See the plants in this garden

Landscaping with gravel

Lose the lawn

Let your yard go wild

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 below.

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.

Thomas J. Story
Italian cypress, olive trees, and other classical Mediterranean plants blend with 'Hopley's' purple oregano, white 'Iceberg' roses, golden coreopsis, and red 'Garnet' penstemon in a casual planting near the entry.

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."

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.

Thomas J. Story
'Paprika' yarrow and 'Walker's Low' catmint edge a secluded seating area.

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 this thirsty part of the country ought to go in the land, Lamont says. That's one reason she used gravel throughout the garden.

Small-Scale Water Features Because water is a precious resource, using it respectfully in the garden is a tradition. "Something lavish would have been out of character here," Lamont says.

Empty Containers In a hot climate, planted pots are hard to maintain, but empty ones look great.

Design: Susan Collier Lamont, Lamontscapes, Santa Rosa, CA 707/569-9922); Jay Tripathi and Peter Estournes, Gardenworks, Healdsburg, CA (707/857-2050)

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