IN THE GARDEN FIND AN EXOTIC LAND IN NORTHRIDGE YARD.

Byline: JOSHUA SISKIN

Several decades ago, when Jerry Esten was in summer camp, a fortune teller predictedwhat the future held for him and his fellow campers. Each child, it seemed, was destined to become a doctor or a lawyer. Except Esten.

``You will raise fish and frogs,'' he asserted, which was not especially pleasing to Esten's mom.

Today, Esten may not have any frogs in his backyard in Northridge, but he does have an abundance of goldfish and several turtles. He used to have koi, but herons ate them. To stop the birds' poaching, he suspended netting overhead, but decided not to introduce any more koi, staying exclusively with goldfish.

To make up for the loss of the koi, he has brought in several spotted and multi-colored shubunkin goldfish with black, orange, red, blue, and white markings. He has also created an Internet community of ponders through his website at www.americanponders.com.

He's quick to share his knowledge. ``You can't really have koi and container plants in the same pond,'' he cautions.

``The koi knock over the containers and muddy the pond. From what I have seen, most serious koi ponders do not have container plants in their ponds.'' In his own pond, Esten is partial to containerized water lilies (Nymphaea) and lotus (Nelumbo), as well as giant taro or elephant ear (Alocasia macrorrhizos) and the yellow sweet flag iris (Iris pseudacorus).

The plants outside of Esten's pond are as captivating as those inside it.

Many years ago, he acquired baby dragon trees (Dracaena draco) in 2 1/2-inch pots. Today they have grown into 6-foot-tall specimens. Still, they have not yet begun to branch, at which point they will take on the distinctive look eagerly anticipated by connoisseurs of this exotic-looking, drought-tolerant species. Dragon trees are slow-growing and long-lived.

In their Canary Island habitat, they have been known to persist for 500 years or more.

Esten is pleased to show off his hardy tapioca (Manihot grahamii), grown for its parasol foliage. Its tuberous roots mean it can be cut to the ground and grow back up again. This plant is related to cassava, a food staple across the tropics, intensively cultivated from its Amazonian habitat to its adopted home in equatorial Africa.

Tapioca and cassava are in the euphorbia family and all parts are highly toxic. Before consumption, the poison must be boiled out of the roots.

Another euphorbia family member in Esten's garden is the red African poinsettia (Synadenium grantii rubrum). It is also known as the African milk tree on account of its white sap, a characteristic shared by all Euphorbia kin. It grows quickly to four feet with succulent stems and leaves. You may encounter any number of African poinsettia cultivars, each with its own distinctive foliar variegation.

Speaking of variegation, Esten has an eye-catching Su- matran banana (Musa acuminata `Sumatrana') with ma- roon-striped foliage. He also grows the most cold-hardy edible banana, a cultivar known as `Rajapuri,' indigenous to the foothills of India.

Ever the adventurer, Esten has intrepidly planted royal poinciana (Delonix regia), the only specimen I have ever seen in the San Fernando Valley. If you visit Yucatan, Hawaii, or other tropical locales, you will never forget the sight of this tree with its mimosa leaves and vibrant scarlet flowers. This is its first year in Esten's garden and it is likely to die during its first exposure to chilly winter weather, but you never know with plants.

Strobilanthus dyerianthus `Persian Shield' has a prominent place in Esten's backyard. Not only is the purple and silver foliage of his original plant healthily growing out every which way, but also -- clones he has propagated from `Persian Shield' cuttings have rooted in small clay pots in his greenhouse.

TIP OF THE WEEK: Esten has found a technique for killing trailing bamboo without having to dig it up, which, even then, is no guarantee of its eradication. After cutting a stalk of bamboo to the ground, immediately swab Round-Up herbicide into the stub of the stalk. If you wait more than a few seconds between cutting and swabbing, the treatment doesn't work. For this reason, it is recommended that two or three people work together on this bamboo termination project.