Pruning Program

GJG is thrilled to announce its Pruning Program taught by professional aesthetic pruners.

The pruning program is designed for gardeners and landscape professionals interested in pruning for the health of a plant and aesthetics of the plant and landscape, while advancing your pruning and plant knowledge and skills.

Each course focuses on different aspects of pruning in regards to different plant material. See below. Check back often. New courses are added all the time.

Fall/Winter Courses

Pine Pruning for Character: Saturday, October 14th, 12pm-2pm: $45

Watch Laura unlock the hidden character of a pine tree by removing unnecessary branches and needles, both for the aesthetics and the health of the pine tree. Laura will prune in the niwa methond on black, white, and shore pines on Tsuru Island.

This workshop is in person at the Gresham Japanese Garden.

Learn from Laura Dufala, about the pruning for character in the Fall and then pine maintenance in the Spring.

Laura Dufala

Laura Dufala has been in the nursery business for over 40 years working with Iseli’s Nursery for five years, and then with a local high-end retail nursery for 25 years. Meanwhile, she and her husband Tom, own and operate a niché cloud-pruned pine tree nursery in Boring, Oregon.

Laura is also experienced in bonsai, and aesthetic pruning of maples and other landscape plant material.

Structural Pruning Upright Japanese Maples: Saturday, November 18th, 12:30pm – 2:30pm

This course is offered when the Japanese maples have lost their leaves and they are in silhouette. It’s the best time to see the structure of your upright maples. In this course with instructor Lincoln Proud, we will focus on the fundamentals of pruning as it pertains to this variety of tree. The class will begin with a short lecture on basic botany and growth habits of upright maples.

After the short lecture, students will go into the garden where Lincoln will prune various upright maple and teach how the fundamentals are applied in various circumstances. And, how can you apply this information to your own maple trees.

There will be time at the end of the course for questions and answers.

Lincoln Proud: Instructor

Lincoln has a wide background in horticultural and garden experience that spans many styles and climates. His formal training took place at Longwood Gardens where he completed the Professional Gardener training program. Since then he has studied in Japan and worked at many gardens including the Portland Japanese Garden, a private estate in Texas, as well as the Boyce Thompson Southwest Arboretum and Wallace Desert Garden in Arizona. Most recently Lincoln is involved at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden and now the Gresham Japanese Garden.

Fundamentals of Pruning, on Zoom: Thursday, December 7th, 6-8pm

In the Fundamentals of Pruning course students will learn more than just how to make cuts and shape plants within the landscape. Topics discussed will range from why we prune, what tools should be used, and even some basic plant biology—all of which form the foundation and provide the necessary background knowledge needed to prune woody plants correctly. After covering these synergistic topics, the course will discuss how to approach a variety of plants found in landscapes.

Zoom courses are recorded and available for two weeks after the course date.

Lincoln Proud: Instructor

Lincoln has a wide background in horticultural and garden experience that spans many styles and climates. His formal training took place at Longwood Gardens where he completed the Professional Gardener training program. Since then he has studied in Japan and worked at many gardens including the Portland Japanese Garden, a private estate in Texas, as well as the Boyce Thompson Southwest Arboretum and Wallace Desert Garden in Arizona. Most recently Lincoln is involved at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden and now the Gresham Japanese Garden.

Winter Pruning Workshop, Hands-on Onsite: January 6th, 10am–4pm – $100

This hands-on pruning workshop will concentrate on pruning the Japanese maple trees; from vine maples to small and large acer palmatums. This workshop is designed for the intermediate pruner and taught by instructor, Francheska Snyder. The location is a Japanese garden at Vanport Manufacturing in Boring, Oregon. This garden was designed by Hoichi Kurisu.

The workshop will be limited to 12 participants for an optimal learning experience.

Work Site

We are always on the look-out for work sites. Take a look at the site requirements and if you think that you are a good fit, contact us at administrator@greshamjapanesegarden.org.

Fundamentals of Conifers: Thursday, February 8th, 6:00pm – 8:00pm – Zoom

In the Northwest, we know there is more to conifers than Christmas trees! Learn fundamental pruning techniques for your favorite conifers including Pines, Spruce, Hinoki and how to interpret cultivars. This class will help you feel comfortable making pruning decisions so you can enjoy your conifers even more.

There will be time at the end of the course for questions and answers.

Instructor, Maryann Lewis:

Maryann Lewis is an APA Certified Aesthetic Pruner® and a co-founder and past president of the Aesthetic Pruners Association. She began teaching in 2005 as an adjunct instructor at the Academy of Art San Francisco and in 2012 began teaching various aesthetic pruning classes with the Marin Master Gardeners Pruning Guild. Maryann was a guest instructor for the Fresno Central High School Agriculture Department in 2015 and was a lead instructor for two North American Japanese Garden Association pruning workshops in 2014 and 2015.

In 2022 she was one of three pruning instructors for the International Japanese Garden Training Center’s Waza to Kokoro seminar. Maryann has taught workshops and given presentations for the Aesthetic Pruners Association, the American Conifer Society, The Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita Oregon, the JM Winery in Woodinville Washington, and now the Gresham Japanese Garden.

Spring Courses

Spring Maintenance on Pines: Saturday, May 18th, 12pm-2pm: $45

Learn the niwa method of candling and needling to maintain cloud-prune aesthetics and keep a manageable size, and aesthetic focal point of your pines in a landscape.

This workshop is in person at Tsuru Island, Gresham Japanese Garden.

Bring your pruners just in case Laura lets you work on a pine.

Laura Dufala

Laura Dufala has been in the nursery business for over 40 years working with Iseli’s Nursery for five years, and then with a local high-end retail nursery for 25 years. Meanwhile, she and her husband Tom, own and operate a niché cloud-pruned pine tree nursery in Boring, Oregon.

Laura is also experienced in bonsai, and aesthetic pruning of maples and other landscape plant material.

Pruning Lace-leaf Maples for Character: Saturday, June 22nd, 12:30pm – 2:30pm

Many people care for maple trees on their property, especially lace-leaf maples. One of the most popular, Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Crimson Queen’.

In this pruning course, Lincoln Proud will focus on the fundamentals of pruning as it pertains to lace leaf maples. The class will begin with a short lecture on basic botany and growth habits as it pertains to lace-leaf maples in Gresham Japanese Garden’s newly remodeled Kyoudou Center. After the lecture students will walk down to the Japanese garden with Proud and learn how pruning fundamentals are applied to various circumstances of lace-leaf maples on Tsuru Island, and how to apply this information to your own trees.

There will be time at the end for questions and answers.

Lincoln Proud: Instructor

Lincoln has a wide background in horticultural and garden experience that spans many styles and climates. His formal training took place at Longwood Gardens where he completed the Professional Gardener training program. Since then he has studied in Japan and worked at many gardens including the Portland Japanese Garden, a private estate in Texas, as well as the Boyce Thompson Southwest Arboretum and Wallace Desert Garden in Arizona. Most recently Lincoln is involved at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden and now the Gresham Japanese Garden.

Workshop Cancellation Policy

We do not issue refunds on workshop registrations. 

If you register for a workshop and later become unable to attend, we will gladly offer a credit for your registration amount to use toward any future event if you notify us at least 24 hours before the workshop.

To cancel and request a credit, please email us at administrator@greshamjapanesegarden.com. Workshop credits are not redeemable for cash. Please note: Credits cannot be given for registrations for workshops hosted by visiting/ out of town instructors. Due to the nature of these one-time-only workshops, all events hosted by special guests are subject to this policy. Thank you for understanding!

In the event a class is cancelled or rescheduled due to inclement weather, or any incident where GJG or it’s instructors are at fault, you will receive a credit to take another class at a later date.

About Our Policy

Our workshops require a great deal of pre-planning, including ordering supplies and tools, booking staff, and making commitments to pay our instructors — all based on the number of students who register. In fairness to all of our customers we are unable to make exceptions to our policy, including for reasons of illness, travel, or work hours. If you are unable to attend a workshop at the last minute, we suggest giving your spot to a friend!

Thank you for understanding!

The GJG Team