BONSAI AND SUISEKI IN THE GARDENS AT LAKE MERRITT, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

Bonsai Maple in the Gardens at Lake Merritt, Oakland CA.

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took the photos in this post in March 2026, unless otherwise credited.

The Gardens at Lake Merritt, Northwest Gate.

During a visit to The Gardens at Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, my favorite of the many themed gardens* within was the Bonsai Garden, especially because I learned about suiseki, a formal Japanese art new to me.

Bonsai Garden gate.

The Bonsai Garden entrance gate was designed and built by Hiroshi Sakaguchi, a craftsman in the ancient Japanese art of joinery woodworking, which uses no glue, nails or screws. Men in Sakaguchi’s family have practiced this tradition for over 600 years.

Bonsai.

Inside the walled garden, some regular-size trees provided leafy shade and others were in full bloom. The bonsai trees included diverse examples such as cedar, filbert, redwood, and several different maple species.

Bonsai maple.

But given the sun angle, my two favorite photos happen to be of Japanese mountain maple (Acer palmatum, above and at the top of this post).

Flowering plants in bonsai pots were on display. In the above photo, a metal sculpture of an ant of monstrous proportions is on guard duty.

A small, open shelter housed examples of suiseki, natural stones evocative of landscapes or other images. I have seen such in Japanese, Chinese or Korean art displays, but I didn’t know how widespread and sophisticated the Japanese art of stone appreciation is. In the following days, I read about the many esthetic criteria that guide the selection of stones: not only their shape, but also picky aspects of their surface, color, and other characteristics. More preferences include minimizing alterations and keeping wooden bases simple.

Rabbit.

Suiseki artist Hiroshi Suzuki found “Rabbit” in Northern California.

Winter in the High Mountains.

Suiseki artist Brent Meran found “Winter in the High Mountains” on the Eel River in Northern California.

Outside of the Bonsai Garden, some areas were charmingly disheveled. Others looked well maintained.

Alpine Rock Garden.

The tidy Alpine Rock Garden included a landscaped mound in the middle, surrounded by a dozen concrete planters, each one roughly the size of a coffee table. Rocks and plant arrangements suggested miniature mountain or desert views rather successfully.

Lake Merritt. Photo courtesy of A. Do.

From the gardens northwest entrance gate, walking across the gardens and out through the south gate leads to the shore of Lake Merritt, which became the nation's first formally declared wildlife refuge in 1870. A paved path goes 3.4 miles (~5.5 km) around the lake, with views of wild birds and small islands against the urban background. I liked spending half a weekend day visiting the area for the first time!

Footnote:

* Areas within The Gardens at Lake Merritt:

- Alameda County Master Garden

- Alameda County Master Trial Garden

- Air Bee N' Bee

- Alpine Rock Garden

- Bay Friendly Garden

- Bonsai Garden

- Dahlia Garden

- Entry Garden

- Firescape Garden

- Fukuoka Sister City Garden

- General Pollinator Garden

- Japanese Garden

- Lu's Garden

- Mediterranean Garden

- Merritt College Community Garden

- Merritt College Horticulture Community Gardens

- Palmettum

- Rhododendron Garden

- Riparian Garden

- Rose Garden

- Sensory Garden

- Succulent Garden

- Sun Dial Garden

- Toddler Garden

- Understory Garden

- Urban Edible Gardens

- Vireya & Begonia Garden

SUN MOON LAKE, TAIWAN: Hiking, Temples, and the Beauty of Nature

View from Longfeng Temple, Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

On our recent trip to Taiwan, our last night was spent at Sun Moon Lake, located in the mountains about two hours from the coastal city of Taichung. This beautiful alpine lake (altitude 2,545 feet) is surrounded by thick green forest and majestic mountains. It is part of a National Scenic Area and a popular vacation spot.

 Sun Moon Lake. Ci'en Pagoda, on a hill overlooking the lake, was built by late President Chiang Kai-shek in 1971 in memory of his mother.

We traveled to Sun Moon Lake by taxi from Taichung, passing through a series of long tunnels as we climbed from the level plain along Taiwan's west coast through the hills and valleys in the center of the island. (Taiwan is a long island, with a line of steep mountains down the center as its spine.)

View of the lake and bikeway from our seventh floor room at the Sun Moon Lake Hotel.

Street light along the coast road in Sun Moon Lake. The east side of the lake resembles a sun while the west side resembles a moon, hence the name.

After checking into our hotel, we took a walk along the bikeway/walkway.

Reflector on the walkway around the lake

The 29 km scenic bikeway goes all around the lake and we were passed by people on bikes of all sorts–electric, tandem, and 10-speed with families carrying children in baby seats.  (We could have rented bikes at our hotel, but we preferred to walk.)

This bridge is popular for wedding photos.

Our destination was the new modern Xiangshan Visitor Center, which happened to have a bonsai show that week. The low, organically designed building blends harmoniously into the landscape and provides an overlook of the lake and is surrounded by broad reflecting pools enhancing the view.

Bonsai plant in front of the Xiangshan Visitor Center

The Visitor Center also has a small museum with exhibits about the Bunun culture, the local indigenous people. Living on both sides of the Central Mountain Range, Bunun people were known to be one of the “high-mountain tribes.” Singing and dancing are an important part of the Bunun culture. Pestle music is performed by a number of people wielding wooden pestles and involves the rhythmic pounding of the pestles against stone slabs.

Traditional Bunun clothing

The next morning, before we left, we walked to LongfengTemple close to our hotel. At sunset the evening before and at sunrise we had listened to the temple bell ring and echo over the water.

Longfeng Temple

At this temple and the one we visited earlier in our visit to Taiwan in Sanxia, (near Taipei) every single surface was decorated with dragons, birds, animals, people, flowers and more. It was hard to stop taking pictures.

Bird and plant decorations at Longfeng Temple

We then took a short hike on the trail leading to Mount Maolin and the Tea Research and Extension Station.

Tea plantation. With similar latitude and growing conditions to India's Assam tea farms, the area around Sun Moon Lake has become the main base for the cultivation of Assam tea in Taiwan.

We had brought our binoculars, but we saw surprisingly few birds considering the lush forest all around the lake. However, we did see a lot of butterflies. (Taiwan is famous for its wealth of tropical butterflies, once collected and exported by the ton. Now they are protected as a natural resource.)

Junonia orithya butterfly

Then it was time to leave. A taxi took us directly to the airport in Taipei for our flight back to Los Angeles. One day wasn’t really enough to fully explore Sun Moon Lake, but it gave us a taste of Taiwan’s rich natural beauty.