Beginning over seventy years ago, the trajectory of Dan’s development as a “Tree Guy” unfolds in a blend of storytelling and visual beauty.

The image of a tree unifies the book’s three sections. First, ROOTS, chronicles Dan’s early years and gradual development into a mature artist. His love affair with trees runs throughout as a constant theme that starts in childhood at his grandparents’ home along the Puget Sound waterways, continuing through his forestry studies in college, and his brief military stint in Korea.

Choosing landscaping as his vocation, and bonsai as an avocation, Dan’s artistry was self taught, deeply inspired by the direct study of nature. His style developed accordingly, unhindered by the Japanese traditions dominating American bonsai, such that his eventual fame was mixed with a reputation as a maverick. A series of factors led Dan to create his own seven acre public bonsai gardens, Elandan, in 1995, the crown jewel of his creativity.