Her stylish gardens are filled with native plants. Come visit one in South L.A.

This is the latest in a series we call Plant PPL, where we interview people of color in the plant world. Brandy Williams’ business is landscape design, but it’s more accurate to think of her as an artist who paints for pollinators, primarily with succulents and what she calls “California friendly” plants. Brandy Williams’ garden is a dense mix of succulents, California native plants and Mediterranean-climate plants, such as this grouping that includes dudleyas, red fairyduster, succulents, lavender, a bromeliad and a pot of buckwheat. Her website features a quote from agriculture scientist George Washington Carver, the first African American to earn a bachelor’s of science degree, whose innovative research and inventions at Tuskegee University helped Southern farmers restore their depleted soil: “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” That quote resonates in part because “plants have always talked to me,” Williams said, but also because she so admires Carver’s style. So I always try to incorporate some native plants to create habitat and help bring people along.” Her motto: ‘Plants belong to all of us’ “When I’m designing, this is what I think: A garden is an opportunity for people of different backgrounds to come together and just learn about each other.