The ninth annual Malibu Garden Club Tour will provide a rare view of many rare plants and some unique landscape designs.
By Ward Lauren / Special to The Malibu Times
Four of Malibu’s most beautiful gardens will be open for walking tours on May 20, during the ninth annual Malibu Garden Tour conducted by the Malibu Garden Club.
Vicki Cooper-Lane, club president, said docents and landscape architects and designers will be present to provide details and information about the layouts and plantings at the sites, all located in prominent homes in West Malibu between Winding Way and Trancas Canyon.
Of the gardens to be featured, named by the Garden Club to reflect the nature or intent of the landscaping, two are in the Point Dume area. One, the “John Muir Retreat,” graces a home originally built by Frank Lloyd Wright’s grandson, Eric Lloyd Wright, himself an architect currently living in Malibu.
Current owners Geoff and Sadie Barish said they were attracted to the property because of its “Big Sur” feel and forested appearance. Many locally suitable Mediterranean plants were used in the garden, along with tropical plants such as giant Birds of Paradise and ornamental grasses to frame the natural driveway.
The “Enchanted Garden,” also on Point Dume, is entered through a natural driveway under an archway that leads to an eclectic array of fruit trees, plants, roses and five water features, including a large pond at the bottom of the terraced property. Owners Dale and Liz Kinsella, after a nine-month renovation of the house and property in 2003, found ways to tame the heavily sloped terrain by creating terraces like orchards, with several individual “meditation areas.” An interior/exterior landscape designer herself, Liz Kinsella believes in transforming a garden rather than tearing it out to remake it, and thus preserved many of the existing trees and plants.
The “Waterfall Retreat Garden” near Ramirez Canyon faced the challenge of a dramatic slope on which the house, with its cantilevered deck and pool, were built. Terraced walk areas and steps leading to a large cascading waterfall and pond helped overcome the problem. Owners Michael and Danette Eilenberg recently added a putting green, lawn and fruit trees, which, with varieties of sages, papyrus, blue hibiscus and assorted Mediterranean plants, make the place reminiscent of a home in Italy or southern France.
In Trancas Canyon, artist and designer Douglas Busch and wife Lori enjoy a spectacular steel and glass home cantilevered over a 20-acre property with sweeping views of the ocean. Their “California Native Estate Garden,” incorporating a wide variety of native, drought-tolerant California and Mediterranean plants, is highlighted by a 40,000-gallon koi pond with lotus and highbred tropical lilies, which cut through the studios and waterfalls down to a second pond.
“The annual tour has proven to be one of Malibu’s most popular events, and reservations are limited, so we urge everyone to order their tickets as soon as possible,” Cooper-Lane said. “We recommend wearing comfortable shoes and ask that visitors enjoy the gardens without bringing children or pets.”
The tour will begin at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School at 6955 Fernhill Drive, where participants will pick up their tickets and descriptive brochures. The tour is between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Tickets to the tour are $25 and include refreshments, Cooper-Lane said. They can be reserved online at www.malibugardenclub.com, or by calling 310.455.1558. Checks may be mailed to Malibu Garden Club, P.O. Box 825, Topanga, CA 90290. The price constitutes a tax-deductible donation, as proceeds are used to further the work of the Garden Club in support of various Malibu civic and beautification projects and continuing education in gardening.