Riffs: Beverly Coates, photographer

“In addition to being a painter and sculptor—his oils of mossy landscapes and country cabins are prized possessions in many homes—Steele was a landscape architect, having designed some of Baton Rouge’s most beautiful gardens. His style of lawns bordered with flower beds behind graceful curves of border grass became his trademark. And he always planted trees in just the right spots. He used live oaks and crepe myrtles in particular and some of those plantings are very much in evidence today. But, if a tree grew in the wrong place he would not hesitate to remove it. In my own case he recommended we remove two large pecan trees and a large water oak. We followed his advice and have been forever grateful. Not only does our garden look better, but if we hadn’t done it, Gustav would probably have done it for us.”