Watch | Licensing |
Interviewee: Libby Platus
Relationship to gardeners: Her father, Ben L. Goldman, was a gardener.
Date: July 17, 2007
Location: Japanese American National Museum
Brief Description: Libby discusses her father's magnolia tree.
Transcription
Hello, my name is Libby Platus and I’m talking about my father, Ben L. Goldman. He lived in the San Fernando Valley, and in the summer it’s very, very hot. He had a magnolia tree that looked like it was really going to die any minute, and he believed that he could make it live. He fed it all the table scraps and anything else that he read that he could feed it. And, every year the neighbors came and the family came and said “no, it will die,” and by five years it was the tallest magnolia in the whole area.
____________________________________________
This interview was conducted as part of the Opening Day activities for the exhibition Landscaping America: Beyond the Japanese Garden.
eishida — Last modified May 24 2012 7:01 a.m.