This yard used to be ug-LEE! Now it is often resplendent, so it represents one tiny gain for beauty versus non-beauty. Additionally, this garden is special because of the interplay of texture, shape and size, and the seasonality of flowering. It would have an ongoing symphonic quality to it, but it is not as grand as a symphony...it has an ongoing concerto quality.
The owners started their garden in Spring, 2012. Their goals were to make the ugly yard pretty. They were inspired by the garden at the corner of Glyndon and Victoria in Venice: it looked like an elegant succulent hallucination. They found the courage to knock on the homeowner’s door, and learned that the landscape designer was Art Maltby of Venetian Paradise.Asked about favorite garden features, one garden owner replied, 'I often gaze upon the garden with pleasure. So do people walking by. I like that we are sharing beauty. I like the spiky cactus because they’re native to Yemen. Every time I hear news about Yemen I think, “That’s just as far away as my front yard.”
'I like the acacia because I read once that when Cervantes had his awful job trying to collect taxes from farmers based on the grain stored in their silos, he used to rest on dusty roads in the shade of acacias. However, I cannot find any reference to this on the internet, so I might have made it up. I definitely like the red-flowering aloes because they attract bees and like everyone else, I am rooting for the bees.'
Sprinklers water the garden for 20 minutes once a week.
Please stop by. The garden owners look forward to talking with neighbors. Perhaps landscape designer Art Maltby and their gardener will swing by to answer questions. You might also get to hear the bees buzzing.
