Immigrant’s Hard Work Creates an Oasis of Trees, Plants : After 12 Years, Iran Native Plans Vacation, Seeks Volunteers to Tend Garden

Amir Dialameh has created a sort of oasis in the desert.

On a leveled two-acre section of a hill in Griffith Park, he has worked for 12 years to create Amir’s Garden, a rest area filled with indigenous and non-indigenous plants and trees. He has tended the garden seven days a week, almost without vacation, since 1975.

Now the 57-year-old bachelor is planning his first extended leave from the garden and must arrange for the watering of the site. He has solicited volunteers, and has received about a dozen phone calls from potential volunteers, five of whom have made definite commitments to water the site. He has also contacted the Sierra Club, with the hope that some members will be interested in volunteering for the month he is gone.

“At the moment I’m getting volunteers to communicate with one another,” Dialameh said. “I want people to commit to just the hours they want to work so they are free to come when they please.”

Native of Iran

Dialameh first came to appreciate nature as a child during hiking trips in the Alborz Mountains of his native Iran.

As his love of hiking and nature developed, so did his affinity for the United States. “I was intrigued by the volunteerism that built this country, people doing things instead of relying on the government,” he said.

Dialameh read about California and the United States during his schooling in Tehran. He immigrated to the United States in 1963 during a visit to his brother in Pittsburgh. A few months later, he moved to Los Angeles, where he began work as a wine clerk in a grocery store. He now works in a similar position in Hollywood.

To emphasize his love for America, he created a rock pattern in the letters USA at the front of the garden. He also flies a somewhat faded United States flag whenever he is at the park. The flag used to be visible from the Ventura Freeway but now trees obscure the view.

Shade Most Needed

“That’s actually good because what you need first and foremost here is shade,” Dialameh said. “That’s why I planted trees like the jacaranda. In 10 years, this place will be covered with their branches.”

The garden is at the end of Mineral Wells trail, overlooking the Los Angeles Zoo and the Harding Golf Course to the east, and other hills in Griffith Park to the west.

Dialameh spends an average of four hours a day at the park. He spends two hours watering the plants and the remaining time pruning and doing general maintenance. After his gardening duties, he drives to Greenblatts wine shop and delicatessen, where he works from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. five nights a week.

Dialameh began the garden in 1971 shortly after a brush fire ravaged the area. The city of Los Angeles allowed him to build on the site and provided some assistance, said Albert Torres, senior park ranger.

Works by Hand

“People told me I needed a bulldozer to clear the area, but I told them I have all I need right here,” Dialameh said, pointing to his biceps.

Dialameh leveled part of the hillside with a pick and ax over a year. Once the ground was cleared, he began planting trees and shrubs, many of them from cuttings.

Most of the plants are not indigenous to the area. Magnolia trees, roses and other plants suited to less arid climates thrive year-round.

He also hand-painted the park benches and picnic tables. The motifs are predominantly floral. One table bears painted chess and backgammon gaming surfaces.

“I read books in the library, used common sense and, being an amateur artist, I knew how I wanted things to look,” he said.

The garden has been the site of a wedding, a memorial service, and numerous hikes and picnics.

Visitors Admire Park

Most people who come to the park admire and contribute to its beauty, Dialameh said. Visitors bring plants and volunteer to work. Donated telephone poles line the paths and are used to create planter stands.

Yet there are also those who destroy. Graffiti is scrawled across the seat of one park bench. The flag pole was once bent, the dedication plaque was smashed a short while ago, and some plants and flowers are occasionally stolen.

Dialameh said he will miss the garden while he is on vacation at the Grand Canyon and in Virginia.

“I created this place,” he said. “It is like my family to me.”