Avant gardens

Sunset, July, 1994 by Peter O. Whiteley

Bold colors, sculptural forms, unusual textures...and some plants, too

Most garden designers subscribe to a familiar school of style. Some lean toward the free-form charm of English cottage gardens, while others prefer the spartan serenity of Japanese landscapes. But, as in any field of creative endeavor, there are those designers who choose to explore new directions.

One of the strongest trends is to rely on manmade forms as well as nature's own to achieve an exciting interplay of texture and color. The designers featured here have not, however, lost sight of the important tenet that gardens are for people. These are functional but visually surprising spaces that invite you to come outside and enjoy their beauty.

A sculptured garden

It's not unusual for a garden to contain a piece of sculpture or two, but the garden created by the San Francisco firm of Delaney/Cochran/Castillo is the sculpture. Running through the rectangular yard are brightly colored stucco walls, welded-metal trellis walls, rows of handmade concrete tiles, a trapezoidal courtyard of lavender calico rock, bands of pink concrete, and swaths of massed plants. Designer Topher Delaney even considered the passage of time--the shapes of shadows cast by walls, and the changing color of vines trained on the welded-metal trellis walls--as an essential component of the garden's plan.

The vibrant colors of the freestanding walls were drawn from a Mediterranean palette of ocher, lavender, and dark blue. The owners used a complementary terra-cotta color on the back wall of their house.

Large groupings of carefully selected plants complement the oversize scale of the garden's "hardscape" elements. The massings emphasize the forms of particular plants and increase the visual impact of their blossoms when they flower. Plants were chosen for their drought tolerance as well as their aesthetic appeal. They include Salvia clevelandii, 'Tuscan Blue' rosemary, Italian cypress, bougainvillea, trumpet vine, lavender, and dwarf agapanthus.

International funk

Bits of Mexico, Korea, Southeast Asia, England, grade-school playground, and contemporary funk are mixed together in the small backyard garden created by San Jose landscape designer Cevan Forristt for owners Michele and Rickson Sun. The garden is divided into seven zones, each with a distinct function and look. The details and diversity of the garden enrich it to the extent that, as Michele put it, "if all the plants died, it would still look good."

The garden entry is flanked by freestanding columns made from celadon-glazed flue tiles. Electrical and drip-irrigation lines run through the columns to lights and plants placed in their crowns.

Beyond the columns is a raised patio that looks like a giant chessboard. The patio is edged with a band of concrete and made with precut squares of terra-cotta-colored Arizona flagstone and soft gray Connecticut bluestone. A set of four copper chairs, a circular table, and some handmade plant containers are the only pieces on the "board."

Other garden zones include a berm with a low fountain ringed by "ruins" made from pieces of a granite lantern, a private sitting area shrouded by bamboo and screened by sheets of copper overlaid with manzanita branches, a barbecue area with a counter that cantilevers from the garage wall, and a play structure for the kids.

Behind bright walls

An overexposed front yard got a bright face-lift when owners Diane and George Mkitarian of Santa Monica masked it with walls that warm the neighborhood with cheerful colors. Before, the corner lot and house lay open to views and noise from a busy street. To cut down on visual and acoustical intrusions, the owners constructed thick concrete-block walls along the sidewalk. The sculptural walls curve in and out and step up and down, ranging in height from 3 1/2 to more than 6 feet.

The audacious walls have cut down on street noise and provided a sheltered yard for the Mkitarians and their children. The colorful garden also has had one unexpected side benefit for the whole neighborhood: "It has been our contribution to slowing down traffic," says Diane.