This iconic Santa Barbara Garden was designed by Isabelle Greene – a renowned landscape architect whom I know little about.  Her website however gives a sense of her and I have been reading it like it were a juicy gossip column.

In her own words, Isabelle says:  “There are weighty elements to garden design: rough, craggy eternal things like rocks; earthy things like tractors and camaraderie with the workmen; imponderable things like regulatory bodies and boards of directors.  And there are also thin gossamer overlays: frost, reflection, shadows, dew. The interplay along these spectrums of the experience creates a garden’s intense richness….To design with all this requires a sense of wholeness – a sense of connections – a serious intent with a lively play. The appearance of the finished garden is the outcome of the wholeness of the process, the pieces interpreted and stitched together properly.  It cannot be programmed it must be felt – like a tune. ”

I find these words comforting, because they help me with what I grapple with most in landscape design…and that is perfectionism.  These are the words of a very wise and talented woman.

I love the drifts of interesting plants, colors and textures.  Is is like a beautiful painting on the ground.  What do you love about this garden?

All images by brewbrooks