Central teens learn aesthetic pruning art

Surrounded by black pines and coastal redwoods, the teenagers and their instructors wind around the Shinzen Japanese Garden path to a far more delicate tree variety: Japanese maples.

A pair of them, each just a few feet tall with lacy red leaves, are planted along a bubbling stream inside the garden at Woodward Park in Fresno.

The 20 or so students from Central High School are learning about aesthetic pruning, an art form that involves clipping branches just so to reveal the tree’s beauty. The goal is meticulously and artistically shaping the tree into a living sculpture.

They’re here for their floral design class and it’s one of several trips they’ve made to Woodward Park this school year as part of a new partnership between the garden and Central High.

The idea is to cultivate a new generation of young aesthetic pruners who may have an interest in horticulture or ornamental landscaping. The specialized pruning skill is one that typically is passed down from one pruner to another. But few people are learning the trade these days, says Tracy Teran, director of education at the garden.

“There are plenty of people out there that are doing gardening, but how many of them say they are doing aesthetic pruning?” Teran says. “It’s a skill set that’s highly marketable and an art form that I believe is worth preserving.”

On an overcast day last week, the outdoor classroom was a perfect botanical oasis. Iridescent peacocks squawked as they dance on the garden grass. Trees with feathery gold leaves encircled a glassy pond.

Dawn Truelsen, an aesthetic pruning hobbyist who works at Fresno State, was the guest lecturer of the day. She is one of a handful of pruners, including some of the most well-known aesthetic pruners in California, who have led the Central High class sessions this year.

Truelsen brought the students to the two red Japanese maples — small, expertly trimmed trees with star-shaped leaves.

She pulls off a tiny leaf, handing it to the students to pass from one palm to the next.

What do they notice about the trees, she asks. One is dome shaped, with weeping branches, one student says. The other is round and wide.

Much of this craft has to do with training your eye to see the differences, Truelsen says. Knowing how much (or little) to prune away is also important.

“To prune a tree, you don’t have to do a lot to make it more beautiful, right? Just one (clip) and it’s done.”

Deeper into the garden the class goes, this time stopping at a weeping cherry. This one looks unkempt, with branches splaying from its top.

Freshman Alissa Hayes, one of the tallest in the class, steps up to take the shears from Truelsen. The instructor points to the place to make a trim, and snap! A branch goes down.

Alissa says she lives on a farm. She and her sister raise a pig and she shows animals through 4-H. Until the class, she says, she hadn’t considered the value of maintaining the other living things — plants and trees — on her family’s property.

“We have an orange tree, we’ve never done anything, but now I’ll be like, ‘Dad, you should cut that tree so it can have sun,’” she says.

Learning about aesthetic pruning has all sorts of benefits, Teran says, including making smart decisions about planting during the drought. Ornamental plants or shrubs could make a visually appealing alternative to grass.

The skills could also lead to careers, she says.

“When you hire a gardener for your property they have general duties they need to do. But if you can market yourself as an aesthetic pruner, the idea is you are sculpting living matter.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2015 at 11:54 AM with the headline "Central teens learn aesthetic pruning art."