Part England, part Mojave

Her sundress fluttering in the wind and a hostess tray of Arnold Palmers cradled in her hands, Pamela Volante hardly looks the part of a rule-breaking rebel. But sit in her backyard gazebo and gaze out toward her Westwood landscape, and one can practically hear the conventions being shattered, one by one. “It’s a little English garden plus a little desert garden,” Volante says, laughing at the inherent contradiction. An interior designer with no formal horticulture training, Volante created a charming series of outdoor rooms guided simply by her sense of color and form. The result is equal parts imagination and irreverence.

-- Craig Nakano