Perhaps the most personal of projects, this garden is a collaboration between James A. Lord and his mother. The garden, located in Palos Verdes Estates, is a celebration of the sculptural quality of succulents – unifying the contemporary/Spanish style architectural hybrid with the California landscape. At the front entrance, the lawn has been removed and replaced with a patchworks of stone paving and flowering thyme—setting a new typology in the neighborhood for responding to water restrictions.

The rear courtyard is organized around a spectacular Jacaranda tree. In the foreground, sandstone paving is interrupted by outcroppings of planting. These “fissures” in the paving are a direct reference to the family’s history as Seismic Structural Engineers in California. The garden can be read at many scales—from mini rockery gardens of sedum and gravel, to larger fields that open up to reveal giant agaves. A collector’s garden, the planting is a testing ground for unique succulents and cacti, set within the serene shade of the Jacaranda. The garden is a celebration of the arid landscape and its tectonic shifts.

Location: Palos Verdes, CA

Status: Completed 2009

Project Type: Residential Garden

Collaborators: Hazel Lord

Photography: Marion Brenner