Pacific Outdoor Living
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Estate

Rose Garden Estate

Altadena Spanish Designed by Samantha Hung

A Spanish Colonial estate kept its pool, spa and court. Everything between them became a rose garden, with a new paver driveway, re-decked terraces and a stucco fireplace.

The estate's white stucco elevation and red tile roof behind the pool at sunset, framed by palms

How this project came together

The challenge

The estate was already largely built. A concrete driveway curved in from the street. The pool and spa sat behind the house with their equipment beside them, and brick paving, lawns, a storage building and a play house filled the ground between. Spot elevations were taken across the parcel, and the four mature trees on the eastern boundary were drawn with their canopies plotted one by one, because the shade and the root zones decided what could go under them.

The design decision

What worked stayed. The pool, spa, deck and court are where they were. Everything around them came out. The driveway was relaid in stone pavers, the pool terrace re-decked, a stucco fireplace built at the water, and the ground between the buildings given over to garden: decomposed granite and flagstone paths, lava rock and mulch beds, a rose trellis, raised planter boxes and a picket fence.

The build

The planting is the substance of it: 49 carpet roses, 49 white icebergs, 14 pink tree roses and nine iceberg tree roses, Cecile Brunner climbers both staked and trained as espalier, 109 Japanese boxwood, a Carolina cherry hedge, and citrus and Little Gem magnolias behind them. Flagstone paths are set with four-to-six-inch joints planted with kurapia and shade-tolerant groundcover. Lighting runs through the whole garden, so the paths, the wall fountain and the planting all still work after dark.

The Design Process

From survey to buildable plan

Every project is measured, drawn, and approved before a shovel goes in the ground. These are the actual drawings for this property.

  1. Existing site plan of the estate, recording the house, driveway, pool, spa, lawns and mature trees before design

    Base Plan

    The existing site plan records an estate that was already largely built. A concrete driveway curves in from the street to a three-car garage, a pool and spa sit behind the house with their equipment alongside, and brick paving, lawns, a storage building and a play house fill the ground between them.

    Spot elevations are taken across the whole parcel, and the four mature trees along the eastern boundary are drawn with their canopies plotted individually, because their root zones and shade set the limits on what could be planted beneath them.

    Existing walls, wrought iron fencing, irrigation valves and control valves, electrical outlets, hose bibs, a utility pole and area drains are all located. On a property this established, those fixed points decide where a new path or planting bed can actually go.

  2. As-built conceptual planting design for the estate, with planting legend and photographic plant references

    Conceptual Plan

    The conceptual planting design keeps the pool, spa, deck and court exactly where the base plan found them, and gives everything between them over to garden. Sydney Peak flagstone paths are specified with four-to-six-inch joints planted with kurapia and a mix of shade-tolerant groundcover, with no benderboard at all, so the paving comes out as stone set into planting, not a path with edging.

    Decomposed granite pathways and a decomposed granite patio with rounded plant pockets are edged in brown composite benderboard, with black lava rock and shredded brown mulch used as the working ground surfaces. A trellis carries rose vines, two raised wood planter boxes and a picket fence are added, and the existing ivy, deck and steps are marked to remain.

    The planting legend is where the character of the place is set: 49 carpet roses, 49 white iceberg roses, 14 pink tree roses and nine iceberg tree roses, with Cecile Brunner climbers both staked and trained as espalier. Behind them sit 109 Japanese boxwood, a 24-plant Carolina cherry hedge, citrus and Little Gem magnolias, hydrangea, English lavender and sea lavender.

Before We Built It

The space, rendered in 3D

Homeowners approve a photorealistic model of their own property before construction starts, so what gets built is what they signed off on.

  • Rendering of the proposed paver driveway in large-format stone at the garage
  • Rendering of the driveway approach, showing the paver field, retaining wall and new trees
  • Rendering of the pool with its proposed stone deck and dark waterline tile
  • Rendering of the grass-jointed paver terrace stepping down to the pool
  • Rendering of the proposed white stucco outdoor fireplace with lounge seating
Before & After

The property as we found it

Drag the handle to see the same view before construction began.

Rectangular pool and raised spa with a tiled spillway, lit from within at dusk
Before After
  • The driveway before construction: a worn dark-surfaced drive curving between the existing white stucco walls
  • The garage apron before construction, in aggregate concrete banded with red brick
  • The pool terrace before construction, in aggregate paving with red brick banding and red-painted steps
  • The pool surround stripped back during construction, before the new stone deck was laid
  • The pool before the work: original red brick coping and aggregate concrete deck, with the spa alongside and the pool house beyond
Finished Project

17 photographs of the completed project.

Walkthrough

Rose Garden Estate on film

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All 34 projects

Rose Garden Estate is project 1 of 34 in the portfolio.