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picture by : Cl1
There I was , in the midsection of a nightmare of a Southern California heat undulation , get up into the Hollywood Hills , maneuver toward the garden of director Wes Craven , creator of the ghoulish Freddy Krueger role and the terrifyingScreamspoofs , among other repugnance . What would I feel ? A sweep of the glowering blackishGeranium phaeum , a.k.a . mourning widow woman ? A lone specimen cactus in the shape of Freddy ’s knife - fingered glove ? Or might the prince of dark preside over a in high spirits - construct design in which every plant is allowed to wither and die — the horticultural reflexion of a twisted , unbalance interior landscape painting ?
Not even close .
ideate , instead , a Zen oasis of lush gullible leafage and running water , a place so soothing that the temperature all of a sudden seems to shake off 10 degrees . Picture the elegant branches of an Australian willow ( Geijera parviflora ) , its pendulous leaves swing in the breeze , casting indulgent , shimmering shadows as a hummingbird diva - bomb a crimson - floweredSalvia greggiiand dart away , happy as can be . And the garden ’s owner ? Wes Craven ’s smile is surprisingly warm ( especially for someone I one-half expected to skip out from behind a tree and holler '' Boo ! '' ) . He ’s an avid shuttle - watcher who ’s nostalgic for the sounds of pelting and rivers — sounds he try arise up in Cleveland , Ohio , near Lake Erie .
In fact , when Craven first fulfill with garden designer Kathy Glascock , in 1996 , the one thing he take a firm stand on was a water feature , both for its gurgling music and its power to attract Bronx cheer . Then , when she got back to him with a sketch , he asked for an even larger one — a tall order for a long , penny-pinching site that measure out a light 16 by 128 base . But Glascock follow , with a stream that is now the very eye of the garden . Together , fashion designer and conductor proceed to a stone yard and selected huge boulders , which were by and by crane in and cautiously locate along the stream ’s way . As for the plants , '' Kathy left bouquets around the planetary house , '' Craven recalls , '' so that we could familiarise ourselves with all of the colors and textures she was plan to use . ''
Glascock further defined the small blank space with a farsighted pergola draped inWisteria sinensis ; the social system , with build - in bench , effectively dissever Craven ’s K into two distinct surface area without harshly segmenting it into whole disjoined '' elbow room . '' Both it and the fence surrounding the garden are made from redwood and taut unstained - brand cable . '' The blade crop so well with the modern identity of Wes ’s planetary house , '' Glascock articulate , cite to the mid - century architecture that led her design in a minimalist , somewhat Nipponese direction . '' And on the fencing , funnily enough , the cable system echo the power lines in the space . '' Mass planting of lavender and ofGaura lindheimeri — its many white flowers resembling a haze of modest butterflies — work in concert with a breathless view of L.A. to create a ribbon of continuity .
Photo by : Jeremy Samuelson .
But it ’s the water that really makes this garden catamenia . The small river , which begins at a rectangular Indian ticket outflow , weaves two ostensibly disparate blank together as it goes . First , it bubbles underfoot , running in and out of a flagstone path that consume visitors beneath the pergola and through a clearing planted with those elegant Australian willow . Then , a stand of weaver ’s bamboo ( Bambusa textilis ) scar a transition : the garden becomes Mediterranean in character . The trees are citrus , backbreaking with Meyer lemons and grapefruit , and the meandering current is now a sharply define rill , which point the water through the earth coversDymondia margaretaeandCerastium tomentosum(aptly named nose candy - in - summertime ) to its final terminus , a cistern hiding under an industrial - intensity level grate .
All the plant material had to be carefully selected for vivid photograph on this sunny , visionary hilltop , perched high above the city . Glascock used problematic Mediterraneans , Australians , and California natives ( including one of my darling , the very gardenworthyArctostaphylos densiflora’Howard McMinn ' ) in sheer swath , layered against one another . Rosa ' Dainty Bess ' — not most as frail as its name incriminate — makes an appearance in a stand ofVerbena bonariensis . The Australian willow tree were brought in en masse shot ; their loose bodily structure casts a hopeful shade , dappled enough to provide sun - loving plant to flourish beneath them . The solvent is altogether unequalled — a dry planting of phormiums , salvia , and lavenders that manages to impart the lush , cool feel of a shade garden .
Only the perverted and gnarled branches of a large , multitrunked hemangioma simplex tree(Arbutus unedo)seem to suit the garden of brat I had imagined , but here the contortion is sculptural — picturesque , not fantastical . Craven ’s is a graceful landscape painting that encourages walking , talking , and contemplation . The water draw guests out of doors and keeps them exploring . '' Even teenagers , '' the music director says , '' who turn up their nose at anything adult , get activated draw it to its source . '' Is it any wonder that shortly after the garden was completed , Craven stunned Hollywood by directing not moreNightmaresor anotherScreambut the uplifting Meryl Streep vehicle Music of the Heart ? ( In fact , Streep ’s hubby , Don Gummer , create a sculpture that now live on in the garden . )
Craven pay Glascock the highest compliment — that of enjoying his yard every 24-hour interval , watching birds splashing in the water and lizard sun themselves on the rock and roll . '' It is fabulously passive here , '' he says , '' howling to arouse up to — a very real source of pleasure . '' It ’s his sanctuary .
And Freddy Krueger ? His glove is gather safely aside inside a ice display case in Craven ’s media room . This garden is the arena of Howard McMinn ( the arctostaphylos ) , Tom Thumb ( the phormium ) , and that dainty little rose named Bess .
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