Intuition Is Key to Growing Plants
Los Angeles horticulturist Bill Paylen will tell it to you bluntly. Making flora flourish has nothing to do with how learned you are or how much money you spend on a particular plant. Nor does it hav...
Category Archives: Personalities
Loren Zeldin’s Exotic Garden
On the surface, Loren Zeldin would seem to be an outstanding example of predictability. Fifty-five years old, he has lived in the same house in Reseda his entire life. He has held but one job since g...
Michael Kappel’s Miracle Garden
Gardening is often described as therapeutic, but such a description just begins to tell the story of Michael Kappel or, more precisely, his recovery. Five years ago, Michael was in an accident that l...
Michael Kappel’s Paradise
From an upper story bedroom window, Michael Kappel looks down on his sumptuous garden in Westwood. It is a soothing sight for someone who lives in constant and excruciating pain, the result of a spin...
You Can Tell the Health of a Nation by the Health of its Trees
“You can tell the health of a country by the health of its trees.” ”Show me an area without trees, and I will show you an area of unrest.” These statements by Dr. Alex Shigo, ...
Replace Front Lawn with Fruit Trees
Amidst thoughts concerning alternatives to the front lawn, I recently came across “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerso...
Plant Explorer in our Midst
Leon Massoth, plant explorer and landscape designer extraordinaire, travels the tropical latitudes seeking rare treasures. His devoted clients eagerly await his return each time he ventures across th...
Carl Linnaeus and the Name Game
It is said that when the world is perfected in the end of days, the names of animals and plants will make complete sense to all of us. We will understand why something that has four legs and barks is...
Grow Ancient Plants at Home
Not long ago, I was in Death Valley at the Furnace Creek Inn, an oasis in the middle of the Great Basin-Mojave Desert region. This area is home to two of the oldest plant species on earth: bristle co...
Rip Van Winkle and the Carob Tree
If you do much walking along the streets of our city, you may have inhaled a powerful bleachlike odor emanating from a tree. It’s an awfully large tree to keep such a low profile, but few peopl...
