California is relatively new, historically speaking, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love antiquities.
Designers of restaurants and hotels must know this, because when they do a Spanish colonial-style establishment, they knock stucco off of the walls to make them look old. So where did they get the idea that this lent (at least the suggestion of) authenticity? Doubtless from 200-year-old California missions, which date to when the region was owned by Spain and sent Catholic priests (“padres“) to convert the natives.
Recently, I visited Mission San Juan Capistrano to view the gardens, but it was the walls that enthralled me.
Btw, San Juan Capistrano is hosting the Eco-Expo, a festival dedicated to all things green, May 17-18. I’ll be speaking and signing my books both days.
And now, here’s my ode to old walls, plus some pretty (but unhistoric and nonindigenous) flowers.
OK, I take that back. Those orange flowers in the foreground are California poppies. And the cactus beyond the wall is native to Mexico, so I suppose that counts.
Dasylirions (left) and the agave in bloom at right also are native to the Southwest. In the background is what remains of a cathedral-like church that collapsed in 1812, six years after it was built, due to a massive earthquake. Forty parishioners died.
Above: Trumpet vine and Agave desmettiana ‘Variegata’.
The bougainvillea (from South America) is lovely, but oh! That mottled wall!
An old courtyard includes what appear to be cacti from the Americas but are in fact euphorbias from Africa.
An aeonium (from Madagascar) looks great in front of an adobe wall. I have pockets of adobe clay in my garden. Water won’t drain through it, and when wet it sticks to my shoes, staining them reddish brown.
Do you see the little beady eyes and pointed noses decorating this metal door hardware? I suspect they depict possums. Maybe rats. Either way, there’s a story there.
Great doorway. As for clivia…meh. Snail chow (from S. Africa).
If 21st-century builders want to create authentic-looking colonial CA buildings, they need to take pains to lay pavers somewhat irregularly. I.e., think like Disney imagineers.
Above is a guava tree, native to Mexico and Central America.
Koi. Aren’t they from China?
Lavender and statice.
And hybrid tea roses!
Latest posts by Debra Lee Baldwin (see all)
- Join Me in Celebrating the Joy of Succulents! - December 9, 2018
- Can Landscaping Protect a Home from Wildfire? - June 6, 2018
- Bill’s Best: A Top Designer’s Favorite Aloes - April 6, 2018
