If you have ever seen ‘The Osbornes’ on television, you know how extravagant the work of landscape designer Brent Green of GreenArt of West Hollywood can be. He actually landscaped and has maintained the home of the Osbornes since before the Osbornes lived there, and has managed to fit a more extensive range of plants into the gardens than I have grown in my career as a horticulturist, arborist and nurseryman. His own home garden is just as bad . . . I mean ‘extravagant’, with more diversity of plants than could be found in any nursery.

Would you believe that Brent Green and I were actually college roommates in the dorms? Sometimes I do not believe it either. Nearly a quarter of a century ago, he came two hundred miles north, and I came two hundred miles south to ‘meet in the middle’ and study horticulture at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. He was very trendy for the time, wearing brightly colored mid ‘80’s clothes and a flat topped afro like Grace Jones. (Yes, he once had hair.) I was old fashioned for ten years earlier, just like I am now, with Levi’s, Durango’s and flannel.

As a landscape designer, Brent Green enjoys the diversity of plants, and getting them to fit into practical, functional and yet very enjoyable landscapes, gardens and outdoor rooms. Most of his favorite work is lush and tranquil, with all the fancy and artful curves, ‘meandering’ walkways, water features, extensive diversity of plants, and herds of color! Conversely, I am still a nurseryman at heart, so engage my garden as a commodity with conformity, simplicity and very basic functionality. I grow vegetables, many fruit trees, and many ‘copies’ of the same reliable plants that I propagate myself, mostly arranged in what Brent Green refers to as straight line ‘row crops’.

Yet, our gardening philosophy is the same. We both ENJOY our gardens, and agree that everyone should likewise do gardening on their own terms. Those who do not enjoy gardening should not need to. There are plenty of other things besides gardening to enjoy.

To facilitate the execution of proper horticultural techniques, we should grow only what we are able and want to take care of. What looks good in a magazine may require more attention that we can commit to or would enjoy. I still believe that the legendary horticulturist Robert Leakley was the first to say what many have copied in various forms since, “If you enjoy it, you are doing it right.”