The garden path between the front gate and the studio leads past ferns and callas, a spilling fountain and potted geraniums and flax. An old bougainvillea cools a seating spot along the way. (Maryellen Baker / For the Times)
Floral oddities such as a rusty brown iris, left, add unusual accents to the gardens palette. (Maryellen Baker / For the Times)
Against a wall of creeping fig, a stone angel peeks through ferns beside the fountain. (Maryellen Baker / For the Times)
Maureen Eisner relaxes on the back deck with one of her cats. She has watched her Venice garden fully mature from dirt in just five years. (Maryellen Baker / For the Times)
For Eisner, the outdoors is not only a lab for plant experiments, its also a place to play with decorative textures and materials. At left, rosemary and hydrangeas surround a fountain found at a swap meet. Elsewhere in her garden, glass pebbles replace water in a birdbath. (Maryellen Baker / For the Times)
A glass bird feeder and a wind chime hang beside the back deck. Pebbles cover a spigot. (Maryellen Baker / For the Times)
Light-catching glass pebbles are mixed with gravel for a small front path that winds through borders of allium, iris, stachys, dietes and lavender, left. (Maryellen Baker / For the Times)
