It seems that I have been negligent about writing about my colleague Brent Green and some of our crazy adventures in horticulture. I said I would do so when I started writing my articles here way back two Septembers ago. It is easy to get distracted from such topics, particularly since we do such different types of work. Brent is a renowned landscape designer and proprietor of GreenArt Landscape Design in Southern California. I am just a horticulturist and arborist who really should get back to growing horticultural commodities in Northern California. For all of our similarities, there just might be as many differences.
After posting that old video of the Birthday Trees yesterday https://tonytomeo.com/2019/01/19/birthday-trees/, I thought that I should also write more about what Brent does for the urban Forest of Los Angeles, which is probably more interesting than our crazy adventures. I really want to find the old news article about how he busted tree rustlers who were stealing mature Canary Island palms from the embankments of the Santa Monica Freeway, which is pictured above. It is still a sore subject because we know that it continues, and that the trees that were stolen were not returned as promised.
I could write a separate blog about the work that GreenArt does if I were more involved with it. I just do not enjoy design like Brent does. Actually, I am no good at it. I just work with the horticultural aspects of it, and growing material for it. In the future, I will probably be more involved with projects that are not directly affiliated with GreenArt, such as initiatives to maintain and protect trees in public spaces of Los Angeles.
For now I have only this brief and outdated video of the landscaping of Brent’s home, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2IwcuU3KEo .
Wow, his yard! It’s amazing and no wonder he calls it an outside room.
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It really is just like it looks, and just a block off of the Santa Monica Freeway. It is in the middle of the city, but made to seem quiet and secluded. It is funny that way. Brent loves living in the middle of Los Angles, but wants a garden that is as secluded as mine is in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I try to make my garden look more refined than it is, as I would if it were in town.
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He has a real oasis there, and it would be so peaceful just to sit there for a while.
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When I go there, I sleep on the roof deck on top of the garage. It is up over the garden, with an incredible view of Los Angeles.
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That would be wonderful.
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There is something gratifying about being in the middle of the second most populous city in America and getting the best of it.
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His own little world there, and a wonderful one.
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It makes me want to see a lot more of his yard!
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You would not believe how confined it is. There is so much in it. It really looks like a big fancy garden on an English country estate.
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Yes, it looks tiny, but super lush.
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I tell him that it would be less crowded without all the superfluous junk stuffed into it, but he is not good about limits. Once his lemon tree got overrun with scale, he finally cleared some of the crowded potted plants away, and got better about pruning it. I must drive more than 350 miles to prune the plumerias, angel’s trumpet and a few other items that he is to timid about pruning. As a horticulturist, I see the problems with overcrowding. To everyone else, it is just a lush jungle. It really is rad, and is even more rad with how the home fits into it.
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Yes, it looks tiny, but super lush. I would love to have a yard that looks like a country estate. How does he take care of it? Does he have a gardener?
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His crew helps him maintain it. Many of the features and some of the plant are there to be demoed. He needs to asses new introductions before using them at work. His clients come there to see how particular features will look in their own gardens.
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