Landscape transformed, detail by detail

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Randy Bergmans mission was clear: Eliminate much of her lawn. Replace it with plants that use less water. Incorporate a touch of the industrial. And make it look beautiful, giving the former New Yorker a landscape that is imbued with a distinctly Southern Californian spirit. Now the house, in Los Angeles Cheviot Hills neighborhood, is a whimsical expression of an owner with a taste for the eclectic. Thats Bergman on her new front steps. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Elizabeth Low of Elow Landscape Design in Los Angeles ripped out Bergmans lawn and the tired brick entry that ran in straight line from the sidewalk to the front door. New steps create a longer procession to the door, and a stone landing gives guests a place for hellos and goodbyes. The new cable railing satisfies Bergmans love of industrial accents. She shopped with Low for plants that would yield not only year-round blooms but also distinctive combinations. The weirder, the better, Low says with a laugh. Yellow-blooming aloe mixes with purplish aeonium and spiky, orange-tinged flax; elsewhere, youll see citrus and salvia, and along the entry path, little echeveria succulents peek through a carpet of purple-blooming elfin thyme. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Otherworldly leptospermum departs from the usual succulent garden palette, helping to give the frontyard its distinctive look. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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One of the recurring tones in the garden is orange, evident here in a flax plant. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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More orange comes in the form of this canna. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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In the backyard, what had been a long, narrow, dark space was reconceived as a series of distinct spaces by Low and architect Anthony Poon of Poon Design in Beverly Hills. The yard is centered on a new patio area and a canopy that Poon created with off-the-shelf street-grate material. The angle of the canopy echoes the roofline. Bergman didnt feel bound by the conventions of her houses midcentury architecture. She likes industrial accents and complemented the classic midcentury Architectural Pottery in the foreground with hanging planters from Chiasso.com. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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The Chiasso planters hang from the canopy. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Succulent blooms in one of the planters. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Nice office: Bergman, who runs RNB Communications, a corporate communications consulting and video production business, likes to work from the newly designed space, where chirping birds give the garden a natural soundtrack. This photo was taken from a small seating area; on the far side of the small lawn is another niche where Bergman plans to put a deck and hot tub. Though many of her accents came from modern retailer Chiasso, she found the wood-slat the chaises at Sears. Note the little fountain in the foreground. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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The source for the fountain? Costco. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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The garden is long and narrow, so to create privacy without resorting to a solid wall of ficus, Low created a pretty hedge of pineapple guava and acacia. The backyard also gets some of its structure from this grevillea, an Australian native, planted under a silver dollar eucalyptus. The mix of colors, shapes, scents and sounds creates a private haven in the kind of dense neighborhood so typical in L.A. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Even the squirrels like it. Here, Bergman feeds one of the frequent visitors to her garden. She says the garden is more than a beautiful place to spend time. Its a rewarding reminder of the creative collaboration between Low, Poon and gardener Luis Vasquez, whom she credits for preserving the designers work. I still cant believe its mine to enjoy. For a look at more gardens and a peek inside cool homes, check out our new design blog at latimes.com/home. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

June 6, 2009 12 AM PT

Randy Bergman’s mission was clear: Eliminate much of her lawn. Replace it with plants that use less water. Incorporate a touch of the industrial. And make it look beautiful, giving the former New Yorker a landscape that is imbued with a distinctly Southern Californian spirit.

FOR THE RECORD:
Garden flower: In a photo caption accompanying a June 6 article on Randy Bergman’s low-water garden in Cheviot Hills, a yellow flower was incorrectly identified as leptospermum. The plant was leucospermum. —

With the guidance of Elizabeth Low of Elow Landscape Design, architect Anthony Poon of Poon Design and gardener Luis Vásquez, those goals have transformed the Cheviot Hills property. Front and back yards now feel like a personal vision unbound by the conventions of the house’s midcentury architecture or the by-the-numbers succulent palette becoming so popular among converts to drought-tolerant landscaping. Low shopped with Bergman for selections that would yield not only year-round blooms but also distinctive combinations. “The weirder, the better,” Low says with a laugh, adding that the pretty backyard hedge consists of pineapple guava and acacia trees instead of a solid wall of ficus.

By incorporating Bergman’s taste with thoughtful plans for functional spaces, the designers have delivered a tremendous amount of visual impact in a relatively small footprint. For more photos, look for the expanded gallery linked from the Home section’s new blog: www.latimes.com/home.

Landscape transformed, detail by detail

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