True to Form
Through glass walls on either side of his house--a hilltop aerie designed in 1936 by architect Rudolf Schindler--Russ Leland looks into green: Below him is a wild canyon; above, a ridge of trees. In between is a mirror-like pool with pared-down edges: a sweep of lavender, stands of flax, fortnight lily and westringia. “I didn’t really want a garden but a simple park that would fit in with the larger landscape,” says Leland, a residential designer.
In fact, an early photo of the Hollywood Hills house shows it perched beside a field of grass. Later, probably sometime in the 1960s, someone added the oval pool, which, to Leland, is a perfect complement to the boxy building. But 10 years ago, when Leland bought the property, the pool was swamped in a sea of concrete deck. Loud border plantings--roses, geraniums and bougainvillea--fought with the view, while unsightly brick planters clashed with the clean lines of the house.
“A structure like this really shapes your thinking,” says Leland, who, as he lived in it, was inspired to recast the outdoors as an extension of interior spaces. Out went the brick and the frilly flowers. In came the strappy, graphic fortnight lily, Leland’s favorite plant, which he distributed around the pool. Then, unsure of what to do next and inexperienced as a gardener, he hired Venice landscape designer Jay Griffith to develop an overall plan.
Griffith cut the concrete decking into pavers, which he relaid to define walkways, entry points and seating places around the pool. In one especially sunny corner, he built a concrete “sofa,” stuffing succulents in its seams to blur the line between architecture and garden. He chose a few tough plants that would thrive on the hot, exposed site with little water or care and that, in mass groupings, would enhance the bold volumes of the house.
Over time, Leland has added more plantings, experimenting with ornamental grasses and different lavenders, and even sneaking in some yellow daisies for a jolt of gold amid the waterside green-and-silver scheme. He has also brought back bits of lawn among the pavers and, influenced by Schindler’s affinity for concrete, begun casting one-of-a-kind garden pots. Like the furniture in his house, he constantly moves and groups these pots--along with concrete-block tables and seats--to create gathering spots and focal points.
Another personal touch is his chicken coop, a recent addition, which he loves for the life it brings to an otherwise quiet scene. “When I let the chickens out,” he says, “they pop up in the funniest places--the flower beds, the middle of shrubs.”
Elsewhere, Leland has built an outdoor shower and a simple fountain in a sunken terrace below the house. In the same spot, he is restoring an old wisteria, which will eventually twine on wires overhead, providing shade on summer days. “Living here has taught me a lot,” he says, “about the simple elegance of practical forms, and about how intertwined a house can be with its environment. At this point, I can’t imagine one without the other.”
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Russ Leland’s chicken favorites:
* Polish hens
* Araucanas
* Silkies
* Rhode Island Reds
* Tarzana’s Red Barn Feed and Saddlery
