California Kitchen Garden
I dragged Jon to see the Meryl Streep movie It’s Complicated because I wanted to see her character’s Santa Barbara kitchen garden. It was lovely, with gravel paths, geometric raised beds, and gorgeous vegetables. Later I learned that the tomatoes were wired to the vines and the cabbage were actually growing in individual pots sunken into the ground. I was so disappointed!
Little did I know that just a few months later I’d have the opportunity to visit an authentic California kitchen garden that is even more beautiful than the movies. The Collenette family’s home is nestled into the base of a grassy hillside in rural Marin County. Their garden, which they designed in collaboration with Sylvia and Eric Blasen of Blasen Landscape Architecture, has a classic layout, but a decidedly relaxed, lived-in feel.
The kitchen garden spreads out from the front courtyard and is defined by straight gravel pathways and square beds. Espaliered fruit trees and grapes divide the garden into sections and also serve as screens, adding privacy to the house’s wide, wrap-around porch.
Drought-tolerant herbs, including rosemary, thyme, and oregano, carpet the soil in many parts of the garden. I was especially partial to this quilt-like collection of herbs planted beneath a grape vine.
A hedge of California wax myrtle shields the garden from an adjacent golf course, but not from the occasional stray golf ball that flies in from across the way.
A curving gravel path leads you from the edible-focused front yard to the more private, recreation-based backyard.
There is a small lawn for kids and dogs to play on and a slender, rectangular pool, which looks more like a reflecting pool then a swimming pool. The clean, geometric design and minimal plantings make this part of the garden very restful. Along the perimeter of the property, the garden’s plantings become more naturalistic—helping blur the border between the cultivated landscape and the hillside beyond.
The soft, fragrant herbs growing between these stepping stones soften the edges of the very linear pathway and make a nice transition from the lawn to the mixed border.
At the back of their property, just outside the gate, the Collenette’s have a small aviary where they raise carrier pigeons! The birds spend their days swooping over the house and gardens. How cool is that?
Completely breathtaking. LOVE this garden.
June 24th, 2010 at 9:06 amI too loved that garden from “It’s Complicated,” but thought something was fishy when she had cabbage AND tomatoes ready for harvest in mid-June! This garden is an inspiration. Thank you for sharing it!
June 24th, 2010 at 9:06 amGorgeous!
June 24th, 2010 at 12:17 pmThat is so funny! I watched that movie twice, just to see her garden. I wanted to believe it was all real. Darn. Thanks for sharing the real one and I also loved the chicken houses from your last post.
June 24th, 2010 at 1:14 pmWilli
Gorgeous shots!
I’ve been dilly-dallying about posting the photos I have from our wonderful afternoon/evening at the Collenette’s.
xo
Alice
aka Bay Area Tendrils
June 24th, 2010 at 1:45 pm.-= Alice Joyce´s last blog ..An Ideal Garden .. Cothay Manor, England =-.
Oh wow. Marin is one of my most favorite places in California: that garden! Sunshine! Pool! Lovely.
June 24th, 2010 at 4:21 pm.-= Lelo´s last blog ..My love of strawberries, and my new love, roasted balsamic strawberries =-.
Yep, the garden in It’s Complicated was laughably perfect as if drawn to life by Beatrix Potter. I’m sure in that part of the movie, the dialogue was lost on most gardeners, as we were focusing on this vegetable plot ideal.
As for the real thing, pictured above, it is a gem of a garden and one I most appreciate you sharing.
June 25th, 2010 at 6:09 am.-= tom | tall clover farm´s last blog ..At Stake: Pole Beans Need Your Support =-.
it’s official. this is my dream home. i am salivating over it! thanks for sharing!
June 25th, 2010 at 7:31 am.-= chassie´s last blog ..I never met a wall of blackberries I didn’t like. =-.
These photos are so beautiful. I too loved the garden in It’s Complicated. I am creating a biodynamic food garden where I live as a teaching garden and would love it to have this feeling. The garden is going to provide food for a food share program in Ventura County and be the beginning of what will be a dairy cow sanctuary and biodynamic gardening program in Ojai. I’d love to read more of your blogs and keep posted about what you are doing.
June 30th, 2010 at 8:00 pmBest
Denise
Denise–Your project looks so cool. I’m so flattered that you like DigginFood! The more I learn about biodynamic gardening, the more interested in it I become. It just makes so much sense. Good luck!!
July 1st, 2010 at 12:01 pmGreat place and great photographs too….:)
August 13th, 2010 at 3:28 amHa! I knew that wonderful garden in It’s Complicated was too good to be true.
Nancy Myers does create the best sets for her movies, though – and the best looking food. This garden is stunning. These posts I keep finding about Marin gardens are making me miss the Bay Area! 
February 5th, 2011 at 3:35 pm