GARDENS TOUR SHOWS OFF FOLIAGE : ADMIRERS REVEL IN LANDSCAPE LUXURY, PLANTS.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer Oh, to have a neighbor like Don Huber. Imagine moving into a home on a one-acre lot in Westlake Village and your neighbor, a dentist whose hobby is landscaping, takes one look at your scraggly scrag·gly adj. scrag·gli·er, scrag·gli·est Ragged; unkempt. Adj. 1. scraggly - lacking neatness or order; "the old man's scraggly beard"; "a scraggly little path to the door" back yard and asks, ``What do you want it to look like?'' That happened to Ellen Nichols three years ago. On Sunday, Nichols, a 44-year-old Amgen employee, basked in pride as dozens of people toured her Yosemite-inspired hillside garden as part of the 24th annual Westlake Village Garden Club tour. ``I feel part of it,'' she said as people strolled up and down the windy concrete pathway that cuts through the redwood, pine and sycamore sycamore: see plane tree. sycamore Any of several distinct trees called by the same name though in different genera and families. In the U.S. the term refers to the American plane tree or buttonwood (Platanus occidentalis), a hardy street tree. trees. ``(Gardening) is so different from the work I do. It's relaxing, and I love being outside and creating things.'' So where was Huber, the designer of Nichols' garden, when the foliage was being showered in oohs and aahs? He was next door, alone, working in his garden, which was part of the tour last year. ``If I'm not working here, I'm working at (Nichols') place,'' said Huber, whose own back yard is a stunning mix of themes, from a miniature vineyard and formal rose garden to a koi pond, waterfalls and rain forest. Nichols said she and Huber did most of the work on her hillside garden, which took 2-1/2 years to complete. After clearing the quarter-acre hillside of chaparral chaparral (chăpərăl`), type of plant community in which shrubs are dominant. It occurs usually in regions having from 10 to 20 in. (25–50 cm) of rainfall annually and with a Mediterranean-type climate. and weeds, irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. lines were laid, and a jackhammer was used to bore holes into the rocky terrain so each of 32 trees could be planted. ``It's fantastic . . . mind-boggling . . . gorgeous,'' said Francis Schloss of Oak Park as she toured Nichols' garden. ``It certainly does give you ideas,'' added 72-year-old Maura Kawaski of Camarillo. Each of the other four stops on the garden tour were just as stunning and inspiring. Half a mile from Nichols' home, a crowd converged on the home of Judy Bottomley, a Long Island native who had done little gardening before she moved here 3-1/2 years ago. ``I moved here from the northeast, so I had to relearn Verb 1. relearn - learn something again, as after having forgotten or neglected it; "After the accident, he could not walk for months and had to relearn how to walk down stairs" my plants,'' she said. ``You can garden year-round here, but you have a lot more pests - snails, gophers, squirrels and rabbits.'' Add to that snakes. As Bottomley took a break from answering her guest's questions, she suddenly spotted a small brown snake brown snake see demansiatextilis. king brown snake see pseudechisaustralis. slithering slith·er v. slith·ered, slith·er·ing, slith·ers v.intr. 1. To glide or slide like a reptile. See Synonyms at slide. 2. To walk with a sliding or shuffling gait. 3. through the perennials. It was the first snake she had seen in her garden. To her relief, no rattle was apparent on the tail end, but she waited nearby for a few minutes lest the snake suddenly dart out of the flowers and and startle startle /star·tle/ (stahr´tl) 1. to make a quick involuntary movement as in alarm, surprise, or fright. 2. to become alarmed, surprised, or frightened. someone. ``There are kids here,'' she said. ``This definitely adds to the things to worry about.'' The only thing in Bottomley's garden that scared Bob Soto was the amount of work that must have gone into it. ``This is a lot of work, a lot of maintenance,'' said Soto, a 44-year-old human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. manager from Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. . ``At this point, I have other things to do in my life than garden,'' he said. ``But it makes you want to go back and do something to your home.'' Hard work is just one cost of a trophy garden. There are plants and supplies to buy and, of course, water. Nichols describes her monthly water bill as ``a little bit high.'' Huber, her neighbor, whose garden is roughly twice as big, says his water bill is $1,800 a month. ``You don't just plant it and walk away,'' he said. ``It takes a lot of work to keep this up.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1--Color--Ran in Conejo edition only) Katherine Won of the Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both Southeastern Ventura County and Northwest Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It was discovered in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and eventually became part of the Rancho El Conejo land grant by Garden CLub admires the lantanas at Judy Bottomley's garden in Westlake Village during a stop Sunday on the 24th annual Westlake Village Garden Club tour. (2--Color only in Simi edition) Admirers enjoy roses at Judy Bottomley's Westlake Village house on a tour of the city's finest gardens. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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