BEYOND POPPY LOVE : Water-Saving Garden Blends Beauty, Utility
Just a hop and a skip away from the roar of the Pasadena Freeway in Highland Park is a garden built upon the simplicity and beauty of nature almost unassisted. Here flowers, shrubs and trees thrive on just 15 minutes of water a week.
Butterflies and bees have found paradise in the water-conservation garden at the historic Charles F. Lummis home, a state-owned, turn-of-the century landmark maintained by the Historical Society of Southern California.
Hundreds of wildflowers and plants indigenous to Mediterranean climates have been planted since the society undertook renovation of the garden three years ago. Many are in full spring bloom for the second annual open house to be held at the garden Sunday.
The event will be coupled with an exhibit Saturday of native wildflowers and conservation gardening at the Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery in Sun Valley, the state’s original native plant nursery. Golden poppies, California’s state flower, are in bloom along with dozens of other colorful native plants on an acre of non-irrigated hillside on foundation grounds.
While the Payne Foundation propagates only those plants native to California, the Lummis garden combines domestic and imported drought-tolerant plants. In other words, this garden goes far beyond the usual love for poppies.
Spanish Transformed Landscape
Lummis, a Harvard-educated writer who trekked by foot from Cincinnati to California in 1884, extolled the art and artifacts of the Southwest in articles for the magazine he edits, “Land of Sunshine.”
Despite the art and artifacts, early settlers had little use for the native vegetation of Southern California, aside from the majestic oaks and sycamores. They were accustomed to more robust gardens.
In his book, “The Architecture of Los Angeles,” author Paul Gleye points out: “The Spanish introduced nearly everything grown, thus beginning the transformation of the Southern California landscape into a lush garden where today almost none of the trees, flowers and grass is native to this region.”
But the California sunshine is not always kind to plants that thrive in the moist and humid climates of Europe and the rest of the United States. In order for their gardens to succeed, the new residents had to find plentiful sources of water, starting the quest that goes on today.
But Lummis resisted the tendency toward the traditional water-thirsty garden and chose instead to landscape with drought-tolerant plants native to arid regions. He planted mainly cacti and yuccas, to which he added an eclectic mix of fruit trees and flowers.
Despite their originality, the grounds surrounding the Lummis home were never considered a garden spot, historical society members admit. “We had a desire for some time to bring some order to the garden,” said Suzie Chamberlain, chairman of the society’s volunteer committee which maintains the landmark.
“We knew we had a diamond in the rough.”
As a result, the society asked students at Cal Poly Pomona to design a garden for a Mediterranean climate with water conservation features. A plan drawn by three students and finalized by instructor and landscape architect Bob Perry was selected.
Perry said the unusual architecture of Lummis’ stone house “establishes the uniqueness of the garden in that it reflects the character of a person who had a pretty independent style. The intent was not to create a botanic garden but a design display on the use of these plants.”
$120,000 Spent on Project
The garden is in its best bloom from spring through early summer, Perry said.
Denver Markwith, garden project director, said more than $120,000 has been spent developing the 1.7-acre garden, which is about half complete. More than $80,000 was provided by a grant from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
The garden was selected as one of three national finalists this year in the annual competition for worthy public gardens in need of funds for completion. The Garden Clubs of America will award $20,000 to the operators of the winning garden, to be announced in May.
The historical society plans to raise $100,000 more to complete the Lummis project, Markwith said. Future plans include construction of a sound wall to shield the garden from freeway noise.
Plants featured include an unusual dragon tree, imported from the Canary Islands. The spiked head of the tree atop a tall, naked trunk shades the tower of the stone house where Lummis once sat to write about the West.
Lawn Needs 1 Mowing a Year
A low-growing, pink-flowering yarrow was planted last year as an experimental lawn substitute. Chamberlain said the yarrow is hardy, comfortable to walk on and blooms once a year. It also needs to be mowed only once annually, which made it a popular selection among maintenance volunteers, Chamberlain said.
Granite paths wind throughout the garden and around the Lummis house, inviting visitors to meander. Among the plants that can be found there are lavender, rock roses, woolly thyme, agave, bougainvillea, California lilacs and Douglas iris.
The garden is named “El Alisal,” the place of the sycamore. Shade trees along some of the paths help cool the garden climate. Leaves, wood chips and bark serve as a mulch to protect the soil from moisture loss.
Kevin Connelly, a volunteer garden maintenance coordinator, said automatic sprinklers work once a week and only one at a time to conserve water and avoid run-off. Watering is done early in the day to minimize evaporation.
Thrived During Heat Wave
Despite the recent heat wave and Santa Ana winds that greeted the first days of spring, Connelly said the plants at El Alisal thrived while traditional bedding plants elsewhere succumbed.
“To have as lush a garden as we have, with as little water as we use and considering how very light and fast-draining the soil is, is sort of miraculous,” Connelly said.
Most of the planting and maintenance is performed by a group of about 15 volunteers who work one Sunday a month, said Connelly, a professional gardener. The Los Angeles City Recreation and Parks Department, which leases the property from the state, provides only minimal maintenance, he said.
The garden initially derived most of its moisture from the underground water table of the nearby Arroyo Seco. But the old river bed is now concreted, and the water table is lower than it was in Lummis’ day, Connelly said, thus the need for some light irrigation.
Exhibit of Native Reptiles
The Sunday open house at the Lummis garden, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will include a display of wild mushrooms by the Los Angeles Mycologist Society and an exhibit of native reptiles by members of the Southwestern Herpetologist Society.
Children will be invited to handle a young boa constrictor and other snakes and lizards, said Diane Lee Myers of the Southwestern society’s education committee. Children also may participate in painting a mural during the Lummis celebration. The Lummis home is at 200 E. Avenue 43.
Activities at the Theodore Payne Foundation on Saturday also are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the nursery, 10459 Tuxford St. Admission to both events is free and refreshments will be served.
