The word is getting out about our GRO (Garden Revitalization Opportunity) Program which is helping our donations to exceed $46,000. The Oakland Tribune and some of the other East Bay Times publications carried a story recently about the Bonsai Garden and its GRO fundraiser. You can read about it by clicking here.

David Thompson, the gentleman who donated the cedar from the Pan Pacific Exposition earlier this year, passed away recently. In his obituary, his family asked that donations be given to the Bonsai Garden in lieu of flowers. His friends have been very generous in their donations to the Garden. You can read about his life here.

We have recently expanded our donations drive to include Commemorative engraved bricks that individuals, clubs or businesses can purchase. The bricks will be installed as part of the new Garden pathway paving project that will begin immediately after the Autumn Lights Festival on Monday, October 23, 2017. For more information about the Brick Fundraiser Drive, please click here.

Speaking of the Autumn Lights Festival, this year will have even more lights to engage our vast audience of visitors which numbered nearly 10,000 last year despite the rain. Our theme this year is butterflies in support of the Park at Lake Merritt’s program to support butterflies and keep them from becoming an endangered species. If you are interested in finding out more about the Autumn Lights Festival, please visit http://www.autumnlightsoakland.com/ULaQZ/. If you haven’t seen the Bonsai Garden lit for this Festival, you are in for a treat. You can see our progress with the GRO project at the same time.