The show is over. My husband, Alastair Boase, collaborated on a garden in the beautiful La Canada area of Los Angeles. The home was this year's "Showcase House," an extravaganza of design which raises lots of money for arts organizations in the Pasadena area. McGregor's Kitchen Garden was a beautiful combination of function and beauty. Large planter boxes and raised beds were filled with vegetables and herbs, beautiful flower beds were filled with drought tolerant grasses, salvias and succulents, and almost all the materials used for the garden were already on site (piles of old bricks, concrete removed from the pool area) or salvaged (a client's old deck). The showpiece of the garden was an enormous fireplace and pergola complete with grape vines and wisteria. Many thousands of dollars were invested in the garden, and the visitors were stunned.
But despite the impressive magnitude of the project, two items in the garden got more attention than anything else, and I'm going to share those with you so you can have your own little piece of Showcase:
The Cardboard Deer:
Can you see it above the fireplace? His name is Bucky and he is available from Cardboard Safari for 52 "bucks."
The spectacular succulent:
This is Calandrinia...grandiflora? spectabilis? I've seen it labeled both ways. Determined to have it in my own garden, I purchased one from a nursery which was labeled "spectabilis," however, I was informed by Alastair's design collaborator that it is "grandiflora." The common name is Rock Purslane.
There. $10,000+ and it's the little things that got all the attention. Little, but super cool.
