Densho Digital Archive - Henry Nishi Interview II (denshovh-nhenry

<Begin Segment 28>

RP: Why don't you come over here. Stand over here and tell me a little bit about what you did here, Henry. This was... yeah, there you go. Good. Tell me what you... what was your inspiration for this?

HN: Well, this is, this front yard was all lawn.

RP: Uh-huh.

HN: And because of, trying to conserve water, I thought maybe we... took out the lawn. Made partly a dry, dry pond, stream bed, and drought tolerant plants. Save water, save a lot of work mowing, caring for a lawn. Plus, this is a lot more fun to look at and work in rather than just a flat lawn.

RP: Did you, did you get any inspiration for this garden from anything you saw at Manzanar?

HN: Well, yeah. Especially when you go down to Manzanar and the desert... I've been down several times down into, to Arizona, Phoenix, and I see all the landscaping there which is mostly rocks and gravel. I liked that feeling.

RP: Uh-huh. So you were, you brought some of those...

HN: And then, yeah...

RP: You were inspired a little bit by those landscapes?

HN: Exactly, yeah.

RP: Uh-huh. So where did you get the rock from?

HN: These are... I had to buy these rocks. This is local granite, boulder, from San Fernando Valley.

RP: Oh.

HN: Yeah, granite, which I like.

RP: And did you design it?

HN: Yeah, yeah.

RP: Your wife helped you too.

HN: Yeah, she helped put in the boulders.

RP: She put in the boulders?

HN: Yeah, she says she does a lot better job than I do, placing boulders. [Laughs]

RP: We were just talking about your dad and how... about his art, how he arranged boulders. But how's your wife at arranging boulders? Pretty good?

HN: Yeah, she has a feel for it.

RP: Does she have an artistic sense?

HN: She knows when a rock is not placed right.

RP: Ah, uh-huh. So were some of the plants you have out here... you have some lavender and what else have you planted out here?

HN: Well, this ground cover is thyme.

RP: Uh-huh.

HN: That's a creeping thyme. That's a very drought tolerant. 'Course, the succulents, the color, is, takes very little water, is very colorful.

RP: Uh-huh.

HN: But the festucca is of course that blue festucca.

RP: Blue festucca, yeah. The little clump?

HN: The clumps?

RP: Yeah.

HN: Drought tolerant.

RP: Oh, okay.

HN: The trees of course we had planted [inaudible]. It's a plant that does well close to the, close to the coast.

RP: Uh-huh. That's a Maytens tree isn't it?

HN: Maytens, yeah.

RP: From Australia. Uh-huh, what's this over here?

HN: This, this is that...

RP: This shrub?

HN: This green plant?

RP: Yeah, is that a hibiscus?

HN: It's a hibiscus yeah.

RP: Oh, okay.

HN: That's also very drought tolerant.

RP: Pretty drought tolerant? Uh-huh. Let's look around here. Oh, how about that red flowering plant over there.

HN: It's a Marguerite daisy.

RP: It's a Marguerite?

HN: Yeah.

RP: Huh. Wow.