In his Southern California backyard, a classically trained horticulturist bends the rules without quite breaking them
But there’s much from Gimbel’s time abroad that informs his choices today. For instance, a series of rooms in U.K. landscapes that he describes as “revelatory.” “You go into a space and you’re distracted by portals into other gardens,” he says. “It stretches out the experience.”
Nowhere is this more evident than in the nearly 9,000-square-foot lot surrounding Gimbel’s Long Beach home, about an hour south of Los Angeles. He uses hand-cast paths, privacy screens, brightly colored walls, and creative fencing to define the boundaries of several outdoor rooms.
Ultimately, Gimbel takes his horticultural training and pulls from it what works, tosses what doesn’t, and reinterprets as he sees fit. “In my garden,” he says, “there are no rules.”