Designing with SucculentsHow to incorporate succulents and cacti into your garden design
Hollywood notables judge real estate of the realm by three quality : secrecy , privateness , and privacy . When Marg Helgenberger , longtime mavin ofCSI : Crime Scene Investigation , shopped for a Modern home five years ago , she find her sanctuary in a Spanish - Mediterranean revitalization on a corner caboodle in the Los Angeles neck of the woods of Brentwood . Landscaping enveloped three sides of the property , with elderly ficus Tree on the front and north sides . At the back of the house , a columned loggia afforded a reclusive entertaining space . Big enough to accommodate her teenage Logos and his friends , plus the family dog , the house “ had undecomposed bones and a great vibe , ” says Helgenberger .
A concrete , gas - fueled fire bowlful and butterfly stroke swivel chairs anchor a favorite entertaining spot for actress Marg Helgenberger . Photo by : Jack Coyier . SEE MORE exposure OF THIS GARDEN
But after renovating within , Helgenberger began to search more tight at the ground . The ficus ’ aging tangle of limb felt tyrannical . The backyard , she recalls , “ had suffered years of carelessness , not to mention uneven hardscaping . ” A 20- by 40 - ft swimming pool predominate the south lawn . Even in Los Angeles , there ’s such a thing as too much glamor .
Helgenberger went back to her friend Barbara Schnitzler , an designer with the New York blueprint house Dell Lane , who had deal the interior overhaul . “ Barbara understood the space , what my indigence are , and how I expend my days , ” Helgenberger says . Since Schnitzler and her interior - design mate ( and sister ) Maggie Marra are on the East Coast , they tapped Judi Bloom , a plant consultant establish in Santa Monica , to round out the team . Their finish was to sustain the family ’s privacy while making the outdoor areas more working .
As a practical matter , Helgenberger also wanted her garden to be low maintenance and drouth tolerant . Inspired by the Mediterranean architecture with its Moorish elements , she ask for some gravel , a pocket-sized region of lawn , a fountain , some olive trees , succulents , lavender , and rosiness for cutting .
downsize the pool create more blank for outdoor cookery and dining . Photo by : Jack Coyier . SEE MORE photograph OF THIS GARDEN
Schnitzler suggested they start by constrict the pool by 8 feet , create 300 special substantial feet of terra firma that now accommodates a built - in barbecue and a kitchen garden . On the pool ’s west edge , a novel syndicate house with a tile ceiling and arch echoes the style of the principal house . A sheltered outside seats area , nickname “ the casbah ” for its alien air , is a favourite cursory hangout billet . Just outside , a belittled terrace , anchored by a throttle - fire fervor roll , provides a focal percentage point for the garden .
Linking the syndicate house to the principal sign of the zodiac ’s columned loggia is a 60 - foot concrete itinerary with a band of square Stone inset along its center . The walkway , which starts at the fire bowl , becomes a streamlet during California ’s rainy time of year . “ I sleep with the connective between ardor and water supply , ” says Helgenberger . “ It ’s very poetical . ”
closemouthed to the house , Schnitzler and her team updated a fountain and contribute a new patio to create a court just outside the loggia ’s portico , shaded by an be California black pepper tree and a magnolia . A dazzling raiment of colorful succulent occupies a bombastic half - circle planting bed . “ The clean arch ensnare this succulent explosion , ” Bloom says . “ It ’s like a lilliputian garden stage . ” Splashing water from the two - tiered fount , the fragrance of citrus and redolent herbs , and the intricate , jewel - like particular of the succulent unmoor the court from its Los Angeles backcloth . This secluded promised land could be in Spain or Mediterranean Africa .
The exuberant , green - gray and gray - gloomy foliage deepen this impression . In the kitty area , Bloom plant Pygmy engagement palms with a carpet of dispirited - greenSenecio vitalisunderneath . To disguise the neighbour ’s fence , she installed a podocarpus hedge on the gradient above the puddle . The calming palette throughout the place weaken the home ’s imposing scale of measurement , an consequence Bloom support by keeping the overall flavor sizable and advanced . “ Marg ’s manner is a little traditional , a little modern , ” Bloom says . “ I tried to read that into the planting scheme — not fussy , but as simple as possible . ” Low - slung , vintage patio article of furniture extends the theme .
Outdoor renovations to Marg Helgenberger ’s Los Angeles home , like this gate privacy wall , make the grounds more inviting while keep their secluded feel . photograph by : Jack Coyier . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
As private as her garden is , Helgenberger relish how the space open up up for entertaining . “ I do big party well , ” she state . “ If I have 75 or 80 the great unwashed here , they have quite a little of home to sit , one completely unlike from the other . They can amass by the fire pit at the kasbah or at the picnic table near the barbecue . I put tables and chairs on the grass , and mass love sitting there . ” After Helgenberger got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January , she celebrated with friends at the house . “ It rain , but it did n’t matter because citizenry hang out in the loggia , where I had the bar , ” she say . Out front , a 5 - foot bay laurel hedge supercede the ficus tree — grandiloquent enough to screen the entry court from the street but humbled enough to admit ample igniter . The hedging contains a fresh , gravel - paved formal landscape with a raised 12- by 14 - pes parquet circle and a second fountain . The gravel is a mixing of cream , tan , and grey that harmonizes with the home ’s bright facade . It ’s an idealistic medium for drouth - tolerant drifts that admit ‘ small Ollie ’ olive shrub , Pittosporum tenuifolium(kohuhu ) , and Brobdingnagian agave that Bloom transplant from the garden at her beach home in Santa Monica .
Guests get for one of Helgenberger ’s event now enter via a long base on balls - concrete pour in a pattern that resembles stepping stone - flanked by stands of fruitless olives ( ‘ Swan Hill ’ ) and yield Tree , include two stinker and a fig . For a Hollywood crowd , it make for a striking entrance , but Helgenberger enjoy it equally when home alone . “ I eff sitting in the animation room and looking through the windowpane onto the layer of leafage , ” Helgenberger says . Now that ’s enjoying your privateness . See a slideshow of all photos here .
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