Looking back, my role in the Victoria Garden Mews project was not so much designing a garden as it was helping the residents create a communal way of life, one that would take place at the outdoor table over laughter and tumblers of wine, a garden that would provide a bountiful harvest — fruit trees… Read More
I love grand old estates. I grew up peering through the gates of the magnificent old homes in my home town of Altadena and in neighboring Pasadena. I’ve been fortunate to have worked on a number some fabulous old properties here in Santa Barbara over the past thirty-odd years. So when the owners of Villa… Read More
The story of Victoria Garden Mews would not be complete without bragging on my friend and colleague Dennis Allen, the visionary who made the project happen. (See our previous posts Part 1: First Steps and Part 2: A Project (and a Garden) Comes to Life if you missed the beginning of the story.) Before sustainability… Read More
Aging in place, in a special place: when we last left our Victoria Garden Mews story, three couples were ready to create a space for communal living, to share food and laughter and a garden enclosed by all of their homes. Before its renovation, the Victoria Garden Mews property was ramshackle. All that was salvageable… Read More
One of the projects in our portfolio that means the most to us is Victoria Garden Mews. Not just because it’s sustainable. Not because it won awards. Not because it received national coverage in the Wall Street Journal and on the American Society of Landscape Architect’s blog. The project was born out of friendships and… Read More
It was a long time coming: after what seemed like an interminable construction project, the family in an elegant Mediterranean in the San Roque neighborhood of Santa Barbara was ready to begin the experience of outdoor living in a new backyard. The only problem? After 3 years, there was still no yard to live in.… Read More
I love beautiful gardens and gorgeous natural landscapes. I’m amazed by the design of nature, of working ecosystems. Yes, I’m fascinated by geology… think rocks and minerals and streams and forests and trees and seeds and birds and bugs and worms and animals and clouds and weather. These are among the most beautiful things in… Read More
Back when I first started posting about Villa del Greco, I laid it out for you: we chose to launch with this series because this garden in particular reveals the process of how we partner with clients and the kinds of results we get. I can’t say enough how great it is to work with… Read More
We’ve already discussed the process that led to the Smith garden redesign, including the Moorish star motif that was repeated throughout the landscape. But how did the luscious, rich tile patterns actually come to be pieced together? That’s a story unto itself. As I’ve mentioned, the original intersection of the primary and secondary axes of… Read More
Back to Villa del Greco, this time to talk about how the garden’s new fountains came to be. The courtyard and wall fountains were from a renovation that took place in the 1990s, while the home was from the 1920s. As I previously mentioned, the owner was keen on restoring as many original details of… Read More