After 50 years and four years of drought, the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce office building’s landscaping is getting a makeover.
Except for the 18 pine, liquid amber, and two other trees, the entire landscaping around the iconic round building on Huntington Drive near the busy intersection with Holly Avenue is being removed by City of Arcadia Public Works crews starting this week. That includes masses of tangled and overgrown hedges, unsightly and out-of-control junipers surrounding the outdoor sunken patio, and yards and yards of long-dead ivy along both directions of Huntington Drive and the parking lot.
In its place at the request of the Chamber, the City, which owns and maintains the property and the building and was thinking along the same lines, will create a very publicly visible showcase and example of drought-tolerant landscaping and drip irrigation that features many varieties of colorful plants mixed with decomposed granite and some small rock piles hiding two new two infiltration areas to be constructed to capture and infiltrate rain water into the ground.
Work is scheduled to be complete by late October/early November in time for a 50th Anniversary celebration of the building on Thursday, Nov. 12, that will feature landscaping experts describing the new look, and an all-day open house of the completely remodeled interior of the Chamber office building, and the opening of a time capsule buried on the Chamber’s property on Nov. 13, 1965.
Above is the design plan for the new landscaping, with sample photos below left of some of the new plants. Other photos show the current landscaping.
