Pictured are my mother’s four brothers: Tak, Herb, Sam, and Mako Omoto. All four are/were Kibei gardeners with their own routes. One uncle lives in Seattle. The other three had/have routes in the Los Angeles area. This photo looks like it’s probably from the early 1970s, probably in Los Angeles.

My grandmother had eight children—four boys & four girls. Of the two girls, two of their husbands also worked in gardening, making six gardeners in the immediate family. If you look at any of their yards, although they’re all fairly neatly kept, none of them are very elaborate. My Uncle Mako said once that he worked hard all day caring for other people’s yards, so he’d rather spend his free time doing other things.

- Vicky Murakami-Tsuda, Los Angeles, California