When visitors wind their way onto Northwest Arthur Circle in a peaceful Corvallis neighborhood, they see a house featuring a yard like no other.

The house is nearly hidden because of what might best be called a small park. Every possible place where something could grow on the quarter-acre lot has something in the ground: trees, flowers, grape and berry vines, and all kinds of vegetation.

Neighborhood kids affectionately call the couple who’ve lived here for 33 years “Jungle Grandma and Grandpa.”

“Planting a tree is an act of hope,” said Natalie Daley. “You plant history. That tree becomes part of your life as it grows.”

Daley and her husband, Larry, married for more than 50 years, planted the first tree in the yard when their son, now 43, requested a tree for his seventh birthday.

His father selected a tree with a long lineage, a Metasequoia from the redwood family. Now more than 30-feet tall, the tree arrived at the family home in a small pot.

Larry Daley is more than an amateur gardener. He earned his doctorate in plant physiology, the structure of plants, and was a professor of horticulture at Oregon State University, the campus just a few miles from the family home.

Now retired, Natalie Daley was a professor of technical writing and literature at Linn-Benton Community College, and an adjunct at OSU.

Larry and Natalie Daley started their garden with a single tree. Now it is the most distinctive garden in the Corvallis neighborhood.

“We’ve always had a deal,” said Natalie Daley, 73. “The inside of the house, with all the houseplants, is mine to do as I see fit. His world is outside.”

After planting the first tree, the couple’s two other children requested trees on their birthdays, said Larry Daley, 83. The tradition continued over the years with Daley continually adding plants and trees that reminded him of his past.

He’s the great grandson of General Calixto Garcia, who fought to gain Cuba’s independence from Spain. Daley – his mother Cuban and his father Irish – was born in Liverpool, England.

In 1948, the family moved to Cuba so his mother could be close to her family, who owned and operated a coffee farm.

Back in Cuba, Daley was part of the rebellion that led to Fidel Castro coming to power. In 1961, after publicly questioning the new leader’s role in guiding the country, Daley was arrested.

His British citizenship bought him his freedom, and he escaped to Florida with his family in 1962.

There, he earned a bachelor’s degree and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Florida before earning a doctorate in biochemistry and biophysics from University of California, Davis. He retired from OSU in 2006 as a professor emeritus.

“We moved into this house when I was 10,” said his daughter, Jillian Daley. “The garden speaks to my father’s roots, and the homeland he lost. He worked on it every day, but now needs a little help. He loves to show it off, take people in the yard and show off the fig tree, the apple tree, the palm tree and the grape vines.”

Daley said he thought of his mother and grandfather when he worked in the garden.

“We had land in the foothills,” he said. “Cuban vegetation is so diverse. Our dining room table faces the yard. Just looking at it brings me peace.”

The couple realizes there will be a time when they will move from the home.

“We have had this discussion about what will happen to our yard,” said Natalie Daley.

Her husband worries a new owner will destroy it all.

“They yard is our family’s legacy,” he said.

The couple plans to stipulate that whoever buys the house must maintain the garden as is for five years.

“During that time, they will grow to appreciate it,” said Natalie Daley. “It will be part of their life, and they will leave it be.”

-- Tom Hallman Jr; thallman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8224; @thallmanjr

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.