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Four years ago , musician Nate Mendel bought a house in the Los Angeles mound surrounded by a scrappy lawn and a few braggy trees . It sit astray opened to the street , and an energy - guzzle swimming pool swallow much of its half - Accho fortune . But the 5,000 - straight - foot house itself was a precious stone , a low - slung ranch built in 1953 and untouched since . Mendel , bass histrion for the often - touring post - grunge band the Foo Fighters , felt certain it could be transformed into a welcoming home base . While its restorative mountain and valley opinion were already in topographic point , the garden needed major help .
The results of this home ’s " garden makeover , " design by landscape designer Mark Tessier . pic by : Ann Summa . SEE MORE photograph OF THIS GARDEN
Mendel has a Northwesterner ’s reverence for woodlands and a SoCal transplant ’s appreciation of gay , arid Los Angeles . As the son of a gardening dad , Mendel “ energetically dug cakehole ” as a child in eastern Washington , and he want his 8 - class - older son , Noah , to have the same experience with lots of play space that was gentle to maintain and did n’t overtax the environment . When he works at dwelling — in the euphony studio / office / guest pavilion design by architects Elissa Scrafano and Gus Duffy , who also renovated the menage — Mendel needs to digress outdoors for inspiration . Before a single plant survive in , Mendel and landscape painting architect Mark Tessier spent hours walk the long , narrow lot , discussing alternative . “ Mark was honorable at tactfully shooting down my infeasible ideas , ” Mendel remembers , smile . “ Then he ’d tell me what would work and still appropriate the spirit I was after . ”
Both saw the house ’s siting as a guide . face up the street to the southwestern United States and the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains to the northeast , it suggest two distinct external spaces , one woodsy and sheltered , the other bright and panoramic , with a lawn environ the pool . Doors and window on the home base ’s four sides dictated the scurf and location of garden zones . The kitchen now overlook a spacious covered lounge , a culture medium way links to the swimming pool , and a play room spread onto a ride porch that ’s nerveless on blazing afternoons . The new gardens , created by Tessier and his comrade Joshua Rosen , volunteer a sequence of scenes , including a sun - dappled forest walk , a Valencia orange grove that recall the valley ’s agrarian past , and a gathering spot topped with angel ’s trumpet(brugmansia ) . A hedging of Nipponese blueberry ( Elaeocarpus decipiens ) provides privacy on the street side , where a translucent gate opens onto a splashing natural spring , and a bridge to the front threshold spans a sunken layer of succulent in stead of a pond . “ The succulents look exotic because of how they ’re treated , ” enjoin Tessier . “ And the speech sound of piss enhances the thaumaturgy of a pool , which would have demanded more resources . ”
lush plantings include red - edgedEcheveria subrigida‘Fire and Ice ’ and deep purpleAeonium arboreum‘Zwartkop . ’ exposure by : Ann Summa . SEE MORE photograph OF THIS GARDEN
To keep within Mendel ’s ecowise parameter , Tessier fit a new 30- by 15 - understructure solar - heated saltwater pool into the older pool ’s larger frame , which was less expensive and waste - producing than total destruction . He preserved exist trees : coast live oak ( Quercus agrifolia ) , Brazilian pepper Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ( Schinus terebinthifolius ) , and sweet gum ( Liquidambar styraciflua ) , all suited to Los Angeles ’ climate . And for voluptuousness , he planted the front garden ’s “ woods ” with tough California lacewood ( Platanus racemosa ) that echo the gray , green , and bronze color palette indoors . These Tessier underplanted with low-toned - upkeep ornamental grasses ( Carex glauca and Leymus condensatus‘Canyon Prince ’ ) and cringe germander ( Teucrium chamaedrys‘Prostratum ’ ) , a Mediterranean with dark - green leave that negate its drought - tolerance .
With input from Mendel , Tessier kept the plant inclination short , mass their choices into uncluttered , limited - salmagundi swaths that repeat from garden to garden but also emphasize innocence . “ We searched high-pitched and miserable for sycamores with quirky form , leaning or multitrunked , the orphan no one want , so they ’d take care as if they ’d turn here from seed , ” say Tessier . He place the trees at random - feeling separation , which , again , propose nature ’s handwriting .
The superb red blooms of a bottlebrush ( callistemon ) inspired the furnishings ’ colors . photograph by : Ann Summa . SEE MORE pic OF THIS GARDEN
A serial publication of way draws a circuit around the house , their material varying from earthy decomposed granite to concrete , sometimes seamed with skunk . One formal landscape ingredient — the control grid of juice - orange tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree — serves as a modulation between the house and the multipurpose pavilion , where Mendel and his girlfriend , Kate Jackson , a music publicist and artist ’ handler , spend in - township study days . “ At first , ” Mendel enjoin , “ the approximation seemed ostentatious , but then I thought , ‘ Hmm , I could go run and piece the oranges on my way back for breakfast ! ’ ”
Now that the garden is done , says Jackson , they use every section of it when Mendel is n’t touring , whether that ’s to host Noah ’s friends for pool days or wassail wine with their friends around the lounge ’s fervor colliery . Mostly , though , says Jackson : “ When we ’re in the garden , Nate ’s in repose / geographical zone - out mode . I ’ll take him , ‘ What ’re you guess about ? ’ He always answers , ‘ Music . ’ ”
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