Grand Robinson Gardens Hark Back to Early 1900s
Virginia Robinson had the kind of gardens you or I might have, if only we owned 6.2 acres in the heart of Beverly Hills. Private, eclectic, personal and comfortable; a little of this and that, all surrounding a rambling old home that still looks as if she could walk in at any minute.
Now managed by the Los Angeles County Department of Arboreta, the Robinson Gardens are a precious bit of history preserved for the public. Most of the grand Los Angeles gardens from the early 1900s are long gone--actor Harold Lloyd had a particularly beautiful estate that was subdivided years ago--but you can still see how the wealthy lived in turn-of-the-century Beverly Hills by visiting the landscaped grounds of Harry and Virginia Robinson’s home.
Virginia’s father, Nathaniel Dryden, the architect of the Brand Library in Glendale, designed the 6,000-square-foot residence and began construction in 1908, about the time his daughter married the scion of the Robinson’s department store clan. The deed read: “The first residence in Beverly Hills”; Virginia Robinson was to recall years later that the fledgling community then consisted only of barley fields and one real estate office.
The young couple traveled the world, bringing back not only the usual souvenirs but also a love for the classical gardens of Italy, France and England. The terraced grounds around their home reflect these dramatically different tones--the main lawn is formal, symmetrical and Italianate with its cypress trees and ornate pool house; a beautiful rose garden on another terrace is far less organized and more English in feel.
Harry Robinson died in 1932 but the gregarious Virginia was to live on the estate until her death just weeks shy of her 100th birthday in 1977. Having no children, she bequeathed the property to the county.
The gardens are supervised by John R. Copeland, who designs and plans all plantings and additions to the facility. In addition to restoring and preserving the original gardens, part of the county’s emphasis is to use the frost-free gardens to grow experimental plants and to test unusual flowers and shrubs. A visitor gets the benefit of both worlds--ideas for home gardens from the old and the new.
An Eager Experimenter
And experimenting would have suited Virginia Robinson just fine, according to Copeland. She sought out exotic plants for her home from the earliest days.
“You can see 12 or so huge specimen trees that were really quite rare when they were planted, including what is now the largest monkey hand tree in California,” Copeland says.
A gorgeous pewter-colored ear pod tree (a native of Jamaica named for its distinctively shaped seed pods) towers 100 feet above the rose garden. Not long ago, Copeland found a 1919 invoice for the tree--Virginia Robinson had bought it as a seedling for 50 cents.
A semitropical area of the garden is home to what Copeland says is the largest stand of King Palms outside of Australia. The trees are so tall that they’ve created their own microclimate under their vast canopy; the area is typically 10 degrees cooler than the surrounding gardens, and lush shade-loving plants flourish.
Beauty and Fragrance
Traditional Southern magnolias abound and their more unusual cousins are planted near the gardens’ fragrance terrace. This area provides the weekend gardener with ideas for plants that not only are beautiful but also smell delightful--waxy-blossomed stephanotis flowers cover a fence, an exotic gardenia the size of a tree fills a central area and citrus trees add their sharp aroma to the air.
Other ideas come from the borders that Copeland has designed. You’ll see a seasonal mixture of flowering plants in whimsical tangles of colors and textures. He has blended Old World lavender and cosmos with bright and cheerful annuals; with a little skillful downsizing of scale, you could plant any and all of the varieties in your own yard.
The springtime treats in the Robinson Gardens are the azaleas; camellias were a favorite of Mrs. Robinson’s and they abound. (She even had a camellia named after her--the Virginia Robinson camellia has vivid pink flowers 3 inches in diameter, and dozens of the shrubs bloom at the gardens beginning in late January.)
Keeping the Secret
Visitors to the Robinson Gardens may well feel they’ve found their own secret garden--one of the compromises the county has had to make with the neighbors in this exclusive residential area is that it will only open on weekdays to keep parking and traffic problems down; the county also doesn’t publicize the gardens’ address.
If you’re interested in making your way up Crescent Drive to as pretty a spot as you’ll see in Southern California, call (213) 276-4823 to get specific information. Tours are by appointment only Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; on Friday, tours are at 10 a.m. Docents lead the 1 1/2-hour tours, which cover most of the garden and the home. Wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to walk about a third of a mile.
Admission is $3 for adults and $2.25 for seniors 62 and older and students with ID. The tour is not appropriate for children under about 5.
