Easy-care tapestry: tough, unthirsty plantings thrive in this Carmel garden

Sunset, Nov, 2004 by Lauren Bonar Swezey

Claire Dungan's Mediterranean garden in Carmel is well orchestrated for color and texture. It's also a solution for a difficult site where water is precious and deer visit regularly.

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Dungan, a garden designer, found the chalky soil so hard, she needed a jackhammer to break through it before getting started. She then brought in fresh topsoil and began planting. The colors in her borders flow together beautifully, and each section is composed separately. Here and there, tall plants are positioned where you can see through them or admire their beautiful forms--even at the border's front. Two of Dungan's favorites are the perennial grass Muhlenbergia lindheimeri and red-leaf Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii 'Atropurpurea').

Between the grasses and shrubs, Dungan grows heirloom roses and swaths of gray groundcover, such as 'Cotton Boll' lamb's ears. "Gray softens the dark purples and acts as a hyphen between plants," she explains.

DESIGN: Claire Dungan, Carmel (831/626-0233)

PHOTOGRAPH BY SAXON HOLT