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Prime Times Weekly publication of the Mail Tribune , Medford, Oregon Photos from AP A Japanese maple of the shishigashira variety grows along an observation trail in one of Anderson's gardens. The garden, designed to be a walking tour of exotic plants, is open by invitation only. Anderson has had to build fences around his gardens to keep wild animals from munching on his plants. BONSAI FARMER Former California aeronautics worker finds slower pace, tranquility in raising dwarf plants for gardens devoted to ancient Japanese art By JANINE JOBE The Associated Press UMPQUA -- It's a long journey from the Apollo Space Program to shaping bonsai trees in the rural hills near Umpqua. It's been more than 30 years since Don Anderson, 65, walked away from a promising and lucrative future in California's aerospace industry and he has few regrets. At the suggestion of friends, he settled his family on 26 acres of undulating land -- and relaxed. He created Umpqua Tree Farm with his wife and four children. He grew and harvested Christmas trees for a couple of decades while making friends and shaping a life in Douglas County. Following a divorce nine years ago, he began the delicate and arduous hobby of sculpting live, dwarfed trees into works of art -- the art of bonsai. In his Japanese-style rock garden, solitude reigns. Precisely constructed bridges arch over dry creek beds. A tree with corkscrew branches shifts with the breeze. The muted rustle of leaves drifts out over the nearby pastures. The only hustle and bustle here comes from several resident hummingbirds chasing each other around the red hanging feeder. Even Boo, a black dachshund with a teetering gait, finds his pillow on the deck and casts a languid eye over the enveloping seclusion. Anderson doesn't do it to make money. He doesn't sell the bonsai creations though he has given several away to friends. Two varieties of Japanese maple, Shigitsu Sawa in green, and Crimson Queen in red, grow under cover in the middle of Don Anderson's landscape gardens near Umpqua. "It relaxes me," he said over the shallow pots lining his deck and extending out to the serenity of his carefully sculpted rock garden. "People my age were dropping over from heart attacks," Anderson said of his decision to walk away from building command and service modules for North American Aviation. The company was recently purchased by Boeing. Now, he tends to the twisted roots of a dwarfed Bloodgood Japanese maple, one of several varieties of his Japanese maples stunted by the ancient living art. The 12- to 18-inch plants are fragile and require daily care. "There is a fine line between stunting the trees and killing them," Anderson said. The 4,000-year-old art form calls for shocking the tree by shaving about two-thirds of its roots and removing about one-third of its foliage annually. Shaping the tree by wrapping wire around the limbs or simply removing the unwanted appendages is a matter of personal preference. "There is no correct or incorrect way to do it," Anderson said. "If it's living and you like it, it's fine." The technique was imported from China. Some bonsai trees are reportedly several hundred years old. The Japanese maple is Anderson's preferred bonsai tree, but almost any tree can be used. The Bloodgood maple is aptly named. It's the dark, deep color of drying blood. Its seeds are pregnant red peas with translucent wings. Some of the maples look fragile and lacy. Others are more familiar and look like ones in neighborhood yards. Anderson's favorite variety of Japanese maple is the shishigashira, which appears to have too many crumpled green and white leaves scrunched on its branches. He plans to extend the rock garden and include a koi pond in the coming year. "With a rock garden there is very little weeding," he said. The bank of Christmas trees behind his modest home is slowly dwindling as he prepares to get out of the business altogether. He will replant the acreage in a more natural setting and putter around the sprawling Japanese garden, he said. "If I get five more good years here, I'll be happy," he said. Prime Times front page Mail Tribune front page Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA