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by: Debra Prinzing
Salvaged materials, lavish plantings, vintage collectibles—and some sleight of hand—create a new garden with old-world character .
Effortless Garden Character
It’s one of those enviably breezy, billowy dreamscapes straight out of a cof- fee-table book on Tuscany or Provence. But Matlin Mirman cultivates her ro- mantic plantings on about a third of her one-acre property in the hills above Los Angeles, home to sunny days, temperate zones, and 12 months of bloom. Fragrant flowering vines scramble up porch posts and trees, and from some- where in the distance comes the musical sound of a tinkling fountain. Coffee is served on a weathered stone patio that faces east; cocktails, on another one, oriented due west. The whole place exudes effortless, lived-in character. Shown: Flowers drape and spill over the sides of weathered wood containers on a sheltered flagstone patio that now fronts a 1950s house in Southern California.
Gardening Tips Worth Stealing
And that’s just the illusion Matlin was going for. Acting as general contractor and chief visionary, she spent a year carving this slice of paradise from a site whose main features were a huge 1950s brick patio with an aging pink-con- crete swimming pool and a steep hillside fraught with its own litany of woes, from poor drainage to diseased trees to rat-infested mountains of ivy. With the exception of a dozen or so mature native oaks and killer views of the canyon below, virtually none of the landscape you see here existed. Matlin’s garden may look like it’s deeply rooted in the past, with plenty of worn-around-the- edges patina, but that’s an impression created through plenty of thoughtful, smart decisions.
Here, she shares her (totally stealable) tips, tricks, ideas, and inspirations for creating a new garden with a welcoming look and been-there-forever charm. Enhance The Architecture
What began as a contemporary house got a European farmhouse feel with the addition of a shed roof that extends over the renovated patio’s flooring, a mix of three warm shades of Arizona flagstone.
Add on Rustic Elements
What began as a contemporary house got a European farmhouse feel with the addition of a shed roof that extends over the renovated patio’s flooring, a mix of three warm shades of Arizona flagstone.
Surround a Deck With Lush Greenery
Matlin Mirman on a 14-by-14-foot deck she restored with new railings and floor stain. Located at the very rear of the property, the deck feels as if it were sus- pended in the tree canopy. The quiet seating area allows Matlin and husband Bob to feel surrounded by nature, though they’re in the midst of a densely populated city.
Old gardens, like old houses, often have wings added later. Matlin mapped out the new patios and deck on paper, then (where possible) with spray paint on the ground. Three distinct “rooms” for dining, entertaining, and viewing the landscape are connected by a meandering path. This irregularly shaped red- wood deck, 12 by 20 feet along its longest side, was “aged” with Benjamin Moore’s Fresh Brew stain.
Build a Retaining Wall for Continuity
The new retaining wall helped stabilize the hillside. While structurally vital, it also provides continuity that helps connect garden rooms and defines the patio space. The actual wall is constructed of concrete block reinforced with rebar. The 18-inch-high sitting wall seen here is veneered with 8-inch river rocks cut in half; their rounded contours add textural interest, and their varied colors play off the warm shades of the fieldstone paving, which also serves as the wall’s cap.
Use Well-Loved Garden Furniture
The chippy, shabby painted bench is exactly the sort of well-loved piece you’d stumble upon in an old garden. Faux-aged concrete fits right in—witness the colorfully planted urns on either side.
Plant en Masse
Matlin wouldn’t say to ignore the plant-spacing advice found on nursery tags, but you can make a new garden look old-world mature if you group young plants together, recognizing that you might need to transplant some later on. In containers, she really packs in the annuals, adjusting watering and feeding over the season as roots fill the pots. This grouping of ivy geranium, clematis, and trailing ivy is only a few seasons old.
Inject Some Stylistic Contrast
Gardens built over generations typically result in a mix and match of tastes and styles. Keeping this garden from being one-note-new, this formal cast- stone fountain, with elaborate scroll details and romantic statues, stands in sharp contrast to the rustic elements throughout. Placed near the front door to the house, its musical sounds can be heard even from inside. And, as an added bonus, it attracts birds like crazy.
Fill in The Blanks With Pots
Until in-ground plantings mature, using a clutch of tightly arranged containers is a useful trick for drawing the eye away from a garden’s bare spots toward a riot of concentrated color. Matlin’s collection of more than 75 container plant- ings—nearly half of which are on a drip irrigation system—gave her the oppor- tunity to add much-needed personality to the new garden.
Repurpose Objects as Planters
“I love finding items that can be turned into planters—from cast-stone frogs and a wine barrel to watering cans that I’ve painted red and a pedestal sink,” she says. Here, a vintage wood toolbox filled with border dahlia and dwarf maiden grass is nestled against an old cast-iron stove with pansies and petu- nias tumbling out.
Amp Up The Vintage Vibe
Layering in a few flea-market finds, such as a wood bench and a farm-style table, reinforces the timeworn aura, sure. But here’s the real trick for making the look work: Fade them into the background, or surround them with oth- er vintage pieces so that the design seems unintentional. You have to peek around the garden to see this clockface hidden behind a veil of vines and, elsewhere, the statue of a boy and his cocker spaniel resting beneath a cas- cading oak-leaf hydrangea shrub and the antique iron gate tucked into a patch of rampant vines.
Choose Distressed Accents
“Nothing looks new or manicured,” Matlin points out. This is clearly the case with the distressed iron gate that leans against the barn-red house, serving as an impromptu trellis. As one who works to find and use organic solutions in her garden, such as homemade compost and nontoxic pest solutions, Matlin’s “walk softly on the earth” ethos is evident in her recycling.
Invest in Fast-Growing Plants
One reason Matlin’s garden looks so established is her embrace of fast-grow- ing plants. The five posts that support the porch roof are clad in purple and white clematis, hybrid varieties chosen for their enormous flowers. Matlin trained wisteria to climb on the nearby pepper trees, cleverly creating a whim- sical appearance and a temperate microclimate. This is why Matlin can so easily grow hydrangeas, a shade-loving ornamental shrub not often associat- ed with Southern California’s hot, sunny landscapes.
Fill Empty Garden Spots
Empty spots are a dead giveaway in a new garden. Wherever she sees a hole in the tableau or needs quick height, Matlin places statuary or containers and then allows or even trains plants to partially obscure these objects for a sense of controlled chaos. “I love it when the stems and petals crawl into one anoth- er—they just take over,” says Matlin of her planting strategy.
Home Improvements
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