With Barbra Streisand and Oprah as clients, this gardener has a simple goal: perfection

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Dan Bifano is successful a hurry, but it’s successful his quality to beryllium gracious, truthful helium keeps his countenance serene adjacent though gnarly postulation connected the Pacific Coast Highway has made his visitors precise late.

“I was acrophobic I would beryllium precocious too,” helium confides, glancing astatine his watch, “because I had to marque a speedy halt astatine Lady Gaga’s.”

The remark is offhand, meant to soothe alternatively than impressment due to the fact that Bifano works with the affluent and celebrated each time arsenic a maestro rosarian and plot designer. His lone advertizing is connection of mouth, and his longtime clients see Oprah, Barbra Streisand, Tom Ford and different Montecito-Malibu-area radical truthful backstage helium can’t sanction them due to the fact that of nondisclosure agreements.

He politely guffaws astatine the thought of a regular idiosyncratic like, say, this reporter, calling him for a consultation, but past hastily explains it’s due to the fact that helium truly can’t instrumentality connected immoderate much clients. He’ll beryllium 75 successful July, Bifano says, and he’s trying to chopped backmost truthful helium and his hubby tin walk much clip with their children and grandchildren.

A tall, slender man, Dan Bifano, striding connected a greenish tract adjacent the borderline of a cliff overlooking the ocean.

Bifano says he’s adjacent cutting backmost connected different passion: cycling. He utilized to thrust 100 miles a week. “But present I lone bash astir 75,” helium said. “I’m getting old.”

He says this seriously, adjacent though he’s striding astir Streisand’s 3-acre spot similar a leggy teenager. He’s gangly and truthful thin his skinny jeans look much similar a necessity than a manner statement. He’s wearing a basal pouch T-shirt, singular lone for its colour (raspberry), a bladed grey zip-up hoodie and a brace of colorful slip-on Vans that softly necktie the full ensemble together. His salt-and-pepper hairsbreadth is close-cropped similar an athlete’s, “because it’s each falling out,” helium laughed.

On this time successful mid-March, he’s delivering the ingredients for his celebrated integrated fertilizer “cocktail” to clients astir Malibu and Santa Monica, which volition beryllium utilized to provender Streisand’s postulation of much than 800 roses. He’s near a large stack of bags adjacent the gate, and needs to marque 1 much halt astatine Tom Ford’s location earlier helium drives backmost to his ain location successful Santa Barbara that night.

In Streisand’s bonzer garden, colour and fragrance are paramount, Bifano said. While galore features look earthy oregon aged, similar a stacked-stone span implicit the burbling stream, beside a ample pond with a elephantine h2o wheel, determination is thing that’s random oregon unplanned due to the fact that Streisand is precise astir what she wants.

A gangly slender antheral with close-cropped hairsbreadth sitting connected a plot seat holding a tray of burgundy coleus plants.

In March, however, the plot is conscionable emerging from winter. The perfectly pruned roses are conscionable opening to leafage retired and the plants successful the rootlike plot are seedlings. There’s inactive overmuch to beryllium done, specified arsenic planting much than 500 burgundy coleus astir 1 of the elaborate, custom-made structures connected the spot known arsenic the “Barn,” truthful named due to the fact that it resembles an old-fashioned reddish barn connected the outside. The plants were cautiously chosen by Bifano to beryllium an astir nonstop lucifer to its weathered, acheronian reddish overgarment due to the fact that Streisand believes colors successful the plot should lucifer the exterior of the buildings, and/or beryllium an hold of the colors inside.

Her imaginativeness is exacting, and usually nonnegotiable, and it’s Bifano’s occupation to marque it happen. Which suits him conscionable fine, since helium leans that mode himself.

When you’re aiming for perfection, adjacent the smallest details count.

Santa Barbara daisies turn on the cracks successful a chromatic bridge.

“It’s similar a movie set,” Bifano said, gesturing to the elegant barn, brook, bridges and each the plants that necktie them together. On that chilly March day, his extremity was “to person everything cleanable by her birthday” connected April 24.

That’s not thing Streisand demands, Bifano emphasizes later. It’s conscionable thing helium puts connected himself, and 1 of the main reasons his services are successful specified precocious demand.

Most of Bifano’s clients are well-heeled, with ample gardens successful swanky communities specified arsenic Montecito, Malibu and Bel-Air, but successful truth, helium said, his gardening task is much passionateness than business.

Bifano grew up successful Montecito and got a grade successful governmental science. He thought he’d beryllium a teacher, but soon discovered the schoolroom wasn’t for him, truthful helium invested successful multifamily lodging with his father. The income from those investments near him escaped to prosecute the passionateness helium developed erstwhile helium was 9, erstwhile his household moved from Indianapolis to a location successful Montecito formerly owned by a UC Santa Barbara botany professor.

Dew drops connected 2 cleanable heavy reddish roses known arsenic "In The Mood."

The spot included a ceremonial roseate plot with 100 roses, helium said. “That’s wherever my existent emotion for roses began, and I’ve had roses ever since.”

Bifano threw himself into the survey of roses, becoming a consulting rosarian done the American Rose Society, and 1 of the archetypal 3 maestro rosarian’s for the society’s Southwest District erstwhile the designation was created successful 2004. Like his bully person Tom Carruth, the famed roseate breeder who present oversees the Huntington’s roseate garden, Bifano is simply a walking encyclopedia of roses, acceptable for details astir each roseate we walk successful the garden, from its root and breeder to its quality to withstand disease.

Unlike Carruth, Bifano has ne'er been funny successful breeding roses. His absorption has ever been connected admiration and display, which helium said is casual successful Santa Barbara, which helium considers the champion rose-growing portion successful the U.S. “They commencement blooming present present [in April] and they’ll beryllium blooming until Christmas, and you conscionable can’t bash that anyplace else. In L.A., you person the summertime vigor that volition conscionable navigator your roses, but we don’t person that here.”

His gardening concern began by mishap successful 1979, erstwhile helium began volunteering astatine the A.C. Postel Memorial Rose Garden successful Santa Barbara’s Mission Historical Park. The city’s parkland attraction fund had been slashed aft Proposition 13 froze spot taxation revenues successful 1978, and the roseate plot was opening to deteriorate, Bifano said, truthful helium lobbied the metropolis assembly for backing to reconstruct it. They got a assistance of $50,000 from the Elizabeth Firth Wade Foundation — “a batch of wealth astatine that time” — and Bifano went to work.

By the mid-1980s, “The roseate plot came backmost beautifully, and I’ve been progressive determination [as a volunteer] ever since,” helium said, though successful caller years his biggest engagement has been starring hands-on rose-pruning demonstrations each January to get the each the roses pruned — astir 1,500 successful all. (The metropolis of Santa Barbara’s Annual Rose Pruning Day is advertised connected Instagram @sbparksandrec and attracts 100 to 150 radical each year.)

A man's manus holding a heavy yellowish roseate known arsenic Julia Child.

It was publicity astir the restoration that led to his archetypal backstage gardening gig successful the precocious 1980s — a affluent lawsuit wanted him to make a roseate plot arsenic a Christmas acquisition for her husband. It turned retired truthful well, she asked him to make another, and soon her friends were calling him with requests for gardens of their own. After Streisand saw 1 of his gardens, she had her adjunct telephone him to petition his assistance with her spot successful Malibu. And different celebrities followed suit.

A gangly slender man, Dan Bifano, lasting successful a furniture of airy pinkish roses with a ample pink-trimmed religion successful the background

His absorption is connected creating and maintaining large-scale roseate gardens. “I surely would enactment for radical who are not wealthy,” helium said, “but gardens with 200 [roses] is benignant of minimum for me; 500 is the mean and immoderate are good implicit 1,000 — I’ve created 7 roseate gardens for Oprah — truthful you’re talking astir a batch of money, not conscionable for installation but for maintenance. It takes a batch of manpower to instrumentality attraction of 500 roses, oregon adjacent 200 roses. I archer people, 200 roses are going to instrumentality 8 hours a week that are concentrated connected thing other but the roses.”

Bifano doesn’t person his ain plot unit — “I person radical who enactment for maine successful my flat buildings, and that’s enough.” Instead helium works with contractors helium respects aft galore years of doing projects with them.

They bash astir of the carnal enactment these days, nether his guidance, but Bifano inactive makes the rounds astatine his client’s gardens. By precocious April, erstwhile the roses commencement blooming, they’ve already been pruned and fertilized, but Bifano is ever connected the prowl for immoderate signs of illness oregon pests.

Vigilance and speedy enactment are particularly important present due to the fact that Bifano lone uses integrated power methods, truthful nary chemic pesticides oregon herbicides. His attack to removing aphids, for instance, is to bring retired a tiny overgarment brushwood arsenic soon arsenic they’re spotted, to virtually expanse them disconnected the plants. “My neighbors deliberation I’m nuts, they deliberation I’m coating my roses red,” helium said, laughing. “But if you conscionable sound them disconnected erstwhile they archetypal appear, they enactment away. If you hold until they’re packed connected [the stem], they commencement to ooze sticky worldly and past it’s excessively late.”

Bifano said helium doesn’t person a “typical” client. Some are pickier than others, “although nobody’s arsenic peculiar arsenic Barbra ... she’s ever a situation and that’s 1 of the reasons I emotion moving for her.”

A airy butterscotch colored roseate hangs successful the aerial with a sweeping water presumption down it

But successful general, helium said, “I find billionaires the easiest to enactment with due to the fact that they thin to not person the clip to get straight involved. They springiness maine an thought of what they privation and I bash it, and for the astir part, they thin to beryllium happy.”

For instance, 1 affluent lawsuit wanted a roseate plot with blooms that matched her location decor. “She didn’t adjacent conscionable me. She conscionable said, ‘Go wrong and prime roses that lucifer my interiors,’ and it was casual due to the fact that everything was pinkish and flowered. I enactment successful a ample roseate plot with thing but pinkish roses and she was thrilled.”

Another longtime lawsuit sold her mansion and moved into a 3,000-square-foot condominium connected apical of a 41-story tower. She wanted a large roseate plot wrong her house, helium said, “and it was astir similar a terrarium. It was gorgeous erstwhile it bloomed.” But due to the fact that the plot was each enclosed, the roses ne'er got due ventilation and ever developed problems. “I redid her plot 3 times earlier she gave up. We’d teardrop 1 retired and enactment successful another, wasting a large woody of wealth hauling ungraded and plants up 40 floors successful an elevator. ... But it was hard to accidental nary to this fantastic woman.”

A man's manus with a golden wedding set tenderly supports a perfectly formed, purplish-red roseate known arsenic Prospero.

Bifano insists determination aren’t immoderate concealed tips for moving with the rich. “They’re conscionable the radical who thin to prosecute me,” helium said. “If you person a bully enactment ethic and cognize what you’re talking about, you volition delight immoderate lawsuit and that’s what I effort to do.”

Besides, Bifano said, “I effort not to deliberation of them arsenic celebrities. I deliberation of them arsenic radical who emotion roses.”

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