somewhere, in a past life. please google sukiya living to find out more about Doug and Tamao, they are a most excellant resource for all things Japanese Garden.

shaping pine

i don't know if you can tell, but the ladder is in water. this pine was surrounded by water which made it a bit challenging to prune, as i would have to walk over to the opposite shore to veiw where my pruning was going.

shaping pine

i worked on this tree 2 times in two different years, this was my favorite. hopefully i can see it again to see how its come along. or better yet, get to work on it again.

Yuki Nara-aesthetic pruning expert/japanese maple pruning specialist

I met Yuki at Doug Roths japanese garden pruning workshop. Yuki is a specialist in pruning Japanese maples. She is based in San Fransisco and teaches aesthetic pruning at the Merritt college in Oakland, California. Her website is wayofmaple.com. I was lucky enough to lure her into spending a day working with me while she was visiting in New York. It was very interesting and educational for me to watch her work and then later to study what she had done in the trees. as well, it was so comforting and inspirational to talk with her about our passions for pruning. Comforting because it was good to know i wasn't alone or weird in my compulsive obsessiveness regarding aesthetic pruning. Maybe i shouldn't regard it as compulsive obsessiveness...maybe we can just say its bliss.

Arborist/Mike Orsino

When i first learned how to climb trees i eventually become efficient enough to apply for the climber/arborist position at NYBG. I got the job and became the newbie climber working with Mike Orsino who was already NYBG climber/arborist for a few years at that time. Mike had already 20 years of experience, climbing during his college years then for almstead tree co., a short stint doing his own tree service then arborist at the Bronx zoo. eventually landing at NYBG. In retrospect, i couldn't have planned a better sequence towards becoming a climber/arborist. Mike was the perfect teacher. he was buddha-like in his ability to teach a person like myself inspite of my countless personal obstacles. for one, i had a fear of heights. his solution, he would prune trees to the maximum reach of a 60' aerial lift then have me climb out of the bucket to prune the remaining height of the tree. he would calmly say to me 'you sure thats the best way to do that' as i was about to make a disastrous mistake. i often say if you were in the midst of some end of the world catastrope, Mike Orsino is the person you would want next to you. i would often think to myself, this guy is like a super hero out of a movie script. calm in the midst of chaos, unbelievable ability to respond in a split-second no matter what the situation. sharp as a tack and unshakeable. where he appeared in my education as a climber/arborist can only be described as a gift from the universe. mike is currently grounds manager at the Burke rehabilitation center in westchester and about 2 years ago won the new york state climbing competition while in his fifities. unbelievable.