After my exhausting trip to the wintry Philadelphia Flower Show, I returned to LA for a quick overnight to recharge my batteries with my family.

Then, last Thursday, I returned to Burbank to fly north to Oakland.

My friends at the Garden Conservancy invited me to share my fascination with sheds and hideaways at an evening benefit lecture.

Hosted by horticultural celebrity Flora Grubb at her eponymous urban emporium, the after-hours event included cocktails and hors d’oeuvres among Flora’s awesome collection of palms, succulents, Mediterranean and drought-tolerant plants – and more.

She curates this environment with an eye for design, style and presentation. Furniture selections, displayed among plant groupings really “pop” – from avant-garde concrete chaises to retro-salvaged circle lawn chairs (see below for specifics).

The playfulness with which Flora and her staff have created this plant-centric lifestyle just puts a smile on my face. I’ve heard and read about this cool SF destination nursery for a few years and am thrilled to have been given a great excuse to travel and speak there.

Thanks for the experience begins with my friend Margo Sheffner, who is Flora Grubb’s book buyer extraordinaire. Margo, who is also the business manager for the Pacific Horticultural Foundation (a nonprofit of which I am board member), was an early fan and supporter of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways. She brought it to Flora Grubb’s and continues to update me about how Flora’s customers “get” the notion of backyard sanctuary, habitat and haven. And that translates into book sales (which is so reassuring in this non-print phase we’re in). Yeah! It makes me happy to see our book in this cool environment.

Here’s a little gallery of Flora Grubb’s Garden. You will love every image:

Credit for my lecture title, “A POD in the Garden,” goes to Garden Conservancy west coast program manager and all-around horticultural go-to gal, Betsy Flack. She came up with the idea of using the acronym P-O-D (as a personal-outdoor-dwelling). I love it! This is my new buzzword. Stylish Sheds includes a chapter about Loretta Fisher’s “Mod Pod” in Austin, so Betsy’s title is apropos. Betsy and her assistant Maria Martinez (along with several Garden Conservancy staff, friends and volunteers) put on a lovely evening. I felt welcomed among so many kindred spirits.

Before I started my talk, Betsy invited Miyoko Ohtake, associate editor at Dwell magazine, to share a few words. Miyoko is a talented young architect-journalist who joined Dwell last summer after impressive gigs at Wired and Business Week.

She contacted me in August to ask if I could serve as Dwell’s guest expert for a review of prefabricated sheds (February 2009 issue). It was great to finally meet her in person and to also have the audience meet Miyoko and hear her enthusiasm for modern outdoor design. Dwell supported the event and Miyoko blogged about my talk in advance of the evening.

Then, Flora invited her architect-friend Seth Boor, AIA, of SF’s Boor Bridges Architecture, to comment on the city’s zoning issues relating to shed construction.

It was a stroke of brilliance to include Seth on the program. He and Flora (and her partner Kevin Smith) recently collaborated on a very cool planted-wall installation at a hip, new Napa Valley hotel called Bardessono. The project was recently documented by Stephen Orr in the New York Times. So we were in excellent company (oh, and how cool is this? Stephen was in the audience – what a sweet guy to come hear my talk).

Among other remarks, Seth touched on the permit and installation parameters for anyone wanting to add a backyard shed in San Francisco:

• No permit is required if you build an outdoor structure under 100 square feet in size and no taller than 8 feet high.
• The configurations can vary. For example, the structure can be 10-by-10 feet or 8-by-12 feet in size.
• As for height, as Seth pointed out, “Eight-feet-tall is a little short” but you can work with it.
• Working without a permit “frees you up to do anything within that size,” he says
• Also, if the structure isn’t permitted, the typical setback rules do not apply. However, there is the “good neighbor” rule and Seth recommended that shed-builders think about how a 100-sf structure will appear to a neighboring property.

Debra’s note: Creative shed-owners are already aware of this issue. I’ve seen shedistas carefully paint, embellish and artfully adorn the side of their structure that faces a neighbor’s lot. Good shed policy!

I met Tovah Martin in 2005 when we both participated in a media tour to Holland during spring bulb season. Since I had for years enjoyed and admired Tovah’s garden writing in the original Victoria magazine, you can only imagine how exciting it was to actually meet her.

I think we were both surprised at how quickly our little group of seven (including our wonderful guide Bianca Helderman from the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions) bonded as accidental fellow travelers. I have vivid memories of Tovah wearing her knee-high rubber boots to tramp around the bulb fields at Hortus Bulborum  (I actually envied her pragmatism: I mean, who else would pack a pair of waterproof gardening boots to bring on a trip to Europe!?)

Tovah gave me a very important gift that week. I still remember sitting across from each other at an ancient trestle table. We ate lunch and swapped stories about book publishing. Known and loved around the globe for her beautiful Tasha Tudor’s Garden and Tasha Tudor’s Heirloom Crafts and many other books, Tovah graciously shared her advice and guidance as I struggled with how to develop my “garden shed” book (it was just an idea back then). Her suggestions about photography really influenced my decision to partner with Bill Wright on Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, rather than working with a variety of photographers in every market. She gave me a lot of clarity and I cherish her advice.

So now, I’m the lucky recipient of newest Tovah Martin book, by all counts, her 13^th title. The New Terrarium: Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature, was published on March 3^rd by Clarkson Potter/Publishers. [Full disclosure: Clarkson Potter also published our book – we love everything they produce!]

Captured on film by photographer Kindra Clineff, The New Terrarium is a magical tome filled with small, planted scenes, landscapes, still-life’s and collections under glass.

Tovah brings a perfect combination of talent to this dreamy book. She is a gifted storyteller, both visually and with words (Tovah art-directs and produces many of her magazine articles for Country Gardens and other publications); she has a long history as an expert with indoor and greenhouse plants from her past career at Logee’s Greenhouses; and she is a visionary who understands how to get others excited about her passion.

The idea of creating a book about gardening under glass (on a small scale) struck a chord with this avid plants woman. Here is an excerpt of my recent conversation with Tovah:

Q. How did The New Terrarium come about?

A. Kindra and I started working on magazine projects together, and when Clarkson Potter came to me with this idea, I thought of Kindra. She is a cross between a garden photographer and an interior photographer.

Q. What enchants you about gardens under glass?

A. Way back when I was at Logee’s, I originally lived in the upstairs of the house that overlooked all the greenhouses. Why I find (terrariums) so quaint, and why I can really get into them, is that I’ve never lost that feeling of loving things encased in glass. I loved looking down on the glass greenhouses. I even used to produce little booklets on how to plant terrariums for people who wanted to make or sell them.

Q. Terrariums are a tradition that dates back more than a century. What makes this technique, this idea, suddenly “new”?

A. I can’t think of a modern terrarium book. What I’m hoping is that people in office buildings, people with no access to gardening for a major part of their day, will think of this as a low-maintenance way to bring nature into their lives.

Q. You really believe that plants can be transformative?

A. I kept calling up Kindra and saying, “This is really big. We’re going to change the world.” I saw that this whole mode of gardening has the potential to rescue people from terminal office life.

Q. Tell me about the glass containers you used to create your projects. There is such an incredible variety – many surprised me.

A. Almost anything can be used. You can just start looking at glass this new way.

[Debra’s note: The New Terrarium is packed with inspiring ideas of the types of containers suitable for planting – from traditional cloches, Wardian cases and lantern cloches to more contemporary vessels, including recycled aquariums, hurricane lanterns, vases and repurposed glass domes used to cover cakes or cheese platters.]

Q. What do you hope to teach gardeners and non-gardeners about growing plants under glass?

A. It’s an easy way for people to enjoy plants. Basically you don’t need to water very often. You don’t even need to fertilize.

[Debra’s note: Tovah has included a comprehensive plant encyclopedia that recommends a surprising array of plants for glass gardens, including: orchids, ferns, heucheras, begonias, mosses, African violets, bromeliads, ivies, ornamental grasses and more.]

Q. I love the photos! How did you and Kindra produce the shots?

A. This book was the challenge of the century because everything reflects in glass. We now understand why no one’s done this book before. Kindra had to surround herself in a black piece of velvet (so she wouldn’t be reflected in the shot). We kept joking that we should do the author and photographer’s portraits reflected in glass.

Q. Did you photograph at your Connecticut farmhouse?

A. We shot at four different houses, one of them being mine. I have a converted barn with big, huge windows and a little cobbler shop from 1790. A greenhouse connects these two buildings. We used the windows of these houses (for a backdrop). But most terrariums should be displayed away from the sun or windows.

Q. Tovah, how do you describe your writing philosophy?

A. This has been a lifelong mission for me: To write for (publications) that aren’t necessarily reaching gardening audiences in order to expand the whole realm.

Thank you! What a great conversation and a spectacular book.

I’ve just returned from spending three days at the fabulous-but-possibly-final Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle where I saw many, many gardening friends, hung out with my Hortus Posse pals and enjoyed a week of Seattle Sunshine (Seriously, folks. It was raining in Burbank when we flew outta here on Feb. 16th and sunny when we landed in Seattle!).

Of course, I was preaching the message of Stylish Sheds, and I’m happy to say, my “Shedar” (that’s like Radar, but it’s my own version of being alert to shed-spotting all around me) zoomed in on several fantastic garden structures, sheds, arbors, pavilions, shelters and enclosures.

It seemed as if every display garden at the show featured a fanciful structure in the garden. That goes to show you how important it is to design with not just plants, but architecture in mind.

Bill Wright, my collaborator on Stylish Sheds, and I kicked off the week with a Tuesday lecture for his peers in the Seattle chapter of American Society of Media Photographers. We participated in “The Odyssey of a Book,” a panel with two other book-savvy photographers, Dick Busher, of Cosgrove Editions, and Rosanne Olson, creator of a beautiful new book called “this is who I am — our beauty in all shapes and sizes”. The audience included fellow photographers, some of whom are also members of Garden Writers Association (David Perry, Mark Turner), friends Marcia Gamble Hadley and writer Robyn Cannon, as well as my former cohort from Seattle Post-Intelligencer days, Steve Shelton (what a treat to see him in the audience!). While we writers were definitely in the minority in the crowded room at Seattle Central Community College’s photography studio, it was a great experience talking books with kindred spirits.

On Wednesday, I took a tour through the Flower Show and snapped a bevy of shots to document the veritable bevy of sheds and shed-like structures featured in the show (see below). I was particularly gratified to see two Modern Shed structures by the talented Ryan Grey Smith and his team. Ryan adapted his awesome prefabricated shed architecture for two display gardens, including Michael Hancock’s “Serene Scapes” garden and Tony Fajarillo’s “Collaborating with Nature” garden.

On Thursday, I was back on my soapbox, speaking about backyard architecture in “Your Personal Escape,” my lecture illustrated by many of Bill’s awesome photos from our book. Bill joined me for a booksigning afterwards and we’re pleased to say that University Bookstore sold out of copies of Stylish Sheds. Hopefully, they’ll order MORE books next time!

The week went by way too quickly, but upon reflection, it was a perfect moment in time; a perfect experience to savor for months to come.  I’ll close by sharing some of my favorite structures: A Gallery of Garden Architecture from the 2009 Northwest Flower & Garden Show’s designers.

Ideas that grow in the garden of my mind.

Thoughts that furnish the rooms of my spirit.

My Blog posts are essentially a concoction of a few ingredients: The news or feature article with a little bit of opinion writing thrown in.

But every now and then, I step out of the journalist’s role and dabble in essay-writing. 

I just added a “Musings” tab at the top of this page to gather my occasional essays. Read on to see what I’m thinking . . .

 

 

 

Debra’s writing workshop for Northwest Horticultural Society – in her Seattle dining room. From left: Debra, Stacie Crooks, George Lasch, Cindy and David Fairbrook (2005)

 

“Pacific Heights,” my story about a stunning garden in Malibu, California, owned by Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Frank Pierson and his wife Helene, appears in the March issue of Metropolitan Home magazine.

You can find the issue on the newsstands now, even though it’s still early February. I posted the full story on my website.

Designed by landscape architect Pamela Palmer of Venice-based ARTECHO, the garden employs curves, spirals and arcs, rendered in an ocean-blue palette. It is dreamy and contemplative and makes the most of the garden’s very best feature: its Endless Horizon.

Frank Pierson is a consummate storyteller. His writing credits include “Cat Ballou” with Jane Fonda and “Dog Day Afternoon” with Al Pacino (which earned him an Oscar). He directed Barbra Streisand in “A Star is Born” and is the former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

He may have an office indoors, but some of Frank’s most inspiring narratives are conceived while sitting at the edge of his curved infinity lawn and gazing at the Pacific Ocean.

Frank and Helene’s modest, triangular slice of paradise is perched on a Malibu hillside. The couple purchased the Mid-Century modern house in 2004. Although the one-story residence measures 1,600-square-feet, floor-to-ceiling windows and glass doors make it feel larger. So does the uninterrupted, 150-degree view of the sea.

Yet the property had been neglected and the Piersons wanted to enhance their enjoyment of the vast expanse of ocean and sky.

They commissioned Pamela to design a bold, contemporary garden with spaces for both solitary and social pursuits. “The design was inspired by the site, especially the horizon, and the light,” she says. “Frank and Helene live in a world of stories. Their minds are very flexible and they visualized this garden very clearly.”

I arrived at the Piersons’ home and garden on a late afternoon in November. With designer Pamela Palmer, we toured the exquisite property and noticed all the special details and materials of the renovation. Frank and Helene showed me some of their favorite places and plants. (Above, Pamela and Frank in conversation – at the gas fire bowl).

I was so impressed to meet them and enjoy a momentary glimpse into their magical environment. To share a glass of wine with Frank, a legendary American screenwriter, and ask him about his career was a real privilege. The garden is pretty killer, too!

Here are some of my photographs from my November tour of the garden. Thanks to the Piersons and to Pamela Palmer for the time they devoted to telling the story of this garden. (And thanks to Lisa Higgins at MetHome for the assignment!)

“A Retro Future,” my feature article in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times HOME section features a breathtakingly perfect re-do of a one-story California ranch house in La Canada-Flintridge.

It is owned by Oscar-nominated Disney producer Don Hahn, an infectiously-friendly Renaissance man, and his equally talented wife Denise Hahn.

That the two are artists explains in large part why their renovation was so successful (Don and Denise are plein air  Western landscape painters and collectors).

To transform the vintage ranch house, they collaborated with architect Georgie Kajer and interior designer Jamie Bush, creating a dream-team of like-minded talents.

The secret to this project’s success is the clever editing of the original spaces. There was no reason to tear this house down and erect a McMansion; no reason to add a second story. The Hahns wanted to honor the architecture, as Denise explains: “I guess we’re on track with baby boomers who want to live in the houses they grew up in.”

The re-design removed some interior walls to create an open floor plan. As a result, the central space feels open, welcoming and loft-like. Look up and the once scary “cottage cheese” dropped ceiling has been reincarnated with awesome vaulted lines, clad in Douglas fir. Look down and the new amber-toned terrazzo floor unifies the entire house (Don loves that its composition includes broken beer glass and bits of mother-of-pearl). The palette of golds, greens and reds further unifies the spaces; the colors are enhanced or subdued depending on the room, but each room speaks to the adjacent one – creating an overall mellowness that I found appealing.

I learned so much reporting and writing this piece, thanks to the generosity of the homeowners and the designers. The home’s architecture has its roots in classic California ranch house design (no surprise to learn that Don, Denise, Jamie and Georgie all mentioned Cliff May’s iconic modern ranch houses of the 1950s). It is a truly modern residence that functions as a perfect environment for the Hahn family, including a teenage daughter and two active dogs.

A final note: Of course, I was drawn to the outdoor spaces, including the vintage cabana, pool-side (seen above). It is a stylish shelter in the garden. Rather than demo it and start over, Jamie recommended updating it with   persimmon accents, wide-striped draperies that enclose the space as an outdoor dressing room, and sculptural, modern furniture. It’s hip, and it’s inviting.

And thanks, of course, goes to my editor Craig Nakano, for the assignment. The final product was a joy to see in print (and online).

This just in: Librarians yearn for their own backyard sheds, too!

Linda Johns, who blogs for the Seattle Public Library, recommended Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways today in “Shelf Talk,” the library’s blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

I am now convinced that I need a shed of my own, and I’ll take any of the 28 backyard retreats, offices and studios featured in Prinzing’s book. . . . I can’t stop looking at these photos (by architectural photographer William Wright), and daydreaming of a space and desk just like the one where (Amy) Bloom wrote her most recent novel, Away.

Thanks, Linda! I miss the Seattle Public Library. Good to know I’m on your shelves!

My ego has been stroked quite a bit recently, thanks to Dwell Magazine’s four-page feature on prefabricated sheds that cites me as a “shed expert” in its February 2009 issue. Okay, so it’s my 15 minutes of fame – and I’m going to make the most of it.

However, another big magazine mention – an INTERNATIONAL one – appears in the January 2009 issue of Gardens Illustrated magazine. And I have Tracy Schneider and Van Schilperoot to thank for sending a letter to the editor that includes details about Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways.

Here is the background: Tracy and Van, old friends from Seattle, are passionate about design (Tracy) and horticulture (Van). They are also (like me) longtime subscribers to Gardens Illustrated, the top gardening magazine in the U.K., published by BBC Magazines.

They saw an article in the September issue by contributor and English designer Andrew Wilson, called “Accommodating Sheds: a garden shed plays a vital role in the garden, either for the storage of equipment, or as an important work space.”

Unbeknown to me, Tracy and Van sent a letter to Gardens Illustrated to tell the magazine’s editors about a must-read American book on design-savvy sheds that do more than just store tools and flowerpots. In December, an editor at Gardens Illustrated contacted them to say theirs was the “Star Letter” of the month.

 Yeah! Not only did my friends win a Mira trowel and Nunki weeder – copper-bladed tools with long beech handles – they accomplished what no PR campaign could do: Snag a mention about Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways in the must-read British gardening publication.

Here’s their letter:

And all I can say is, thanks my friends. We need our friends more than ever these days. I’m convinced that grassroots book-promotion is the only effective way to get out the word and raise interest in little-known authors and photographers and the labor-of-love projects they create.

I hopped a plane last week to fly from Los Angeles to Orlando and back in less than 48 hours.

No, I’m not one of those desperate collectors of airline miles who is trying to get bumped up to the platinum level for better perks (although that would be nice).

But somehow, the invitation from a publicist for Sears-Craftsman Lawn and Garden Equipment convinced me that this trip would be worth my while. And in many ways, it was more than a good trip. Crazed, but definitely a surprisingly good one.

Sometimes it’s smart just to say “yes” to something unexpected that falls in your lap, even though you don’t really have the time. Here are 10 Reasons Why:

I’m joined by Garden Design magazine’s Jenny Andrews (Features Editor, left) and Megan Padilla (Senior Editor, center)

1. Enjoying dinner with two gifted and creative editors of Garden Design magazine. Jenny Andrews and Megan Padilla are two of the staff editors for this hip publication and I’ve worked with both of them on recent articles. They treated me to dinner at what might best be described as a quintessential Florida restaurant. The seafood was de-lish and the entertainment? We’re talking performers on stilts and a guy who swallowed flaming swords. The conversation was pretty entertaining, too!

 

Amy Sitze, editor of Gardening How-To magazine, takes a spin in the Craftsman “Revolution” Zero-Turn Yard Tractor. Yes, she’s a good driver!

2. Walking into the press room for Continental breakfast the next morning not expecting to know anyone and then hearing “Hi Debra!” from across the room. I looked over to see the smiling face of Amy Sitze, editor-in-chief of Minneapolis-based Gardening How-To magazine and a fellow member of Garden Writers Association (and another wonderful editor for whom I’ve written).

The black-and-white Craftsman golf pullover helped take the chill off as I put the pedal to the metal on the Craftsman “Excellerator” Garden Tractor.

3. Getting to brave the brisk weather by wearing one of those cool golf pullovers with the Craftsman logo on it. And since it was a windy and wintry Orlando day (something like high 50s), I was very happy to have that extra layer to protect me.

4. Arriving at Osceola County Stadium, “Home of the Houston Astros – Spring Training,” and seeing my name on the electronic read-out that tops the scoreboard.

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