McNaughton at the Mountain: Landscape Design

For my 50th birthday this year -- May 24th in case you are wondering, and yes, I am a Gemini -- I decided against a big party and decided to give myself the gift of landscaping.

When we bought the house, most of the front landscaping was past its prime. We removed everything except one Texas Ranger plant, so that we could have a clean slate.

Here is the front of the house "before"-

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When the Designer Needs a Designer

Through mutual friends at my gym, I met landscape designer Mario Benito. Mario works on projects on the East Coast and Los Angeles, and fairly recently moved full-time to Palm Springs.

To be honest, we considered designing the landscaping ourselves. We had never worked with a professional landscape designer on our own homes before, but David and I acknowledge that this house is special and deserved a trained eye.

So one day, over coffee after the gym, I asked Mario to take a look at our new house. All I told him was that I did not want "desert" landscape and that I wanted something lush, colorful, and theatrical. James McNaughton, the architect of our home, was a Hollywood set designer turned architect.

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Mario's Design

After I gave Mario my brief and vague description of what I was looking for, he turned to me and said, "So you want a drag queen design?"

To which I replied,"Well, of course!"

A couple of weeks later, Mario emailed this design. I find it so beautiful that I let out an audible gasp!

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The Details

Creeping rosemary spills over the sides of the walls that frame the driveway. Our home has two 2-car garages, one under each wing of the house. Massings of lantana, bougainvillea, langman's sage create colorful and lush foreground -- it's exactly what I wanted, but could never have done on my own.

I sat down with Mario to find out how he read my mind so perfectly.

CK: So, what is your concept for this design?

MB: Theatricality and elegance were my key words for this design.

CK: I hear you. And, as you know, I am living in this house and still working out how my personal aesthetic reconciles with the history and style of this house.

MB: The house itself is very formal, but I wanted to introduce a loose and casual symmetry. My goal was for the plants themselves to become part of the stage set, with the house as the theatrical star of the show floating above.

CK: I love that James McNaughton, the architect, was a set designer. I actually minored in theatre in college, so it feels super full-circle and meant to be.

MB: In this design, the plants are the jewelry. The house is the gown, but what would a gown be without accessories? The plantings become the earrings or necklace, which can make or break an outfit.

CK: Well said! Thank you so much for giving me exactly what I didn't even know I wanted.

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Above: Mario's rendering of our front exterior landscape. We are so excited!

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Installation Day

Just days before my birthday, our wonderful longtime landscaper, Luis, arranged for a truckload of plants to be delivered! What a wonderful and exciting day.

Above:

Together, Mario and I decided to switch from the hot pink bougainvillea to the more soft pink and orange "Rosenka" species, which thrives in the desert but is used less frequently.

Mario, Luis, and I on the first day of installation!

It takes a village to bring any project to life, and this one is certainly no exception.

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I love that I will always remember what year we installed the front landscape, and that it will become a marker of time. As I get older, my values have shifted a bit. Fewer parties. More plants. Longer-term investments.

This year, to paraphrase Voltaire, cultivating my own garden felt like the right thing to do.

Friends, follow me on social media and on our Friday Five emails for updates on the landscape's progress.

XO CK