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When Jordan Kaplan sat down for his first meeting with Grant Kirkpatrick and Damon Hein of the architecture and landscape conception firmKAA Design , he gave them one authorization for the garden he require to construct around his new home in Los Angeles ’ Pacific Palisades . “ To give you an approximation where my focus is , ” he said , “ I desire the landscape painting to have as much grandness and economic value as the house . ”
A street view of the house , where a sea ofTulbaghia violaceaawaits visitor . Bluestone retaining wall planters harbor tall , wispyGrevillea‘Long John , ’ at decently , and on the opposite side of the limestone footstep are phormium and bloom Dalbergia nigra . Photo by : Tim Street - Porter . SEE MORE pic OF THIS GARDEN
It was an strange argument in this age of business firm - centric plan , especially come from a householder who works in real estate . For Kaplan , who specializes in commercial and multifamily property , familiarity with the market is precisely what made him want to concentre on landscape painting . “ I did n’t desire one of those properties where the planetary house is giant and the yard is trivial , ” he says . “ I wanted them to be in symmetry to each other . ”
When he purchase the parcel in the Alfred Hawthorne above Sunset Boulevard a decade ago , a trend driveway cut through a lawn to get to a California cattle farm house localize into the fundament of the property . Kaplan decided to start from scratch by tearing down the ranch . The unexampled house , a two - fib modernist anatomical structure , sit close to the street and has bloodline that draw the eye to a central atrium and then out to a series of decided outdoor space beyond . The building itself is full of familiar California touches : frosty line , walnut floors , and mahogany tree trim , but any sense of the expected disappears at the garden .
The surprisal begin outside the entryway , framed inbambooand ficus , where a span traverse a rock garden comprise of pebble and five granite bowlder , intend to invoke the five Confucian virtues . To the east , the ficus continues around the border of the curve yard , obscure the street beyond . level of prominent - folio tropical plants and ginger dim this live boundary communication channel .
A tall clump of tufted Cyperus papyrus adds drama to the koi pool , which range parallel to the ipe pond pack of cards . On the far side of the pool , two Sutherland chaises are covered in Perennials outdoor fabric and set against a backdrop of giant bird of paradise , tibouchina , and several type of palms . Photo by : Tim Street - Porter . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
A lawn wrapper around one side of the house , dotted with paradise palms and bluestone benches , and is almost parklike in spirit . It ’s intended for heavy use — there ’s a trampoline for Kaplan ’s and his wife ’s three children , and a temporary story is often laid over the dope for party .
Beyond the lawn , on a direct blood line from the front entry , the wet garden begins : a kitty , falls , and koi pond are bookended by matching stand of Egyptian paper reed . A Southeast Asian Lanai Island stands adjacent to the pool , produce a seamless transition from outdoor to indoor spaces . At one ending of the lanai , a giant Burmese meeting house vine climbs into the eaves with abandon .
The burble of the koi pond waterfall is a stark contrast to the Ryoan - ji - style Zen rock garden at the entry that has a symbolical waterscape drawn in crushed rock . But for Hein , there is a clear connection between the two landscape . “ There is an axis going through the front door and the garden out back that ties it together , ” he say . “ Elements reduplicate at either end of the axis vertebra . [ At the pool ] there is real H2O as opposed to the idea of piddle found in front of the household . ”
A second axis of rotation crosses in the mansion from the east side lawn to a semi - confine jewel box garden to the west of the formal dining arena . Where the lawn is both expansive and wild , suggest at jungle , this little treasure is a study in spare composition . Against one paries it has a diffuse falls , against another , a Japanese maple . Below the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree lie a three - ton slice of volcanic schist , split in half to expose a vein of yellow - white vitreous silica .
The sign was designed with a horse sense of flow , say Hein , KAA ’s former landscape director who now runs his own firm . “ It ’s not a building and a garden , ” he says . “ We minimize any distinction between the two . ”
Kaplan ’s warmness for tropical environments and Asian conception stems from visits to the Far East when he was a graduate student and in year since when he shuttled between Los Angeles and Asia for business . He often combined work trips with family vacation in Hawaii , oftentimes at the Four Seasons Hualalai resort on the Big Island ’s North Kona glide .
KAA paid homage to those sensibility by bringing inPlumeria‘Candy Stripe , ’ terrestrial orchid , palms , elephantine birdie of paradise , jasmine , and philodendron , among others . The evergreen wall around the lawn is dot throughout the yr with colour when the gingerroot bloom — the wise perfume of kahili ginger ( Hedychium gardnerianum ) , delicate pink buds of racing shell gingerroot ( Alpinia zerumbet ) , along with the meaty , multicolor lobster claw ( Heliconia schiedeana ) . In late outflow , the jacaranda ( mimosifolia ) explode in lavender , while even recently in August the pink cornet tree ( Tabebuia impetiginosa ) holds onto its bloom . At the eastern corner of the hatful , the gnarled trunk of a mature peppermint tree ( Agonis flexuosa ) propose a kid - friendly climbing perch .
Pennsylvania bluestone wall edge the seating cluster neighboring to the dining area . Plantings of tall papyrus and cluster mondo grass soften the preciseness of the hardscaping ’s geometric lines and perpendicular angle . picture by : Tim Street - Porter . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
The garden ’s most classifiable theme is the economic consumption of rock — sometimes as an art opus , as in the jewel box garden , and sometimes as a child ’s play area , the perfect topography for Tonka toy . An appreciation for the mineral world is a passion Kaplan originate as a minor growing up in nicely landscaped tract caparison in the San Fernando Valley . His don , UCLA philosophy professor David Kaplan , took him out to the bounteous Tujunga Wash in the foothills of the Valley . Using crowbar bar made of scavenge truck axles , they dislodged huge stone to convey home to the family garden .
For this landscape painting , Kaplan and members of the designing squad made several trip to the Mojave Desert , roaming outback quarries off Highway 395 , looking for just the correct rocks to truck in . “ The Pacific island theme was supposed to put on to the garden , ” suppose Kaplan . “ But we are in California , and I liked the Boulder . ” The choice were pulled out , tag , cleaned up , sometimes smoothed somewhat , and craned in to cautiously choose spots .
Kirkpatrick , a principal and founder at KAA , went along on one of the sunup patrol misstep to the desert . “ select the rocks was as important as choosing the plants , ” he recalls , “ maybe more . ”
Mineral materials show up throughout the garden and the house as limestone in patios and steps and Pennsylvania bluestone almost everywhere else — in veer Bench , interior and exterior walls , and open fireplace .
Maintaining a tropic garden in Los Angeles can be tricky , particularly close to such a large lawn . Some of the tropicals are understory stuff , doing well in the spectre but the piddle has to be cautiously monitored . Out front the bamboo has grown almost into a living genkan , a green entry , yet in the summons has managed to escape its cementum inclosure .
Even with maintenance challenges , Kaplan says he ’s delighted . For KAA , Kaplan was one of those rarified clients whose precedence were out of doors in . “ So often the landscape is depart until subsequently , and then the homeowner wants to feed to Home Depot for plants , ” says Kirkpatrick . “ Jordan obtain landscape painting architecture . ”
Jeff Spurrier wrote“From the Roots”for Garden Design ’s Jan./Feb . 2012 return .
This article originally appear as " break up the Rules " in GARDEN DESIGN ’s April 2012 issue .
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