For the longest time I’ve browsed garden themed coffee table books with their slick, glossy photos of wealthy peoples gardens. I’ve thought to myself: why do these people deserve recognition? Very few of them have done the work themselves, they hire designers to place the plants and laborers to do the dirty work. Why should those gardens, "created" by people that never really put their actual hands on them, be the only ones in books? They have the money to buy recognition and good taste. But what about the real gardeners? The ones that creatively use limited amounts of space and materials to create an oasis in a small parcel of land?

Lincoln Heights is luckily home to many such gardens, bits of green spaces in the ever growing concrete. Wild gardens, practical mini farms, pots of every type: clay, recycled cans, old tires. All created, designed and cultivated by their caretakers. These are the muddied fingered gardeners that deserve props for their hard work and their ability to make gardens more complex, more alive than their glossy paged brethren.

This page is a long time coming. Don’t try and look for some of these gardens because they might not be around anymore. Such is the fleeting beauty of gardens, here one season gone the next. In a constant state of flux and chaos. If my landlords hadn’t banished me from the garden, I'd still be out there contributing my own creations.  They prefer the sterile landscaping of business parks, all orderly, all the time. They couldn’t stand my "eccentric and wild tastes" such as having some leaves or branches breach the chain link fence, Heaven Forbid!

The most amazing thing is that the role of the front yard is not strictly relegated to lawns and roses but a little of everything.

recycled materials made red roses, palm, bamboo        maiz growing towards the sun

UN AGAVE

a bird must drink, even in your garden
                                                                                                            a dahlia

 i guess you can use crates for more than records     bucket brigade various herbs, chives, dahlia, aloe

roman... ice plants, palm trees                 ruins?

                     
A peaceful front yard can rival the Vatican's! sword fern, coleus, night blooming jasmine, chilipitin, peach tree, la virgen

homemade squash trellis with gladiolus in foreground                       spider web trellis

practical uses of space                      front yard/urban farms

is it mayberry?
 no it's lincoln heights! geranium           oh deer! the only place you'll see one of these round these parts! basil

tienes un nopal en la frente...                   succulent display lantana, jade plant, banana, canna lily

TIREd of the same old thing? crown of throns, old tire    staghorn fern, bird of paradise, citrus tree

interested in trading succulents, plants, seeds or have a garden to recommend?

Drop me a note to say hello...