A Beautiful Seaside Garden at the End of a Dirt Road - Gardenista
Drive along Highway 1 north of San Francisco for 20 miles... ...until you reach that wide, foggy stretch of Stinson Beach where you can glimpse ocean out the driver’s side window and Marin County’s grassy headlands in your rearview. At the end of a cul de sac sits a beach house, built in 1968, that started out as a modest, L-shaped bungalow. “Trying to fit into the landscape was the goal, and it was a challenge.” Here’s how the garden rises to the occasion. The client’s pickup truck is parked in front of a redwood fence that provides both privacy and a buffer against the wind. A concrete threshold, with a tiny window that offers a peek of the grasses that grow against the side of the house. The view through the little window. To your left, as you enter, is a sunken, wood-burning fire pit. A large concrete bench allows guests to sit up on the deck level, out of the smoke. The bottom of the fire pit is sand. A grassy dune makes the property feel bigger. Passionflower vines cover the fence, attracting butterflies and producing white flowers and edible orange fruit. Beyond the garage, waterproof canvas miners’ tents pitched atop wooden platforms serve as guest bedrooms. At the edge of the property, a path leads to a gate the family calls “the surfers’ entrance.” One house away is the ocean.