Freeway Landscaping

* Why do some freeways look so pleasantly landscaped and others don’t?

The freeway between the downtown interchange and Dodger Stadium looks like it has had Agent Orange sprayed on it. The Hollywood Freeway is pockmarked with ever-widening brown patches of ivy that have never felt the balm of a sprinkler. Waist-high weeds choke out even the tenacious ice plant. The area around the Santa Ana/Long Beach freeways is a particularly pitiful example of scabrous landscaping.

A recent trip to San Diego revealed that this is not always so. Lush green ground cover, dotted with spring wildflowers, was a refreshing contrast to L.A. freeways.

In general, the farther you get out of Los Angeles the better the landscaping becomes. Why is that?

BILL KENNEDY

Los Angeles