Landscaping and Gardening by Ellen

Many of us chose to live in the Heights because of its lush country look. I remember the first time I drove up Fullerton Road. It was a short-cut someone told me about. I couldn't believe my eyes. How did this rural gem fall into the middle of L.A.? What I remember seeing on that brief trip is what I now want to preserve: open spaces, narrow winding roads, overgrown oleander and plumbago alongside distinctive houses ­ from ramshackle shanty to fabulous estate. But overriding (and unifying) everything: a totally unique atmosphere of natural beauty and peaceful seclusion.

Since that initial discovery, my husband and I moved here and developed an interest in gardening and creating effects with plants. Fast on the heels of this new interest came a fascination with gophers (executing them), chlorosis, powdery mildew, plants that grow too fast or too slowly, propagation and nocturnal prowlers (among a million other possibilities).

Although my husband and I have garnered a wheelbarrow full of information about plants and pests over the years, there are always new questions that we have and always new problems that arise.

Perhaps, I wonder, there are others in the Heights who are avid gardeners. After all, if the tumbling bougainvillea attracted one potential gardener, it could have brought in hundreds. Where better to try a gardening column than in the Heights?

A gardening column could be a great forum for various gardening topics and problems. Input from the City's gardening experts can be showcased. Peoples' individual experiences might provide help for others and of course questions can be asked and answered.

Besides gophers (burying chicken bones in gopher burrows was one tip I received from the nurseryman at Sackett & Peters), possible topics include irrigation and drip systems, erosion control, hillside design, sources of supply, microclimates in the Heights, and water gardening.