Actress and avid gardener Marion Ross, who played Mrs. Cunningham on the popular TV show Happy Days, found that her own yard didn't give her enough gardening space. So she leased the neglected vacant lot next door and transformed it into a parklike setting. She named the space Sophie's Park, after her other television alter ego, Sophie Berger, from the show Brooklyn Bridge. The project involved installing an irrigation system, improving the soil and planting a lawn and trees. The neighbors who own the property lease it to Marion for just $1 a year. When she began the garden, she first had a chain-link fence installed, then planted Monterey pines (Pinus radiata), plum trees, groundcovers and oleander. In the next phase of planting she put in white birch, jacaranda trees and more pines. There's also plenty of open lawn for playing croquet or practicing golf. An old-style double swing provides a place to rest.
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