A NORTHCOAST SEASIDE RETREAT — LITTLE RIVER

Nestled into a unique 5-acre property in a very special setting just south of Mendocino, this multi-layered garden presents many challenges and has much more to offer. Members of TBL were part of the team hired to design and install neglected and unfinished parts of the original, mostly native landscape. We overcame many of the hurdles we were faced with: salt spray, high winds, steep slopes, rocky soil, burrowing pests, birds, dogs, rabbits and deer. The toughest location, the bluff outside the living room/kitchen window walls, became a showcase tapestry of succulents, unrolling along a serpentine stairway of natural stone accented with large urns. On calm, peaceful days the succulents provide a soothing order with their perfect carpets and geometric spirals. On dramatic, stormy days they stand strong and offer comfort with their undaunted depths of color and their subtle movements in high winds.

Inside the Japanese influenced concrete and slate home, the window walls open to dramatic views of the breakwater below, framed by pine trees and long vistas of the horizon set on fire by sunsets or lit by the silvery moonshine after dark. The owners needed quiet and calm, and so we soothed the edges to these views and chose plant material in keeping with those needs. The urns are integrated into the slope so as to imitate the jagged coastline while the water pots show how the garden embraces the ocean’s theme.

A new path winds in opposite curves up an otherwise inaccessible slope, creating countless views of the area’s natural beauty. At the top of the path you find the intimate guest house with its serene and personal garden surrounds, and a few yards further you come to the entrance into the meadow. A beautiful iron gate invites you to explore this large landscape, with a reflecting pond, rock bordered patio, terraced vegetable garden, rolling meadow, and pine and fir forest perimeter. All areas of this meadow garden have their own special features that define each area as a separate room while blending gently together and smoothly into the natural landscape beyond. When I first arrived at this site the entrance gate took my breath away. That gate at the beginning of the property says here reside people who care for and love the land they live on and the art brought onto the land should live up to that philosophy in every way.