tree

fuzei gardens

& tree service ltd.

+ 403 931 3817

edzard@fuzei.com

based in Millarville, Alberta offering service across Canada

photo at left:

Y residence, lower deck completely enclosed by a forest atmosphere as a privacy screen, cooling device, and humidity net. Railing is 1” steel in a screen pattern from Souchou China

photo far left: forest path overhanging with maples that leads to a teahouse hottub with a lakeside view and boat pier.

at immediate left: Edzards’ pine at the Nikka Yuko garden, Lethbridge Alberta. Continual maintenance by Al White, (Lethbridge) and garden consultant Masa Mizuno of Portland Oregon

The Calgary Gardener Volume 2: Beyond the Basics,

photo at left is the same garden as the Woodland Garden, page 6, bottom left of spine taken by Liesbeth Leatherbarrow

The fascination of trees has always been at the core of our specialties, first with bonsai, imported from China and exporting trees to Japan. Somewhere in between Edzard Teubert began to practice as an ISA Certified Arborist, and through time spent in managing Japanese garden trees, ‘niwaki’, specialized in the development of plant and tree management strategies that apply tree health in conjunction with our appreciation of the beauty of nature and the health needs of mankind.

For example, the universal ability of trees to filter pollutants from the air we breathe while manufacturing our air is a constant universally understood principle and often applied in design.

However what is not seem universally understood or applied is that plants in close proximity of each other with overlapping canopies increase humidity levels allowing plants to secrete aroma from resins with the resultant benefits of ‘outdoor aroma therapy’. This experience has led to the discerning palette of plants we use and how we use them; what we do with them in planning the long term.

In Japan the idea of ‘experiencing the forest atmosphere’, shinrin-yoku, during which time breathing resins while ‘hiking’ in the humid forest has shown medical results that increase immune NK levels as well as reducing stress through chemical alterations in the body.

Therefore adapting Japanese techniques is not by accident. Over the years we have come to understand that the realization of a crafted space generates many practical life altering benefits for our clients that we feel need to be adapted for urban locations in Canada, not just Japan.

The shape that trees and shrubs are given within planting patterns maximizes their benefits as well as subconsciously altering and redirecting the client’s inner responses and processes. To be more specific in one area of interest: tree location alters airflow for summer cooling and winter warming as well as air filtration. Tree location also provides subconscious clues of way finding or ‘how to find ones way’ on a path through trees as compared to a path lined with trees. This reversal of thought has direct bearing on the formality or informality of approach. An oblique entry approach shrouded with trees with welcoming shrubs in softly rounded shapes is gentler than the direct approach on an avenue. We ask which came first: did trees grow and a path wends its way through the forest, or did the path exist first allowing the trees to line the avenue?

The organization of plant material around specific locations instills responses that soothe or invigorate, give direction or indicate stopping ‘here’. Naturally these designed responses are accentuated when well maintained.

To maximize the benefits of a forest atmosphere, trees and shrubs are planted in competition and succession. This is also for long-term reduction of maintenance costs, as trees and shrubs are in competition with each other for nutrients, water and root space. Canopies interweave, yet do not touch to reduce fire fuel hazards.

When branches do touch, the rubbing is to provide a specific sound that soothes or reminds ones memory of another place another time, a mnemonic message to memory synapses that aid in long term memory.

The result of this reversal from commonly advised practice is conscious, as the basis of planting far apart to allow for maximum growth is so that plants will achieve their maximum growth. This is an arboretum planting approach and if the size of ones property or landed base is a park, then we would recommend the arboretum planting approach,

however, for attempting to reduce maintenance costs in smaller spaces where large trees become hazards, mindful planting density achieves natural reduction and lowered maintenance costs.

And, mindful planting density sequesters humidity that releases aroma from trees, shrubs and ground-covers for healthier living.

Should anyone question mindful denser planting, invite him or her to take a walk through a forest and experience the denseness of upper growth canopies with slender trunks that are open, with a varied dense understory growth.

Or an excursion to our water runoff coulees, even they are densely populated with willow, alder and significant undergrowth that offers significant plant diversity. And the aroma is different, the feeling this nature offers is different, and the final result of feeling relaxed refreshed, will enable the vision that forest growth is possible to create even within ones own property.

fuzei gardens & tree service ltd. + 403 . 931.3817 edzard@fuzei.com cell 403.861.6080