Spring Bursts Forth for Annual Garden Tour

The annual Pacific Palisades Garden Club Garden Tour and Plant Sale will take place on Sunday, April 26, noon to 4 p.m., rain or shine.   The plant market will be open noon to 4 p.m. at 1416 Amalfi Dr.   Advance tickets are $25; $30 on day of tour. Proceeds benefit education and beautification in the Palisades. Tickets available in Pacific Palisades at: ‘ The Outdoor Room Nursery, 17311 Sunset Blvd. ‘ Farmers’ market on Swarthmore Avenue on April 19 ‘ Plant market on the day of the tour   In West Los Angeles: Yamaguchi Nursery, 1905 Sawtelle Blvd.   In Santa Monica: Merrihew’s Nursery, 1526 Ocean Park Blvd.   Or by mail: Pacific Palisades Garden Club, 261 S. Carmelina Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90049 423 Abramar   For this family, outdoor living is key, and the back yard takes center stage. Once dominated by a 1950’s kidney-shaped swimming pool with a flagstone surround, the area has been transformed into two generous spaces: one for swimming and water play, the other a patio decked out with a gas barbecue and formal dining area’covered with two shade sails, one blue, one yellow. A small bridge of floating concrete pavers crosses a koi pond, which is surrounded by a pygmy date palm, black mondo grass and decorative asparagus.   The landscaper extended what had been a meager patio to become an open platform looking out over the same swimming pool’updated with new plaster and a saltwater system that eliminates chlorine. The wall adjacent to the patio is faced with multicolor mosaics, and enhanced by a waterfall.   A stainless steel railing, strung with stainless wires offers a transparent safety fence for the guests above. The view from the deck area across the pool is a triumph of color and texture. The landscape designer traveled the world, so to speak, for her plant palette. Trees that help to enclose and provide privacy from the next-door house include a Kentia palm, Eureka lemon and a carrotwood. Large ginger plants and bird of paradise camouflage the aboveground hot tub. 1027 Galloway This tiny taupe cottage sits cheerily, surrounded by a garden that speaks to the owner’s native Kentucky roots. The garden’s evolution began with a small magnolia tree that the owner had planted a few years ago in the front lawn. Now, a lush perennial flowerbed encompasses the ‘Little Gem’ magnolia. Honoring the Victorian garden fashion of strong use of evergreens and topiaries, two vertical evergreens add interest close by. A blue spire of juniper, and a dark green columnar yew stand like two sentries, side by side. As if grown from seedlings dropped from neighboring woodlands, the two differing genera bring a look of natural happenstance and a feeling of grandness to this small garden. These English garden design principles favored in the Southern and Eastern states came into play while garden designer Heidi Santschi worked to create a ‘Kentucky feeling.’ Beds swoon and curve around lawn dotted with Virginia Blue stepping-stones. The same Bluestone brings a touch of the countryside in the form of a traditionally Southern dry stack wall. Pink iceberg shrub roses en masse remind the owner of the pink peonies she loves. Heliotrope and pink diosma sweeten the air. Plants like Geranium maderense suggest peony foliage. Oak leaf hydrangeas give fall color and giant white conical blooms in spring and summer. Heidi searched for plants that would evoke the romantic, fragrant, steamy gardens of the South, but would be adaptable to shale and clay soil.   Many more Southern-flavored textures, colors and scents fill the beds and the air in the front and back garden; and beyond a Kentucky whiskey-barrel fountain, a wisteria drips over a neo-classical pergola, where a white old-fashioned metal glider beckons. 721 Via de la Paz Indoors pleasingly meets outdoors at this newer traditional home, with languorous pillared porches gracing both the front and back facades. Landscape designer Laurie Lewis, in collaboration with the owners, decided to scrap an existing white picket fence in favor of placing a low stone wall of warm earth tones along the sidewalk. An interesting mix of grasses and other low-maintenance plants enliven the parkway with texture and color. Once inside the gate, drama unfolds as six evergreen pear trees form a canopy above a long cobblestone path accented with thyme. The journey rewards, culminating at a gravel courtyard where a giant sycamore tree rises majestically. Lavender spills over boxwood to soften the formality. Bay laurel trees, planted for screening along the gravel pathway to the rear, create an unusual, tunneled effect. Once in the back yard, four raised vegetable gardens surrounded by gravel take center stage. Many varieties of lettuce, herbs and peppers are among the bounty. The focal point, a large stone-clad fountain, gurgles from the back wall. As in the front, symmetry reigns, with four California pepper trees arranged in perfect square formation. 708 Wildomar A ranch house with a relaxed, cottage-like feel sets the stage for this delightfully eclectic garden created by owner Mimi Kahn, who heads Mimi’s Garden Design. Drought-resistant plants, highlighted by iceberg roses, give life to the parkway. Softly undulating beds dominate the front yard, with yellow blooms giving punch to an assortment of variegated plants. Handsome pots of ‘Gartenmeister’ fuchsia, a magnet for hummingbirds, accent the front porch Once you enter the back yard, one of the owner’s passions becomes clear. Unusual arrangements of succulents abound, tucked into bamboo, old toy wheelbarrows and other interesting vessels, many garage sale finds. Teak dining furniture and vintage garden chairs dot the landscape, providing ample resting spots from which to gaze upon Japanese maples, Chinese lantern plants and bleeding-heart bushes. A stone pathway leads to a ‘hidden’ garden tucked in the far back corner, where a profusion of vegetables, citrus trees and colorful annuals spring forth in a charmed free-form arrangement. 565 Dryad Rd. Masked behind dense foliage and a ‘bleeding’ brick wall in Santa Monica Canyon is the historic Hacienda Mojica, built in 1929. Now home to La Se’ora Research Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to documenting early California history, the house and gardens sit on hallowed ground. The site was once part of the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica, a Mexican land grant given to Francisco Marquez and Ysidro Reyes in 1839. Nearly a century later, Jose Mojica, a Mexican opera singer and film star, began work on his hacienda, inspired by the wish to recreate his family’s ancestral home in Mexico. Mojica also yearned for plants from his native land and brought many subtropical plants across the border. The design is more English than Mexican in style, with distinct ‘garden rooms’ fashioned throughout the expansive property. The main room is the large patio, where unusual decorative encaustic tiles define the area. Formal beds surround the patio, each with a theme. The largest area has mature sycamore trees; the bed in the shadiest corner is devoted to ferns and orchids; camellias spring forth in another area; and the remaining bed picks up the theme of the theatrical pool area with giant purple and white birds of paradise mixed with King and Queen Palms. Old pittosporum trees line the ‘promenade’ leading to the Rancho chapel, which will be included on the tour and staffed by docents. Koi ponds and stone bridges, dense fern beds and night-blooming jasmine are all part of the mix. Roses are the passion of the current owner and the garden boasts 36 varieties. A small rancho-style vegetable garden planted with onions, tomatoes, artichokes, and beans is also home to large pots of potatoes, figs and navel oranges at this venerable location. 766 Via de la Paz   Jill Sullivan’s succulent garden could be leagues under the sea for its jewel-like blooms.   Determined not to be a slave to water, Sullivan designed a garden that shows extraordinary research into drought-tolerant plants, expanding the palette beyond the California native repertoire.   Greeting the visitor at the parkway is a platoon of agaves, remarkable at this season with their orange blooms. Two large sculptural Aloe striate in huge ceramic pots guard the entrance to the front yard. Three ‘Forest Pansy’ redbud’a purple-leaved understory tree and true harbinger of spring’define the perimeter of the front garden.   Sullivan has fun with plants, alternating between the stunning, black-leaved Aeonium arboreum ‘Schwarzkopf’ with the arresting yellow spikes, and a wide assortment of colorful succulents, which bloom successively throughout the year.   The back yard is designed for a family that likes to entertain and loves to collect. Jill’s collection of agaves, cactus, bromeliads and artful rocks from China crowd the patio. On one side, a horny-toad fountain spills down toward the back yard.   The back yard is bisected by rectangular pavers set in shiny Mexican pebbles that seem to float toward the planter that anchors the back of the property. Honey locust trees (gleditsia), lacey-leaved similar to jacaranda but not messy, line the path. The planter is filled with sand and scattered with seashells, coral and intruded rocks, along with an assortment of fascinating yucca and aloes. Notice the beautiful marble dinner table, supported on stacked bluestone columns.