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For such a large project, Lofthus needed someone who could turn his concepts into reality.
He met longtime landscaper Mark Logan, whose family had been transforming the desert since 1939.
As a young man, Logan had worked with Johnson and understood what Lofthus wanted to re-create.
“It was a true collaboration,” Logan said. “We’d talk about ideas and Mark would go sit on a rock and meditate,” Lofthus added. “I wanted to bring the profile of the mountains to garden and Mark created that for us.”
Working through summer 2011, Logan and his crew created an arroyo, undulating hiking paths, hidden oases and stone bridges that mimic the open desert.
It is filled with Palo verde, honey mesquite, Washingtonia filifera trees, Mexican firecracker, plumeria, purple Texas ranger, euphorbia, lantana and bougainvillea, and Moore’s favorite, flowering yuccas, that attract hummingbirds and butterflies in spring.
Lofthus likes big rocks and Logan’s crew moved in more than 2.5 million pounds of boulders onto the property and made them look like they had been tumbled into place along with hundreds of trees, bushes and flowering plants. Touches of whimsy were added with metal sculptures hidden in and around the yard.
There’s a rock pool that reminds Lofthus of the falls in Tahquitz Canyon, he said.
Now Lofthus and Moore spend hours in their private desert. “There’s always something different to see,” Lofthus said. “It changes every day.”
A compact garden
When Leslie and Tim Shockley bought their 1950s Palm Desert home, one project on the to-do list was the front yard.
A stucco-covered block wall with redwood gates guards the yard from the street, giving 4-year-old Elle and Iris, the desert tortoise, a safer place to play.
Using The Living Desert and Huntington Botanical Gardens as their guide, the Shockleys created an oasis filled with agave, Encelia farinosa (brittlebush), old mesquite trees and beavertail cactus.
“Most of the plants come from cuttings from friends,” Leslie said. “Or plant sales at The Living Desert.”
That goes for the furniture, too. Tables made from old tree stumps and lawn furniture that they refinished that friends were going to throw away.
Ground cover has been replaced with field stone and river rock that allows for natural drainage when it rains.
A small fountain and fish pond provide a soothing water feature.
The house also has a backyard that Shockley has filled with boxes the family uses to raise vegetables that rotates through the seasons for the family table.
Even Elle helps out in the garden. “We’ve had more caterpillars this year than I’ve seen before,” Shockley. “Elle’s doing her part by feeding them to the fish. And they’re getting really big.”
Judith Salkin is a features writer. She can be reached at (760) 778-4771 or judith.salkin@thedesertsun.com
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