Many Help Tend to Getty Gardens

We were glad to see Patricia Ward Biederman’s article on the Getty gardens. (Times, Aug. 30)

From your headlines, readers may get the mistaken impression that Michael DeHart, our excellent horticulturist, does everything. In fact the gardens have been supervised since they were built in 1974 by Richard Naranjo (mentioned mistakenly as having been born in Mexico). Mr. Naranjo oversees a staff of 12, including Michael DeHart, whom he hired recently. It is to Richard Naranjo and his remarkable staff that our visitors should be grateful.

Michael DeHart asks that we point out to you that we use a relatively safe pesticide, Tempo, against the white fly, which is commercially available for institutional use only. We’ve been inundated with calls from people who think we made a special discovery!

JOHN WALSH

Director, Getty Museum