Succulents and More™

Located 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles, the master-planned city of Irvine is, by all accounts, a desirable place to live: very safe, with excellent schools and a world-class university, and great job opportunities. On the flip side, it doesn’t rank high on the general excitement meter. In fact, Irvine and boring are often mentioned in the same breath. Me, I actually like Irvine. Not only for the usual urban desirability aspects, but because more money seems to be spent here on commercial landscaping than in most other cities. Irvine has countless office parks and apartment complexes, and while many are as dull as dishwater, others have done everything right when it comes to beautifying the public spaces around their buildings. Driving along in Irvine, I’ve seen quite a few commercial plantings that made me turn my head, but it’s often difficult to stop. But the landscaping featured in this post is so outstanding that I did pull into the parking lot and haul out the big camera. I ha...