By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer
By the time a garden writer is finished with a story about a particular garden, we've gotten to know its creator pretty well and have often grown quite fond of them. Especially if the creator also happens to be the home owner, and especially if that person is as passionate about plants as we are. With a few special stories, though, that feeling spreads to a magazine's whole editorial staff. And that's what happened with Sunset and Brent Green.
Brent, the owner of the design/build firm GreenArt Landscape, did a great job in turning his own garden in Mid-City L.A. from dead grass and a few scrufty shrubs to a mini-Paradise. And that would have been a nice story all by itself.
But, as we got to know Brent better, we realized that was only the beginning of what he had to tell us. After he transformed his own yard, Brent took on the neighborhood. He planted hundreds of parkway trees, starting on his own block and moving to adjoining ones, giving neighbors lots of free advice on landscaping in the process.
That's wasn't all, though. He also lobbied to get speed bumps installed on his street to slow down traffic, helped get Neighborhood Watch and city block clubs re-established, and became the go-to guy when the community wanted their viewpoints heard at City Council meetings. And we have the feeling he's just getting started.
Brent's a reminder how much good one optimistic and determined person can accomplish. No wonder we're all smitten. Linda Peters, our garden photo editor, shown here with Brent on the day of the photo shoot, is just a little bit more demonstrative about it.
See Brent Green's story on page 58 of our April issue.
