STYLE : GARDENS : Landscaped at Last

For almost 100 years after this house was built as a gardener’s cottage on a sprawling Montecito estate, its grounds remained oddly bare. But good things come to those who wait, as the saying goes, and the house was finally and handsomely landscaped three years ago.

The garden began to take shape in 1985, after interior designer Ann James bought the house for its late-Victorian charm. Though she built a fence to keep in the family dog, she was careful to specify posts with finials and lattice. She also planted a Victorian herb garden in a circular plan (above).

James then turned things over to Santa Monica garden designer Nancy Goslee Power, who installed tidy hedges around old-fashioned knot gardens. Garden paths, however, are more casual, and a sitting area paved with stones has a miniature garden between the cracks: thyme, blue star creeper, erodium, Corsican mint and true geraniums.

In a shaded corner (right), Goslee planted eye-pleasing shrubs, mixing the variegated Pittosporum tobira ‘Variegata’ with the cream-splattered Hydrangea ‘Tricolor.’ In front of these are gray lavenders and a creamy English ivy. This garden was a long time coming, but it was worth the wait.