Garden lovers gather for a grand tour around Woods Cove, courtesy of LB Garden Club
By Lynette Brasfield
Photos by Mary Hurlbut
Garden lovers, giddy to be once again gathering in groups, wandered about Woods Cove last Saturday to view 11 magnificent examples of horticultural achievement. Indeed, the 2021 Gate & Garden Tour, Laguna Beach Garden Club’s first in-person event since the lockdown, felt like a celebration of being sprung as much as of spring itself.
While still masked and distanced for ultimate safety, many of the flora-fanciers expressed their joy and a sense of liberation at long last, Gate & Garden volunteer Karen Nelson said.
“We sold more than 600 tickets, which is the most tickets we have ever sold in the 16-year history of the tour,” she noted. “Feedback from many tour-goers told us that we hit a home run and that it was the best tour they had ever been on! The participants were all really excited to be doing something that felt ‘normal.’
“Even though we were not able to have our usual Cinco de Mayo margaritas and tacos, the participants enjoyed all that we had to offer at the Water District and turned out in large numbers for our raffle.”
Click on photo for a larger image
Eager participants chat and consult their guides
Attendees were agog over the splendor of the selected gardens, the variety of plants and trees, and the way many of the spaces were designed to provide defined settings for meditation, reading, painting, or perhaps yoga.
Or, of course, for entertaining.
“I’d be thrilled to be invited to dinner al fresco at any of these homes,” said Kathy Panzl. “In so many of these gardens, the outdoors has been transformed into different rooms, rooms without walls, but still offering plenty of privacy and lots of charm. They’re beautiful extensions of the house itself.”
Panzl also noted how fascinating it was to see “behind the gates” of these homes, whose unassuming exteriors, when viewed from the street, often belied the magical spaces to be found within.
Click on photo for a larger image
The “Laguna Provence” garden was voted most waterwise
The first house on the list, Dragon’s Lair, set the tone for the tour, which offered a wonderful escape from everyday ennui into a fairyland of foliage. Here “Esmerelda the Dragon” – a large sculpture – and a dragon tree invite visitors into a realm both fanciful and fabulous, with succulents in one area mimicking varieties of seaweed.
The so-called “Laguna Provence” garden won the prize for the most waterwise garden. Incorporating a French garden design into a wild English garden (who knew there was such a thing as a wild English garden?), walkways follow meandering paths among fragrant plants and loads of lavender.
“The limited color palette of purples and yellows was soothing, and planting in drifts rather than in a riot of plant diversity added to the sense of serenity,” said Ingrid Cebula, OC Master Gardener and LBGC volunteer. “The majority of the plantings were not only low-water-need plants, but they were also fragrant and attractive. I could feel myself relaxing as soon as I began to look around the garden.
“I enjoyed all the gardens – such a great variety of styles.”
Click on photo for a larger image
Fabulous foxgloves were to be found in several of the gardens
Whimsy was the word also. Many of the gardens sported statues and artwork, from a mer-horse to a fabulous frog fountain to a beautiful sculpture known as The Bird Watcher, 1929, by the late artist Roberta Powell.
“Chicken Hill,” number seven on the tour, proved to be one of the favorites, with a spacious henhouse providing a bucolic touch to the setting. A micro-farm, the garden is also home to beehives and a fruit orchard including 17 kinds of fruit trees. The owner harvests eggs, honey, fruit, and vegetables.
Click on photo for a larger image
Plein air painters added to the charm of the tour
Friends and Laguna Beach residents Andrea Tirnauer, Sharon Reif, and Jamee Danihels raved about the tour. “Chicken Hill was just amazing,” said Tirnauer. “Those hens! And so many unexpected touches, like the quirky barn diorama set into the wall.”
“It’s fantastic to see what there is behind the front doors of homes we pass by every day,” Reif said. “It’s hidden Laguna.”
The final house on the tour would’ve won the award for the most whimsical, if there were such a category. Known as The Ark, the house was built to resemble a wooden boat, with the prow facing toward Moss Point. And in a nod to Noah, the owners made sure there were two of each kind of plant.
Volunteer Catherine Hill explained the particular horticultural challenges of the location.
Click on photo for a larger image
“The Ark” house resembles a wooden boat with a view of Moss Point
“The slope makes irrigation difficult, and then there’s the harsh beachfront climate,” she explained. “So Ruben Flores created a blue glass river that ‘flows’ down the side, providing interest to the landscape all year long. The way it’s designed, along with the selected flowers, it embraces and gives focus to the plantings, each reflecting the colors of the ocean.”
Past LBGC president Lynn Jax offers these thoughts on the tour:
“This year was our 16th annual and one of our most spectacular collections of private, secret gardens. I love being amazed when I walk behind the gate or fence and see such hidden gems of not only plants, flowers, and succulents but sculptural pieces of garden art, chicken coops, vegetable gardens, and more.
“To me, Garden 3 ‘Sea Glass’ was an oasis with so many places to enjoy a quiet place to read, drink a cup of tea or glass of wine, and invite friends to.
“I want to thank Susan Denton (Director of the 2021/22 Gate & Garden Tour) and her crew of volunteers for their many hours of work that ensured the success of this year’s Tour.”
Alissa Brown, raffle winner of glazed vases and pots, brought two fellow nurses from CHOC on the Tour with her, and all three nurses really appreciated the beauty of the gardens after the very difficult past twelve months. They especially loved the little yellow house with the small jacuzzi on the deck of the “Joy” home.
“It was a place I’d love to come home to,” said Alissa.
Susan Robertson won the $3,000 Special Raffle, an amazing plant display donated by Dana Point Nursery. A first-time attendee, Susan was invited by her longtime friend, Kathleen Kane, who is a Garden Club member. They met at Garden 1 and she decided to support the Club by purchasing three tickets to the Special Raffle.
When notified of her winning the big prize, she had no idea what she had won because she did not go to the Water District reception area. So basically, she won the Grand Prize “sight unseen.”
Robertson said, “My two favorite gardens were ‘Chicken Hill’ and ‘The Ark.’ I will definitely return next year.”
For more information about the Laguna Beach Garden Club, visit www.lagunabeachgardenclub.org.
For more photos by Mary Hurlbut, see slideshow below
