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The soil was mulched with pea gravel here as well as out front, where a concrete driveway replaced asphalt and drought-tolerant agaves, euphorbias and Jerusalem thorn trees replaced the turf.

The path leads past Swiss-cheese plants, so called for the distinctive holes in the lobes of their enormous leaves; showy bougainvillea; calla lilies; and the bright yellow flowers of the Jerusalem thorn tree.

Denham, strolling leisurely up and down the broad, clean-swept garden path flanked by its red lines of Jerusalem thorn, was inclined to think that his lines had fallen in pleasant places.