I recently had the privilege of presenting our future plans for the the BGLM to the East Bay Bonsai Society (EBBS). The club booked the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt (BGLM) for their June meeting and requested a short talk about our plans for the Garden along with a tour. The members arrived in the early evening and were greeted by refreshments furnished by the Club. Once appetites were satisfied, Bob Gould and Janice Dilbeck took the group of several dozen on an expansive Garden tour.

Many club members are volunteers and some were new members who had not visited the Garden previously. All enjoyed the tour and the changes to the Garden that were mentioned to them. They liked the nameplates on the trees and the shade cloths but mostly they loved the bonsai on display and in the reserve.

After an hour of food and touring, they returned to the Workshop for a brief meeting and an overview of the future of the Garden. I used of a simple diagram made up of three circles inside a box (see the chart) to illustrate how our programs work together.

1. The center circle represents the Garden itself including the Bonsai and the Facilities that house the collection. Some of the plans for bonsai development were discussed during the tour. The plans for improving the facilities like adding more shade cloths were presented.
2. The second circle addresses our most valuable assets, our volunteers. Without our dedicated volunteers who built and maintain the Garden and its collection and now greet our visitors, we would not have the BGLM. We are always in need of more volunteers and one way to have trained volunteers is to develop our own by starting a bonsai school – the Shaner School of Bonsai. If you are interested in learning more about the Shaner School send us on the Feedback page.
3. The third circle encompasses those who visit the Garden. Our efforts to attract more visitors are three fold. First, we would like to host more clubs in our area who would like to hold a meeting at the Garden to help club members experience the Garden in new ways. Second, we are doing more community outreach like having a table at the local farmers market to invite our neighbors to visit the Garden. Third, we created a membership program so we could invite our visitors to return to the Garden and participate in events we have planned.
4. The square around the outside represents the museum framework that we will use to manage our development of the Garden. We will seek Museum Certification in the coming months to provide validity to our efforts and greater legitimacy for the Garden as a museum. We will seek additional Grants from organizations that support museums. We are members of the California Association of Museums (CAM) which helps us network with other museums both locally and nationally. We hope to participate the Museum Assessment Program (MAP) which will help us gain an outside professional’s perspective on the way we manage our Garden and our assets as well as plan for our future.

The goal for the future of the Garden can best be summed up in three words – Vital, Sustainable, and Fun. The Garden must be Vital to the bonsai community in order to be a worthwhile investment. The Garden must be Sustainable so that it can survive for years and generations to come. The Garden must be Fun in order to attract volunteers and visitors alike.

Please join us in creating a brighter future for the Garden. Bring your club for a truly fun evening with us. Contact us on the Feedback page with some dates and times that work for you, and we will be happy to accommodate your schedule. Thanks for supporting the future of the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt.