Dividing and conquering in the Volk Garden: GWA Pasadena
A long, shallow back yard sloping away from the house isn’t easy to turn into an inviting garden (I should know), but terracing and space-dividing hedges did the trick in this San Marino, California, garden. Owned by Robert and Caroline Volk and designed by Mark Bartos, this was the third and final private garden on the Garden Writers Association Pasadena tour last month.
Backing up to The Huntington (whose gardens we visited the day before; I’ll post pics soon), the garden benefits from a borrowed screen of trees along its perimeter. A gravel parking court out front and sloping lawn lead you around back to the main garden. Entering through a gate in a tall hedge, you look down a 200-foot axis that runs the length of the garden. Hedges and walls break up the expanse into multiple rooms, creating intimate spaces and preventing you from seeing everything at once.
The first room is a gravel courtyard anchored by a round vessel fountain. Flagstone and large river stones encircle its base, hiding the basin beneath. Multiple golden barrel cactus planted in clay pipes (chimney flues?) echo the fountain’s spherical shape.
Dry-loving plants in a Mediterranean style are planted here, including a gigantic American agave Agave franzosinii, rosemary, the golden barrels, and aloes.
My friend Noelle Johnson of AZ Plant Lady is dwarfed by the agave. I’m sure it reminded her of home.
The cross-axis view, with an aloe in bloom. I love the steel sculpture by artist Michael Amescua, which is mounted on a white wall to show it off.
It’s a focal point when viewing the garden from an elevated terrace along the back of the house.
No axis view is neglected in this garden. At the fountain, if you look back the way you came in, you see a yellow butterfly chair in the shrub border alongside the lawn, perfectly aligned with the view corridor.
A nice touch
The next room along the axis contains a swimming pool and a brick terrace, unfortunately cracked along one side.
Looking back toward the fountain courtyard you get a sense of how the tall hedges enclose various rooms and break up the long, narrow space.
A lily pond and fountain liven up in the brick terrace with greenery and a soothing drip-drip.
There was another hedged room after the pool terrace, but I neglected to get pictures of it. Instead let’s go up the steps from the lowest level of the garden to the terrace along the back of the house. A green-painted steel gate by metal artist Michael Amescua leads the way.
One of his birds perches atop the wall.
Yet another fountain — a real showstopper — is the focal point of the upper terrace. A lion’s-head pedestal spills water into a small, elegant pond filled with lilies and iris. A classical-style urn on top is planted with a virtual waterfall of trailing succulents like burro’s tail sedum (Sedum morganianum) and string of fishhooks (Senecio radicans).
Beautiful!
I was also smitten by the wavy bark on this tree. I asked someone what it was, but now I’ve forgotten.
So textural
The home itself was described to us as a 1935 Georgian colonial. The designer told us that the garden was originally designed in the old California style, without much thought to water use, and they’ve been making changes to be more water thrifty. Aren’t we all!
Up next: The Huntington Gardens, a plant-collector’s garden on a grand scale. For a look back at the formal yet xeric-planted Barrett Garden, click here.
All material © 2006-2015 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
The tree is possibly Melaleuca quinquenervia
(Cajeput). They have been planted in median strips around here.
I quite like this garden: classical design but with climate-appropriate plants.
The house (and The Huntington) sit on the Raymond Fault scarp which gives the nice views but also causes the cracks in the mortared brickwork.
The metal sculpture is very desireable. Sigh.
Hello again,
I just read that that “the hills west of Austin” will be the focus of the torrential rains aided by TS Patricia. Good luck to all you Austin garden folks
Thanks, Jane. Austin came through fine with no major flooding like we had last spring. We did, however, get between 8 and 10 inches of rain over the past couple of days. It’s either drought or deluge here. —Pam
Thanks for the possible ID on the tree, Jane, as well as the backstory on the fault line the property sits on. All very interesting! —Pam
That tree bark is sensational and I really like the metal work, especially the green gate. I wonder if the butterfly chair is by the same artist? Also the barrel cacti echoing the shape of the fountain. If you have the Huntington as your borrowed landscape you must lead a charmed life.
I’ve seen a lot of those butterfly chairs over the years, Ricki, so I assumed they found it elsewhere, but maybe it IS the work of their metal artist. —Pam
How wonderful to have one’s garden adjacent to The Huntington! I like the use of hedges as space dividers – it’s a much more logical use of hedge material than what I inherited with my house.
I saw your hedge post, Kris. Yes, you have a challenging number of hedges to deal with, and not all of them healthy, as you showed. —Pam
Such a gorgeous place. It seems very formal with those tall hedges yet it is inviting. That big cauldron fountain is interesting with round cactus near it. Perfect for this time of year. 😉 I love the bark on that tree too. It is like none I have seen before.
I hadn’t thought of the fountain as being cauldron-shaped, but you’re quite right, Lisa. I can imagine a trio of witches around it, tossing in eyes of newt. 🙂 —Pam
Just gorgeous!! I love that fountain in the middle surrounded by stones. So simple and beautiful. And that giant aloe! Stunning.
Giant agave, not aloe, I meant. Still stunning!
That courtyard is lovely from all angles, isn’t it? —Pam
A beautiful garden. (Imagine living next to The Huntington!) I love the fountains, the metalwork by Michael Amescua (some of it actually affordable for gardeners and others on a budget — I checked out his website) and I had to smile, or wince, at the Agave americana that ate San Marino. Man, those things can get unruly fast (and yet I love them so)… Great tour! Can’t wait for your visit to the Huntington.
Agave americana are yard-eating monsters here in Austin too, although the occasional deep freeze will get them. I’m working on the Huntington post and hope to have it ready by Tuesday! —Pam
I’m sitting here wincing and nodding my head about the space-eating agave americana. Wrestling some monster sized specimens out of my yard has been my BIG project this Fall, though I gave up before finishing, waiting for cooler temps and a bit of helpful rain to loosen things up.
This garden is so formal and inviting by turns. The balance nears perfection. Having great neighbors certainly helps… Wonderful tour and thanks again for sharing your visits with we “desk visitors”. All sorts of great ideas to be seen here!
I thought so too, Deb — lots of inspiration here. And yes, having a great neighbor like the Huntington sure doesn’t hurt. —Pam
I think the Agave is A. franzosinii, aka A. beauleriana; the occasional droopy leaf is quite distinctive. Wonderful garden, if very generously watered.
Ah, is it? I studied images of the two — americana or franzosinii — before I posted, finally deciding on the americana. I’m glad you can tell the difference! I’ll try to remember the tip about the droopy leaf. —Pam