See how a boring Southern California yard got a stunning Hawaiian makeover, complete with tropical plants and a lagoon
In the '90s, Jack Rice took a business trip to Kauai with his wife, Kathy. Almost as soon as their plane touched down, the couple fell wildly in love with the Islands. Over the next few years, the couple frequently returned to Hawaii with their sons, John and Matt, ultimately visiting all the major Islands. Kathy took up hula dancing; Jack fantasized about buying a place there. “I love plants, and envisioned dragging a hose around my garden in Hawaii,” he says. But their sons (now grown) wanted to stay in California.
So Jack and Kathy decided to bring Hawaii to Orange County utilizing a number of landscaping ideas. At first, Jack simply replaced a few junipers bordering the front lawn with palms or cycads. But then the couple hired designer Brian Ackerman to turn the whole yard into a tropical oasis. The large swimming pool was redone (making it smaller and shapelier), and Ackerman added a thatched-roof pavilion that recalls a Hawaiian hale. Throughout the garden, they layered on more tropical plants.
Before the lush makeover, an angular 1950s swimming pool dominated the backyard, with tiny patios crowded around its edges.
The shapely pool and Hawaiian-style pavilion make the space seem roomier, while palms and other greenery create privacy and add island ambience to the backyard design. The lagoon pool has 10-foot-wide “wade-in” steps, a spa with adjacent lounge island, anda deep end for swimming. An interior finish (Pebble Sheen in Ocean Blue, from Pebble Technology International; pebbletec.com) gives the water its color and shimmer—“like iridescent abalone,” says the garden’s designer.
The front yard was mostly lawn, dotted with junipers, palms, and a pepper tree. The corner lot offered little privacy from the street.
Bromeliads, cycads,plumerias, and red ti plants form a verdant tapestry beneath tall palms, yet plantings use less water than the replaced lawn.
The custom gate is stained to match the pool pavilion. The wooden caps topping the pillars on either side are removeable if repainting the stucco is needed. "This entry sets the tone for the whole garden," says Jack Rice.
Throughout the garden, king, queen, and pygmy date palms tower above cycads, plumerias, variegated schefflera, yellow gingers, red ti plants, and bromeliads that include the showy Billbergia pyramidalis. To fill in, Jack moved some houseplants outdoors, such as a staghorn fern that he mounted to a palm beside the pool.
A bridge inside the gate leads visitors over the black-bottom koi pond and through palms to the front door. “When I suggested locating the pond near the entry,” says Ackerman, “the Rices thought I was nuts.” But they grew to love it. “The pond is a real wow factor,” adds Jack. “When we’re expecting guests, we’ll often look out to find them crouched over the pond, eye to eye with the fish.”
Designed by Ackerman of mostly clear heart redwood with louvered pillars, the pavilion is stained to match the gates (Sikkins Cetol Log & Siding in Natural Oak) and has a simulated palm thatched roof of fireproof fiberglass. “You could smoke a cigar in a hurricane out there and not set the roof on fire,” says Ackerman. Travertine tile covers the floor.
Piled high with lava rock, the gas-fed firepit recalls an active Big Island volcano in miniature. Just 2 feet deep and 2 feet square, the firepit is located between the outdoor pavilion and the house, so the Rices can enjoy it from both places.