Melinda Taylor

Growing up in a city means never having to milk cows, pick corn or sweep the barn when you'd rather be skating. But there are disadvantages, too. You might think bread grows in a package, or question the point of a worm's existence. And if you knew what fun it was, you might want to turn kitchen scraps into compost or tend your own geranium. Which is why Pilgrim, an ecumenical K-through-12 private school in L.A.'

Nothing in the hundreds of photographs celebrating the vaulting steel of the Walt Disney Concert Hall prepares visitors for the romanticism of its gardens. Flowers in landscaping usually are as much an anathema to modernists as rooms with flocked wallpaper. But the more Frank Gehry thought about the garden, the more he wanted flowers, continuous flowers, to bathe the building in color year-round.

Since it was first conceived 14 years ago, the Walt Disney Concert Hall has had a number of different garden plans by big-time designers. But since construction began four years ago, the person behind the hall's gardens has been Melinda Taylor, a little-known designer with a two-person practice over a cell phone store in Silver Lake.

Growing up in a city means never having to milk cows, pick corn or sweep the barn when you'd rather be skating. But there are disadvantages, too. You might think bread grows in a package, or question the point of a worm's existence. And if you knew what fun it was, you might want to turn kitchen scraps into compost or tend your own geranium. Which is why Pilgrim, an ecumenical K-through-12 private school in L.A.'

Nothing in the hundreds of photographs celebrating the vaulting steel of the Walt Disney Concert Hall prepares visitors for the romanticism of its gardens. Flowers in landscaping usually are as much an anathema to modernists as rooms with flocked wallpaper. But the more Frank Gehry thought about the garden, the more he wanted flowers, continuous flowers, to bathe the building in color year-round.

The son of the late strongman Moammar Kadafi appeared in a Libyan court  Thursday for the first time, facing charges tied to the controversial detention of his attorney last year. Seif Islam Kadafi has been accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, but Libya has argued that it should be able to try him in its own courts. The debate has revolved around whether Libya can offer Kadafi a fair trial in such a politically charged case. The hearing Thursday, however, involved allegations surrounding an International Criminal Court attorney who came to see Kadafi last year.

For Jean Gardner, a photographers' rep, books and gardens are inextricably linked and indispensable to life. "To quote Cicero," she says, " 'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.' " Gardner, the daughter of a landscape designer and a book printer, has built much of her life around plants and books. The living room of the 1930s Streamline Moderne house she bought in Silver Lake in 1994 is lined with carefully collected volumes, from novels to art monographs.

A man who allegedly went on a stabbing spree was in critical condition Tuesday after being shot by a neighbor who was trying to come to the aid of the victims, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said. George McCollom, 29, stabbed a house guest and two of his neighbors Sunday night before he was shot once in the abdomen by Paul Barnes, 49, authorities said. The incident began about 8:30 p.m.

For Tony and Mona Nicholas, house, garden and children arrived in that order. In 1992, they bought a 1950s Benedict Canyon ranch-style house. Architect Michael Maltzan was hired to pare it down and lighten it up, editing out walls, adding windows and glass doors, and updating bathrooms and the kitchen. Two years later, with help from landscape designer Melinda Taylor, the Nicholases broke ground on the garden, and once plants were in their beds, Mona went into labor with daughter Oona, now 8.

E.H. Wilson, renowned plant hunter of the early 1900s, said Southern California grew a greater variety of plants than any other place in the United States, but even so, our region "possessed but one-half of one percent of the number it might have." Case in point: tabebuias, those dazzling golden and pink trumpet trees, unknown in these parts in Wilson's day but now bursting into bloom all over town.

Since it was first conceived 14 years ago, the Walt Disney Concert Hall has had a number of different garden plans by big-time designers. But since construction began four years ago, the person behind the hall's gardens has been Melinda Taylor, a little-known designer with a two-person practice over a cell phone store in Silver Lake.

Herbs are just a hobby, says Carole Saville. Of course, she did tend Spago's herb garden in the middle '80s when the herb mania was just beginning, she does have upwards of 200 herbs growing in her own back yard and she often designs herb gardens for people. A few years back she designed one for a lawyer named Sandy Tandler, who went on to become Michael Feig's partner in Country Fresh Herbs. A conversation with her is likely to revolve around herbs and involve her offering you some seeds.

Whatever the accomplishments of Occupy L.A. when it finally decamps — or gets evicted — from around City Hall, one positive achievement is already clear: It has killed the lawn. The Times' editorial board has harrumphed about the taxpayer expense of replacing one of downtown's "rare green spaces," and it worries that the "majestic figs" are at risk. Last week, the Department of Recreation and Parks sent an aggrieved letter to the mayor about signs nailed to trees, broken sprinkler heads and compacted soil.