Newport Beach Backyard by Molly Wood Garden Design
Photography by Lane J. Dittoe, courtesy of Molly Wood Garden Design. A scroll through landscape designer Molly Wood’s portfolio reveals gorgeous, rambling properties and infinity pools with views of forever, but it was a recent project on a much more modest scale that caught our eye. A pair of chaise lounges and a scalloped umbrella offer a shady place to lounge on the far end of the pool. Wood maps out the yard by function before she starts to even think about plants and hardscape materials. The cabana is completely open to the outdoors. To maximize the yard’s L-shape, Wood placed the pool cabana at the pivot point of the L, so it can be seen (and accessed) from both the far end of the pool and the dining area on the opposite side. Gravel replaces grass in this yard. In southern California, where Wood resides, limited water is a reality, so she eschewed a water-hungry lawn in favor of gravel courtyards. Tight mounds of Pittosporum ‘Golf Ball’ and Aeonium urbicum balance out the looser plantings. 4. Go wild—but not too wild. “It’s obvious that someone planted this garden and tends to it,” says Wood, but the plants won’t require constant trimming like a formal hedge would. The handmade bricks are laid in a herringbone design for a formal element and contrast nicely with the loose gravel. The combination of hardscape materials adds texture and a feeling of warmth and authenticity. Low-growing mint and thyme fill the seams between the different hardscaping. 6. Enjoy the ‘green seam’. Here, Corsican mint and woolly thyme “release yummy scents when you walk over them.” But perhaps more importantly, Wood says, “The green seam also forces you to look down and be aware when you’re walking, and really be in the space.” 7. Add interest near the walkways. A pathlight makes the walkway plantings even more of an attention-grabber come nightfall. “I like to put tiny little textural details to grab your attention,” says Wood. An eastern redbud is planted next to an upcycled trough fountain that Wood imports from Indonesia. 8. Create a room with a view. “A fountain coming out of the gravel with no plants around, would just seem like it fell from outer space,” says Wood. Wood likes asymmetry in her planter groupings, often placing three related but mismatched pots together in a group. 9. Treat pots as accessories.