I did, I believe i did, instill his interest in plants. The rest is all him.
Dear Dad and Jasmine,
Here is my first draft.
Thank you for your phone call today, and thank you again for the 2010 Beautification Award for my home at 811 Van Dyke. You asked that I tell you a little about the landscaping work that I did.
When I purchased the home 7 years ago, the landscaping was an overgrown mess of mismatched trees and bushes that had no relation to the modern look of the house.
I hired Dan Orduno, formerly of Laguna Canyon Cactus and Succulent, to help me design a modern cactus garden. We took inspiration from the Cactus Garden at the Getty Museum to come up with interesting and provocative geometric layout.
The plantings include: The street view is dominated by three Dracena Draco or Dragon Trees, native of the Canary Islands. They are set in Mexican river rock and surrounded by Barrel Cactus and large specimen Agave ________, with a border of Aloe Brevifolia in the front. To the left of the three Draco trees, is a large triangular bordered area with various sizes of Barrel Cactus set in a mass planting amidst black lava rock. The front corner has an unusual Agave, called ___________, that is just now sending out its 6' flower spike. To bring some greenery to the area, but still maintaining drought tolerance, we used Dymondia. The perimeter has Hopseed bushes, which have colorful leaves and flowers, replacing the out of place Privet hedge. We also planted two very large Aloe Bainesii, or Tree Aloes, which are native of South Africa, one by the front door and one set high on the slope.
My landscaping is maintained by Rosendo Nunez of Santa Ana.