The Drink Tank 019 (2005).pdf

The Drink Tank

Issue XIX

Bonfante Gardens: Where the Weird Trees Grow...

I love amusement parks and I love trees. There's a place in Gilroy

that combines the two in a way that I am just fascinated by. The

place is called Bonfonte Gardens, and it features some great botany.

You see, Bonfante Gardens is really based around one guy's lifetime

of work with trees. But these are not ordinary trees. These are

Circus trees!

In the 1920s, a fellow named Axel Erlandson started working with

trees. His technique, which is still not totally understood, was to get

trees to meld, to make strange shapes and forms. His first attempt

was to take four separate trees and graft them together into a single

tree. That was in 1925 and the tree is still alive and thriving today.

Axel first started his work in Hilmer, CA, nearish to Fresno. He then

moved them to a parcel of land in Santa Cruz County's beautiful city

of Scott's Valley. There was an amusement park there called Santa's

Village and another called The Lost World, or so such and the Circus

Trees fit right in on Highway 17. Sadly, after Axel's death in 1964, the trees were abandoned and

many of them died. This led to a grass roots effort to save them, which included trespassing to

water and feed them, and eventually got them purchased by Michael Bonfante for his planned

theme park

My mom said she wanted to take

me, The Little One and Gen out to

see the place. We got our passes

and headed in, passing the first of

the Circus Trees, simple hearts and

loops. The main entrance took you

through a thick grove of Sycamore

Trees that grew over the walk way.

Like most amusement parks, the

first thing you see when you've

made it through the entry is the

Carousal. This was a small one, brought up from LA,

but it's beautiful. The other thing we noticed, pretty

immediately, was that there was a huge event where all

the Mexican radio stations around San Jose came up

and had music and did live broadcasts. This was odd,

though I was hoping that I'd get to hear some Mariachi.

Alas, this did not happen. I've always said that my

wedding and my funeral will have one thing in

common: Mariachis playing Jethro Tull's Aqualung.

Happily, neither of those days was that Sunday.

Evelyn, being five, instantly wanted to go on the rides.

Most of the rides are agriculturally themed, so she

wanted to ride the Strawberry Ride first. Gen, a

strawberrholic, seemed to be dreaming of what she

could do with a berry the size of the ride cars.

Top Photo: The Four-Legged Giant

Middle: The Carousel (Evelyn is wearing

the pink sweats)

Bottom: A Dance Contest at one of the

Mexican Radio booths

The Drink Tank

Issue XIX

Surrounding the rides were huge numbers of plants. Flowers and

shrubs and trees and you name it. There was a ride where you went

into an artichoke and there were artichoke plants outside. A garlic

ride had garlic growing around it. The entire park incorporated the

horticulture instead of just making it dressing for the rides. The

effect was quite beautiful. After we rode the Strawberries, we

headed in and found the first amazing Circus tree. This one was

called The Basket Tree. Basically, it was six trees made into one

with 42 separate connections between them. This was a marvel.

Evelyn, far more interested in the ride beyond it, didn't even look at

it. Gen, who thinks my tree love makes me a dendraphile, looked

briefly and wandered on. I stared at the thing for a long

time, walking around to see all the different connections.

This tree was probably the most impressive in the park

when it came to placement (in the middle of a circle in a

high-traffic area) and very close to that level in

complexity. As you can see, the tree is supercomplex

and took nearly 10 years to complete as he had several

failed and half-succeeded attempts that were impressive

in their own right. We ate (deep fried foods that did a

number on my stomach) and then went on the water ride

that did nothing but take you past beautiful flower beds

and topiary work. This was gorgeous, but I think even I

had a hard time accepting that we waited 30 minutes to

ride.

As we got off the boats, we walked around. There was a beautiful pond with a series of waterfalls.

The whole thing made me wonder which was bigger: this pond with it's four waterfalls or the pool

at the Daugherty place in Henderson! It's gorgeous, and Evelyn didn't much like it. In fact, she

got grumpier and grumpier the longer we kept looking at the landscaping, as you can tell in the

photo below. This is a place designed for kids that can be difficult to take kids to.

The most interesting tree has to be the Oil Rig tree. It's in a bad location,

and it's not nearly as large as the Basket tree, but the number of loops,

grafts and the precision of it really made it my favourite. As you look at it, it

changes as you get different sides of it. The tram ride around it gave the

best look at the tree and the intricate work that

went into it. Sadly, only one of my photos of it

came out. I wondered if they ever did walk-

throughs for the seriously interested so that they

could get up close and personal with the tree

and perhaps talk with a Tree Curator (is there

such a thing?). I'd have loved to gotten a ten

minute talk and up-cloe look at this one, but it

wasn't in the cards.

Top: Evelyn and Gen on the Strawberries

Below that: The Basket Tree with my Mom and Evelyn

Left: The Oil Rig Tree

Right: A Grumpy Evelyn ('Stop looking at that tree!' she

said)

The Drink Tank

Issue XIX

We walked around and looked at things. Their tropical greenhouse,

called the Monarch Garden, was very nice, though I've been to far

more impressive ones, even this close to home. They did have a

number of butterflies in a cage, along with a few caterpillars that

were about to start their chrysalis development. They would be

released into the garden at the end of the day. They were really

beautiful, though they weren't monarchs.

The best ride had to be the train that took you around. Evelyn

liked it and I got my chance to look at a couple of

trees that were only visible from the train and all

the other plants. My mom liked it because she

didn't have to walk. After we got off again, I went

around and checked out the trees again. I had

no idea these were as cool as ther turned out to

be. I had seen them on TV once, back in 1997,

but seeing them was 100 times better.

We headed out right as The Little One hit her

wall. I was amazed by the trees and Evelyn had

a good time, even if she bratted-out towards the

end. I highly recommend taking in Bonfante

Gardens if you're in San Jose with a day to do

nothing but look at trees.

Follow-On: ArborSculpture

Now, Bonfante Gardens claims that the process of growing trees

like Erlandson did has been lost. I figured that was a load of hooey

when we drove out and there were small trees growing tied to an

arch of steel, forming a small tree arch. I started looking around

and there are a number of people working on tree sculptures

around the world.

Probably the best known of these ArborSculpturalists is Richard

Reams. He's an Oregonian who was inspired by a visit to the Tree

Circus as a child. In his spirit, he began creating trees in various

shapes. The trees that most impress me are the chairs and

benches. His works are amazing, and he seems to make works

that are more elegant than many of the Circus Trees, which are

grand scale events. It's like the Circus Trees are The Phantom of

the Opera while Reams' work is an Ibsen play.

The two most impressive international works seem to be from

Australia and Israel. The Australian trees are quite beautiful, right

up there with the Reams' stuff, but they also have a better eye for

decoration. Peter Cook has been growing trees like these for years

and has several pieces at the World Expo in Japan. Aharon Naveh

does pieces that are cruder in Israel, but they are also larger. His

works most remind me of the Circus Trees.

I'm impressed with all the work these folks have done. I hope I

get to see more of them over the years. I almost wanna go out and

start planting myself. I said almost.

The Drink Tank

Issue XIX

Comments and Complaints

Sent to garcia@computerhistory.org

By My Gentle Readers

Eric Mayer- http://www.journalscape.com/ericmayer

Hi,

Wow, I keep overlooking these Drink Tanks they pop up so fast. Some great stuff, particularly in

issue 15, the mythical comics fanzine and your dad. (A carny? Really? Sounds very interesting -

particularly if you aren't doing it probably...) As for him and Niekas...I'm not surprised someone

could think so highly of a particular fanzine. During several years of my life Donn Brazier's TITLE

was hugely important to me. I was variously aimlessly drifting through school and out of work,

with no discernable future, obviously out of step with the world (which had as little use for me as I

for it) but when TITLE arrived every month, filled with folks who seemed to value creativity and

literacy and shared my curiosity about things...not to mention didn't treat me and what I had to

say like dirt...well, that helped me get through some hard times.

Such is the joy of fanzines. It's odd, since my Dad was never closely involved with the

editors of fanzines or fanzine fandom, I didn't expect him to have formed such close ties

with a title. Then again, with my Dad, nothign is shocking. And he has some great stories

about his days with the games tents and almost getting fired for not using the 'fixes' on his

games more often.

Our society concentrates so much on whatever is *BIG*. Whatever appeals to the most people,

sells the most, is read by or watched by the most.

But the most important things in our lives are not measured that way.

Obviously people you know, for instance, however limited their fame, are more important to you

than celebrities. But the same can be true of art. Things that appeal only to a few may appeal

much more strongly to those few than any mass appeal stuff ever could. So to a few people a

fanzine can be a lot more important than the latest bestseller is to anybody.

Amen. There are some fanzines that will always have a place in my heart, Granfalloon for

example, and those places aren't really held by many books (though there are a couple of

novels that I can truly say helped change my life). A fanzine can be a powerful tool,

effective in a way most other media isn't due to the personal feel.

As for baseball...when I was a kid the most exciting day of the year (outside of Christmas) was

when the new Strat-O-Matic cards arrived in the mail. I have pretty much avoided computer

baseball games as potential time blackholes. One thing I have noticed when I've sampled them is

that at a certain point accuracy of simulation starts to detract (for me) from the fantasy quality. It

becomes a little too real somehow.

I love Stat-o-Matic cards. I have a bunch of them. There are a few really good simulators,

my fave being Baseball Mogul, but I can see what you're saying.

Have you run across SBS baseball?

http://sbs-baseball.com/

Very simple but cool freeware with practically every team, going back into the 1800s, plus a

growing library of minor league teams, Japanese teams etc. Not nearly as accurate as commercial

games but lots of room for imagination.

Eric

I can see that I am going to be spending a lot of time with this one. I love Japanese

Baseball, so this one is just about perfect.

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