April 23, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Colorful inspiration

by Ann Duwe

eed a new idea or motivation to tackle the tangle of green outside your windows? A look at five Palo Alto gardens, open for Gamble Garden's 19th Annual Spring Garden Tour, should give you enough colorful ideas to keep you busy till this time next year.

The self-guided tour takes place Friday and Saturday, April 30 and May 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Participants may begin at any one of the private gardens or at Gamble Garden itself, where a host of related activities are scheduled. These include a plant sale, plant clinic, boutique and talks on outdoor living (see box).

"Living Spaces," this year's theme, pays tribute to the materials and to the functional aspects of each garden. All the gardens reflect the careful attention of their owners. Though plants will be labeled for the tour, these are not exhibits like model homes or demonstration gardens; these are the places their owners have lovingly created for everyday enjoyment.

The smallest garden surrounds a former 1910 Arts and Crafts bungalow on a postage-stamp lot. Inspired by trips to Bali, owner Elaine Tijama remodeled the house and transformed it into the likeness of a Balinese family compound, with indoor/outdoor access on all sides. She enlisted internationally recognized landscape architect Made Wijaya, who works from the premise that owners of small gardens should "have a big idea."

Tijama has done just that by bringing carved stone pillars, wall panels, boundary markers, furniture and crates of smooth, black pebbles all the way from Bali. Stained redwood platforms extend from the front of the house, increasing the living space. They are partially roofed and wired for radiant heat. Focal point for the platforms is a black stone fountain. Water slips tranquilly from the edge of the fountain into a koi pond.

Protea and other specimen thrive in glazed jars, while several kinds of clematis, espaliered fringe plant and white jasmine scale the garden walls. "When I go to a nursery, I choose plants I like," Tijama said.

Jane Stocklin is another gardener who chooses what she likes, though her approach is experimental. "A garden is a process, an evolving thing. If a plant doesn't work, move it, or remove it," Stocklin said.

Stocklin's lot is typical of many in south Palo Alto, and she has created an exuberant personal statement while retaining the look of the neighborhood. Pale gray shingles and flat roof lines extend on either side of the entry. A trellis of climbing roses over the garage and another one on the opposite side of the house give character to the façade, while the bold red front door signals a theme repeated throughout.

Raised stone planters create an undulating line along the straight edges of the house, where white blooms predominate -- iceberg roses, snowball plants, jasmine and magnolias. The red of painted doors is repeated in plants such as liquidambars, Japanese maples, pink dogwood and dwarf New Zealand flax. A massive flowering plum in a neighbor's yard carries the color beyond Stocklin's fence.

Stocklin starts each day with a walk-about. "My garden is my good old friend," she said. "I know what needs water, and I check on what needs doing that day."

For Bette Dean the garden is a place to solve problems inherent in many older Palo Alto neighborhoods. For starters there is a giant redwood with invasive roots. Her solution was to build a planter around its base and prepare to give it major maintenance at least twice a year. Rather than dig up existing cement walks or the driveway, she covered them with irregularly shaped slate in shades of gold and gray.

Sunny spots are at a premium, so putting gardenias and hibiscus in pots on the paved area next to the house gives those plants the benefit of reflected heat. Vegetables are interspersed among the bedding plants.

Where does Dean typically sit to enjoy her handiwork? "Inside, looking toward the back." A whimsical metal sculpture seems to gesture toward those looking out from within.

Two estates on University Avenue complete the list of gardens on the tour. Each has nearly half an acre, with stands of stately trees on the property or just over the fence. A stucco fence with inset raised beds screens Rob Parish and Miles McCormick's Spanish colonial home from the street. The deeply inset planters continue on the inside, breaking the long high wall into a pleasing row of alternating color. Water from a fountain in the entry masks the traffic noise.

The back yard has room for many activities, from the play structure for their 3-year old and a hammock for the presiding adult, to the cooking corner, a raised platform for a band, and a lap pool, accented with a fountain wall of blue and gold tiles on one end. The same gold color is repeated in Eureka roses bursting from large urns placed symmetrically across an expanse of lawn.

"Spanish colonial gardens are all about raised beds," Parish said. One raised bed is filled with riotous bachelor buttons, deep purple sweet peas and other flowers for cutting.

Parish favors the "secret garden" around an outdoor chess set. Another favorite spot is the turret, where he can sit in shaded comfort, surveying the backyard scene.

Agnes and Anthony Lee love the old trees that frame their University Avenue home and are very respectful of its history. Oaks, cedars, figs, magnolias, palms and a very distinctive monkey puzzle tree soar above the high garden walls. The updated 1908 Craftsman-style house sits squarely in the middle of the lot, giving the Lees four large, outdoor living spaces.

In the 1950s designer Thomas Church created the framework for the garden. Agnes Lee has a framed copy of Church's original drawing and retains his principles while boldly incorporating her favorite plants and garden objects. She has reinforced the idea of a low-maintenance front yard by installing a mass planting of lavenders and other drought-resistant vegetation that establishes a color scheme repeated elsewhere. An antique French urn creates a focal point in the middle of the lavender bed.

A 50-year-old wisteria wraps around the wide, covered back porch. The porch is a primary place for entertaining, yet "garden rooms" can be created by re-arranging urns, benches and potted kumquats. A raised brick bed near the porch is planted with a profusion of peonies, heliotropes, phlox, delphinium and foxgloves. The pool is surrounded by lawn, a favorite place for children's birthday parties. Between house and lawn another planter contains annual flowers, bulbs for all seasons and vegetables.

Five gardens and hundreds of plants suggest a multitude of possibilities whether you're working on half an acre or a small deck.

What: Gamble Garden's 19th Annual Garden Tour When: Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; plant sale, speakers at 11 a.m. each day, plant clinic and boutique. Where: 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto, plus five private gardens Cost: $25 advance tickets for members, tour volunteers, groups of 10 or more; $30 advance tickets for non-members;$35 at the door; $18 for lunch from 11a.m. to 2 p.m. Advance tickets and lunch reservations must be made by April 23. Guests may order a box lunch to enjoy at Gamble or "on the go" between houses. Info: (650) 329-1356

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