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| Photos by Harvey Scott Kaner |
Great Grid Landscaping
The grid landscaping at the Getty Center is the inspiration for this garden. Remberto Ramos (you can find him weekly at the Mar Vista Farmers Market) planted in it 2011. The owners replaced a
lawn and other water-intensive plants with succulents that require practically
no upkeep and basically no water now that they’re established - that was their goal. In the construction of the property they created an infrastructure for automatic drip irrigation, but they’ve never felt the need to finish it. Just the dwarf lemon and orange trees need water regularly. They never water when it’s raining or about to rain. Their water bill dropped from their previous house which had a lawn, front and back, along with other water-needy
plants.
Watching the garden grow and tending to it is a pleasure. Growing up in
Michigan, and being allergic to many of the shrubs around the house, it was a
dreaded chore to trim the landscaping. Not so with these succulents and front
shrubs (literally 10 minutes with the loppers on the African Boxwood and it’s
done!)
Also,
with the generous amounts of “chicks” produced by our succulents, we’ve been
taking cuttings and making beautiful container arrangements, not to mention the
flower arrangements that adorn their dining tables. They had no idea the succulents
would produce flowers – and they last a really long time.
They enjoy sharing their
garden with others and spreading the succulent love! So they’ll have some arrangements
ready for sale during the garden tour (for pickup at the end).
