STYLE / GARDENS : Between a Rock and a Dry Place

Like children, gardens tend to get out of hand. They grow bigger and wilder than they’re supposed to and take on forms no one ever dreamed of. This, of course, is part of the thrill of creation, as Cyrena Nouzille discovered when she and her mother overhauled her L.A. yard.

Their initial plan was to scrap the lawn and plant strategically to offset the symmetry of two sentry-like palms. While they agreed on using California natives and other water-wise plants, Cyrena’s mother, Carla Palmese, an artist with a flair for drama, sneaked in oddball additions such as artichokes and potatoes. Impulsively, she painted Cyrena’s front door magenta, setting the color palette for the flowers: pink Mexican evening primrose, purple Salvia leucantha and orange California poppies. Cyrena’s husband, Jean-Luc Nouzille, who grew up in the South of France, asked for lavenders from his homeland. Gifts of succulents from a friend--exotic euphorbias, rock-like barrel cacti, plus Wild West prickly pears--round out the mix. And Cyrena acknowledges that the same free-spirited approach determined the garden’s overall design. Most of the boulders were simply left where they were dumped, and their positions defined the planting space.

A year and a half later, her house is sitting on an almost dreamlike Western landscape--part desert, part rocky oasis--that constantly surprises her. Orange calendulas sprout among the poppies. Native fuchsias pour around opuntias. The matilijas have become a hedge. Although her garden has departed from her simple early plan for it, Cyrena loves it like a mother. “When I come home at night,” she says, “I can’t believe it. I think: I made that. And I’m proud.”