Playful plant-lover’s garden of LA designer Dustin Gimbel

September 28, 2015
Concrete orb shish-kabobs in Dustin’s garden

The Death Star was blasting mercilessly when I visited designer Dustin Gimbel’s garden in Long Beach, CA, last week — not at all in the mellow, sunny-L.A. way I’d been led to expect. But perhaps Diana and I are fated to bring Texas weather with us wherever we travel.

We were in Los Angeles for the Garden Writers Association (now GardenComm) conference but had set aside a day and a half to visit friends and their gardens. Annette Gutierrez, whose garden we visited first on Saturday morning, had generously arranged a day of private garden visits for us. Slathered in sunscreen, we arrived at mid-morning at Dustin’s garden, and he met us at the gate wearing a big-brimmed straw hat and an even bigger smile. With him was Bill Thomas, executive director and head gardener at the amazing Chanticleer.

I knew Dustin slightly from his blog, Non-Secateur (a punny title that perfectly exemplifies his quirky sense of humor), and from other bloggers’ posts about him.


Dustin is the mastermind behind an L.A. event that brings together creative people from multiple fields — gardeners, designers, writers, artists, etc. — for dinner in his garden. These Cross-Pollination parties, as he calls them, are a terrific idea that I fantasize about copying in Austin — or, even better, being invited to myself. (If only there were an energetic and welcoming Dustin in Austin!) Dustin is a plant geek extraordinaire who’s worked with Dan Hinkley at Heronswood, Bill at Chanticleer, and ornamental grass guru John Greenlee, as well as at Great Dixter in England. Today he operates Second Nature Garden Design in L.A.


His own garden, on an unusually large lot in an urban neighborhood in Long Beach, is a place of artistic experimentation. A tall hedge shuts out the busy street, putting the visitor’s attention on the mix of plants and Dustin’s handmade art, like these cast-concrete spheres skewered on rebar stakes, which resemble stacked beach stones. A narrow trail of hexagonal pavers winds through the sunny garden, leading the visitor on a slow, deliberate exploration. ‘Fireworks’ gomphrena adds a meadowy ribbon of pink pom-poms to the scene.


Dustin went all-in on the concrete-orb creation, as evidenced by the pile of balls next to a small pond. A cast-leaf fountain trickles water into the pool.


On the porch, potted plants share space with a twisted old vine, a natural sculpture.


This pot of buffalograss is meant to be a seat, Dustin told us. At first glance I thought it to be an ironic tribute to the Bermudagrass that blanketed the yard when he bought the house, which he eradicated in the process of making his garden.


The most dramatic feature of the front garden is a gracefully arched weeping acacia (Acacia pendula). Its silvery leaves sparkle in the sunlight and surely glow in moonlight. Dustin’s trained it on a rebar tepee frame that straddles the path, but the rebar is nearly invisible, giving the impression that the tree has simply been pruned into an arched doorway.


Wired to the tree, along with Spanish moss (I think), was a tillandsia with a beautiful lavender flower.


Lovely


Looking back at the front garden from the driveway (which leads to the back garden), you see a wealth of textural leaves and shades of green and gray. Touchable ‘Cousin Itt’ acacia is in the foreground.


Entering the back garden is a wow moment. A thick-limbed dead tree, painted pale yellow, stands as a sculptural centerpiece near an L-shaped screening wall constructed of horizontal boards. Strategically placed windows offer teasing glimpses of the garden beyond. By dividing his garden into distinct rooms but allowing peek-a-boo views, Dustin has made the garden feel larger than it really is.

Golden bromeliads and a variegated ponytail palm, as well as yellow glass floats in a trough pond, amplify the yellow of the tree. The colors were intense at midday but must glow beautifully in the softer light of morning and evening, perfect for al fresco dinner parties.


The raised trough pond — mortared concrete block cloaked with fig ivy — is positioned in one of the “windows,” thus figuring into the gardens on both sides of the wall. Through the top window you get a glimpse of a dusky purple wall, with burgundy and chartreuse plants in front.


Yellow echoes yellow echoes yellow


One bromeliad was in bloom.


Walk around the screening wall, and you see a gravel garden with a meandering path of concrete pavers. A circle of Dustin’s cast-concrete gnomes catches your eye…


…what are they up to?


Plant worship?


At a small table nearby, a gnome appears to be standing guard over a bowl of diamonds, another creation of Dustin’s — from an ice-cube tray mold, I believe he said. At Dustin’s invitation, one of these came home with me as a souvenir from his garden. The gnome was kind enough not to bite my fingers as I selected one.


Around the corner, another dining table offers extra space for guests.


Sunflowers reach for the sky.


Now we’re looking through the screening wall’s window from the other side, toward the back of the house.


A most unusual vine drapes from a corner of the screening wall: giant Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia gigantea), a Brazilian native. Its inflated, burgundy flowers look a bit like lungs before they open.


And when they open, they resemble…ahem…well, I’ll leave that to your imagination. It’s a conversation starter, for sure. Check out A Growing Obsession for a wonderful photo of this vine, in the softer light of evening, strung along Dustin’s dusky purple wall.


At the back of the lot, Dustin keeps an artfully arranged assortment of plants that he’s propagating or putting into clients’ gardens.


It’s like a mini-nursery.


I noticed that Dustin has made stacks of cast-concrete teeth as well — to go with plants that can bite, like this agave?


Bill and Dustin, two gardener rock stars

Thank you, Dustin, for welcoming us into your creative, plant-lover’s garden! It was a treat to visit, even with the Death Star on high-beam.

Dustin himself is on high-beam all the time, I suspect, cooking up ideas for his gardens and for dinner mixers that bring creative people together. It was great to meet him, and Bill too (check out his new book), and I’d see them both again later that afternoon at other gardens we visited.

Up next: A magical hillside oasis created by Joy and Roland Feuer. For a look back at blogger Kris Peterson’s lovely ocean-view garden, click here.

All material © 2006-2015 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

28 responses to “Playful plant-lover’s garden of LA designer Dustin Gimbel”

  1. Lori says:

    Oh my GOD. I am stealing so many ideas. This is a hella fun garden. And I want those teeth!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Dustin really went crazy with the concrete molds, and they are fun displayed en masse. I’m sure it’s a lot of work though. And don’t you love that screen? It would be a perfect way to screen out overly close neighbors. —Pam

  2. hoov says:

    Fun to see his garden change and develop over time. The Acacia pendula looks better and better every time.

    Thanks for a great post. Hope you enjoyed your LA visit.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Oh, I did, Hoov. But even with the wonderful gardens we visited, there were still so many people (like you) and places I wanted to see. I need a repeat visit — on a cooler weekend! —Pam

  3. Denise says:

    So glad you saw Dustin’s garden and got to meet Bill Thomas. I am always insanely jealous of that varieg ponytail palm. Dustin rarely lets anyone leave without giving them something, plants or a concrete creation. And you left without taking your Texas weather with you!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      He is as generous as you describe, offering me several plants in addition to the concrete diamond. I don’t take plants home from trips because I’m not a plant experimenter; I’m into gardens for the overall design, for the most part. But I do enjoy seeing what true plant people, like Dustin, do with their collections.

      My only regret about the trip is not getting to see you and Hoov at Kris’s and missing your garden, Denise. Next time, I hope. —Pam

  4. What a neat place. There isn’t anything I didn’t like about it. Those concrete creations are sweet.

  5. Alison says:

    This looks like a fun garden, and a fun gardener too. He obviously has a great sense of humor, and is so creative with the concrete objects. Thanks for sharing your photos!

  6. Kris P says:

    I love that Acacia and the window wall. The latter is along the lines of something I’m considering behind my street side succulent bed so I may have to show your photo to my husband when I commission my next project (for him).

  7. What fun to see another take on Dustin’s garden, someday maybe I’ll get to visit here too. Funny though, that last shot has me realizing even though I’ve followed his blog and seen other posts on his garden I had no idea what he actually looked like!

  8. rickii says:

    Conversation pieces abound in this garden. What a setting for that dinner party!

  9. What a fabulous garden! I love the idea of Cross-Pollination parties : ) Sorry about the weather SoCal is not at its best in August and September. So much to take in I am saving this post so I can savor it!

  10. Annette says:

    Great post, Pam. You do such a fantastic job giving a wonderful overall feeling. Did Dustin show you the bee hive?

  11. Xericstyle says:

    Oh wow oh wow oh wow. What an amazing garden of funky coolness!

    You are “the Dustin of Austin” you should totally do those parties!!!!!

  12. Now that’s a garden with character. What an amazing space. Your photos captured the atmosphere, the heat and dramatic effects perfectly Pam.

  13. DC Tropics says:

    Looks like a very cool, and very fun, garden. I’m no good with garden ornament myself, so I always like to see what other people do.

  14. Luisa says:

    OMG how I love this garden. So many plants to study and ideas to steal! When you look up joie de vivre in the dictionary, there must be a picture of this place. (Actually it says something like “buoyant enjoyment of life,” and how I love a garden that reflects that!) Thanks for another great SoCal tour…!