Sun gardens: fountains, perennials, and grasses make Mediterranean-style plantings look at home among California's golden-hills

Sunset, Sept, 2007 by Sharon Cohoon

A HOUSE NEEDS TO CONNECT with its natural surroundings to feel truly at home. That's the case even when the house is a Mediterranean villa, like the one pictured on these pages. Garden designer Susan Lamont could have surrounded the Healdsburg, California, home of Ross and Gillian Stromberg with a typically Tuscan landscape of clipped boxwood hedges, but those might have made the property look as artificial as a stage set. Instead, she chose the right plants to successfully bridge the gap between the Strombergs' Old World--style house and the younger, wilder landscape around it. By doing so, she also created gardens that stand up to the valley's sun.

In a courtyard left of the entry, Lamont blended Mediterranean classics such as Italian cypress and olive trees with California natives such as ceanothus. The Boston ivy covering the walls and the 'Iceberg' roses could be found at a villa in Tuscany. But the style is Western--more free-form than geometric.

To visually connect home to hills, Lamont chose ornamental grasses. She introduced a few in the courtyard; farther out she planted them en masse to echo the golden shoulders of the surrounding slopes. Ornamental grasses change with the season--green in spring, gold in summer--just like the ones that cover the hills. "That's what makes them such great transitional plants," Lamont says. The way they reflect the sun is another asset, as is how they move in wind. "Because they're wavy and breezy and soft, the grasses make the garden feel a bit wild," she adds. One caveat: Their showy plumes can turn into seed factories and make the plants highly invasive. For this reason, Lamont chooses them carefully. Which grasses are problematic depends on where you live.

To give the grasses some more punch, Lamont added small-flowered perennials that you might expect to find in a meadow, such as asters, coreopsis, globe mallow, and toadflax. "Herbaceous perennials like asters are such fun," she says. "They disappear, you forget about them, and then they pop up again like a surprise gift."

Ornamental grasses change with the season--green in spring, gold in summer--just like the ones that cover the hills

The Strombergs wanted roses in their landscape too. And because Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grow on their property, Lamont found this an easy request to honor. "Roses at the end of grapevine rows are a common sight throughout the valley," she says, "so seeing the two together in the landscape here seems natural."

Thanks to the transition the gardens now provide, the Tuscan-style house seamlessly connects with the oak-covered hills of California's wine country. Instead of looking like it would rather be in Italy, the garden seems perfectly at home.

DESIGN Susan Collier Lamont, Lamontscapes, Santa Rosa, CA (www.lamontscapes.com or 707/569-9922); Jay Tripathi and Peter Estournes, Gardenworks, Healdsburg, CA (www.gardenworks-inc. com or 707/857-2050)>114

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The plants

1. Feather reed grass Calamagrostis x acuti-flora has a vertical growth habit and showy seed heads.

2. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes A cluster from the Strombergs' vineyards shows the seeded, pearl-size grapes in various stages of ripeness.

3. 'Moonshine' yarrow The sunny hues of this Mediterranean perennial complement the violet-blue spikes of catmint (Nepeta).

4. 'Sally Holmes' A vigorous white rose, it blooms in huge clusters.

5. 'Hot Cocoa' This floribunda rose bears red blossoms.

6. Pennisetum orientale A pretty, midsize (2 ft.) grass explodes with showy pink to white plumes.

7. Sedum telephium Flower clusters open purplish pink and age to brownish maroon.

8. Coleonema pulchrum 'Sunset Gold' Yellow foliage distinguishes this heathlike shrub with tiny pink flowers.

9. Aster cordifolius 'Little Carlow' Deep violet-blue flowers cluster atop plants that grow 3 to 4 ft. tall.

10. Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa) Despite the showiness of its whorls of golden flowers, this Mediter-ranean perennial is reliably heat-and drought-tolerant.

11. Berberis thunbergii 'Rose Glow' The bronzy red Japanese barberry colors up best in full sun.

12. Coreopsis grandiflora 'Sunray' Like the rest of the sunflower family, this bright yellow perennial blooms all summer on little water.

Elements of a sun garden

Landscapes that look good in the sun are designed to stand up to it as well as celebrate it.

SHIMMER Fine-textured plants such as grasses reflect the sun brilliantly. Because they are used extensively in this garden, the whole landscape seems to dance with light.

SUMMER BLONDNESS The garden acknowledges that blond is the natural color of summer in California. The tawny flower plumes of Calamagrostis x acutiflora (feather reed grass) match the amber hues of the hills,.

DROUGHT-TOLERANT PLANTS Most of the plants in the Strombergs' garden are moderate water users, even the shrub roses. 'They're tougher than people think," Lamont says. The ones you find in the Sierra foothills are centuries. old examples: "They've survived all this time on rainfall alone."

SHADE The best way to enjoy the sun is from a shaded location. The Strombergs' mature oaks shelter outdoor living areas.

PERMEABLE HARDSCAPE

Every drop of rain that falls in the thirsty part of the country ought to go in the land, Lamont says. That's one reason she used grave throughout the garden.