Capri, Italy
Team
Garden installation: Nello Trapani and Giuseppe Russo
Plants: Vivai Pagano, La Ginestra Vivaio, Margheriti Piante, Vivaio Le Muse, Vivai Capitanio
Masonry: Giuseppe Scuotto
Terracotta pots: Poggi Ugo, Vaserie Rinaldi
Culver City, CA
Planting design for Terremoto
Read the horticultural narrative here: “Mediterranean Adjacent”
Long Beach, CA
A garden comprised solely of plants native to Latin-America.
A winding path leads you around a central planting bed filled with grasses and perennials from the mediterranean-climate zones of Baja, Mexico and Chile. These plants grow with the winter rains, and then are dormant in summer. This dormancy is punctuated by the planting of species from further south in Mexico, where the dry/rainy seasons are switched - rain in the summer, and drought in the winter. Dahlia species, Tigridia pavonia, and Bessera elegans, emerge from the dry grasses in summer. These summer-blooming plants are irrigated by drip-irrigation, while the rest of the plantings are left completely dry - only relying on the rainfall that typically commences in November. We call this the “Dual-Climate Garden.”
The perimeter beds are composed of a variety of sub-tropical plants from southern Mexico and South America, creating height and texture to enclose the garden space.
Plant list
Aloysia virgata
Alstroemeria 'Jupiter'
Amaranthus caudatus & cvs.
Amicia zygomeris
Amorpha fruticosa
Aphelandra schiedeana
Aristida purpurea
Asarina scandens 'Joan Lorraine'
Asclepias curassavica 'Silky Gold'
Begonia vitifolia
Bessera elegans
Bouteloua curtipendula
Caesalpinia mexicana
Ceiba speciosa
Chiranthodendron pentadactylon
Clarkia tenella
Cnidoscolus aconitifolius
Cornutia pyramidata
Cosmos bipinnatus
Dahlia campanulata
Dahlia coccinea
Dahlia hybrids
Dahlia imperialis
Deppea splendens 'Cristóbal'
Eschscholzia californica 'Alba'
Eschscholzia californica 'Purple Gleam'
Euphorbia pulcherrima
Heliotropium sp. 'Ecuador'
Hyptis emoryi
Iochroma 'Princess'
Justicia aurea
Justicia brasiliana
Justicia sericea 'Inca Queen'
Lepechinia hastata
Lepidium montanum
Leucaena leucocephala
Leucaena retusa
Leucocoryne purpurea
Linum lewisii
Lobelia tupa
Louteridium mexicanum
Montanoa bipinnatifida
Montanoa grandiflora
Neomarica caerulea
Odontonema callistachyum 'Lavender'
Papaver heterophyllum
Penstemon parryi
Piper elongatum
Roldana petasites
Ruellia conzattii
Salvia 'Amistad'
Salvia chiapensis
Salvia clevelandii
Salvia columbariae
Salvia guaranitica 'Argentine Skies'
Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'
Salvia leucantha 'White Mischief'
Salvia mexicana 'Limelight'
Salvia uliginosa
Senna 'Butter & Cream'
Shaueria sp. 'Lime Puff'
Sisyrinchium bellum
Solandra longiflora
Solanum wendlandii
Stipa ichu
Tagetes erecta
Telanthophora grandifolia
Tibouchina heteromalla
Tigridia pavonia
Tithonia diversifolia
Tithonia rotundifolia
Verbena lilacina 'De la Mina'
Zinnia hybrids
Venice, CA
From 2017-2021 Jonathan experimented growing rare California-native and Mediterranean-climate species (and a few others) at a small nursery in Old Topanga. These were planted primarily in beds of pure sand or pure gravel. The plantings in these beds were only irrigated to supplement winter rainfall, and left unwatered to go dormant in summer.
Plant list
Perennials, annuals, shrubs
Achillea cretica
Aethionema grandiflorum
Alyssum murale
Amsonia tomentosa
Anagallis monellii
Arctotis acaulis
Artemisia ludoviciana ssp albula
Astragalus pomonensis
Astragalus trichopodus var phoxus
Aurinia saxatilis
Baileya multiradiata
Camissonia cheiranthifolia
Campanula carpatha
Campanula celsii ssp. celsii
Campanula hagiella
Campanula incurva
Campanula primulifolia
Cardopatium corymbosum
Carlina tragacanthfolia
Catanache caerulea
Centaurea lactucifolia
Centaurea redempta
Chorizanthe staticoides
Cirsium occidentale
Clarkia tenella
Cnidoscolus aconitifolius
Delphinium cardinale
Delphinium parryi
Delphinium staphysagria
Digitalis cariensis ssp. ikarica
Dudleya pulverulenta
Ebenus cretica
Ebenus sibthorpii
Echinops graecus
Echium gentianoides
Echium simplex
Echium wildpretii
Edmondia sessamoides
Eriastrum densifolium
Eriogonum grande var. rubescens
Eriogonum vimineum
Geranium maderense
Globularia alypum
Heuchera maxima
Iberis gibraltarica
Ipomopsis rubra
Jurinaea mollis
Lallemantia canescens
Leonotis nepetifolia
Lepechinia hastata
Lepidium montanum
Limonium peregrinum
Linanthus californicus (Leptodactylon californicum)
Linaria purpurea
Linum lewisii
Lotus scoparius
Lupinus excubitus
Lychnis coronaria
Lysimachia atropurpurea
Manulea altissima
Matthiola fruticulosa ssp. fruticulosa
Mentzelia laevicaulis
Mirabilis multiflora
Monardella antonina
Monardella villosa
Monardella viminea
Montanoa bipinnatifida
Montanoa grandiflora
Nepeta curviflora
Nepeta nepetella ssp aragonensis
Nepeta tuberosa
Papaver atlanticum
Papaver heterophyllum
Papaver rhoeas
Paracaryum racemosum
Penstemon ambiguus
Penstemon eatonii
Penstemon incertus
Penstemon parryi
Petromarula pinnata
Pseudognaphalium californicum
Reseda alba
Ruellia conzattii
Rumex vesicarius
Salvia canariensis
Salvia carduacea
Salvia lanigera
Salvia palaestina
Salvia phlomoides
Salvia pomifera
Salvia sclarea var turkestanica
Salvia spathacea
Salvia tingitana
Schizanthus litoralis
Seseli gummiferum
Silene gigantea ssp. hellenica
Silene laciniata
Sideritis oroteneriffae
Sparrmannia africana
Stanleya pinnata
Streptanthus insignis
Thymophylla pentachaeta
Tithonia diversifolia
Tithonia rotundifolia
Trichostema lanceolatum
Zauschneria canum
Geophytes
Allium sphaerocephalon
Aristea capitata
Babiana angustifolia
Babiana ecklonii
Babiana ringens
Babiana rubrocyanea
Babiana villosa
Bulbinella graminifolia
Calochortus clavatus
Calochortus venustus
Crocus goulimyi
Dahlia brevis
Dahlia campanulata
Dahlia coccinea
Dahlia imperialis
Dahlia rudis
Dahlia sorrensenii
Dichelostemma capitatum
Freesia speciosa
Gladiolus carmineus
Gladiolus floribundus
Haemanthus coccineus
Iris atropurpurea
Iris kirkwoodiae
Ixia curta
Ixia rapunculoides
Leucocoryne appendiculata
Leucocoryne coronata
Leucocoryne purpurea
Moraea villosa
Muscari comosum
Neomarica caerulea
Paeonia californicum
Scilla peruviana
Sisyrinchium bellum
Sparaxis tricolor
Tigridia pavonia
Tulipa agenensis
Tulipa cretica
Tulipa cypria
Grasses
Agrostis pallens
Aristida purpurea
Bouteloua curtipendula
Calamagrostis brachytricha
Festuca californica
Koeleria macrantha
Sporobolus wrightii
Stipa cernua
Stipa coronata
Stipa hymenoides
Stipa lepida
Stipa pulchra
Stipa speciosa
Los Angeles, CA
A former driveway, we broke up hundreds of square feet of concrete and used the pieces to create low walls and stepping stones.
Above the heavily compacted clay, we mounded 12-36 inches (30-90cm) of fine gravel to create two planting beds and placed various boulders and smaller rocks. We then planted a series of Californian and Mediterranean plants, positioning them in relationship to the boulders and rocks to mimic their natural conditions.
Joshua Tree, CA
Collaboration with Sarita Jaccard
Santa Monica, CA
Not a proper garden, this forever-unfinished test bed is a mini laboratory to see what plants can grow solely on Los Angeles rainfall while also providing vibrant seasonal change and color.
We utilize primarily herbaceous perennials and bulbs/geophytes to create a space that dramatically changes from autumn to summer. There is something particularly satisfying about cutting the entire garden to the ground in the fall, and to witness the flush of green buds and new shoots with the winter first rains, knowing the space will overflow come spring.
Planted in 12 inches (30+cm) of pure sand brought to the site, this was our first project to utilize the sand bed technique developed by Peter Korn in Sweden.