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.

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This interview was conducted as part of the Opening Day activities for the exhibition Landscaping America: Beyond the Japanese Garden.