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An embossed tile in the courtyard floor at Adamson House in Malibu

Southern California’s architectural and landscape history is patterned with gorgeous, vibrant, intricately designed tiles.   

You see them in murals and floors of municipal buildings like schools, libraries and city halls built in the first half of the 20th century. Private homes of the era, designed in the Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival style, boast fireplaces, back-splashes, bathrooms, kitchens and courtyards embellished with gorgeous tiles.   

The designs I’m talking about do not come from Spain or Mexico, however. Even though many of the tile motifs borrow from Moorish, Andalusian and Persian traditions, the ceramics themselves were made by Southern California artistans and craftspersons in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.   

I’ve seen some of the very best examples from The Malibu Potteries, a factory that thrived from 1926 until 1932 when it succumbed to a fire and subsequently was not rebuilt due to the Depression. In the ensuing years, there are countless stories of brave and assertive individuals who prevented old homes and public buildings from being demolished, just to save these tiles so that others can see and learn about them. And other stories abound of determined preservationists who salvaged and restored old tiles from homes that were razed.   

Cristi tells our group the fascinating history of Adamson House and Malibu Potteries

My friend Cristi Walden is one such individual. She is an avid pottery enthusiast, collector and expert of tiles from this era. You might call her a Tile Maven.   

Cristi has an uncanny ability to ferret out like-minded folks who live in old houses with intact bathrooms or kitchens, original fireplace surrounds, and tile floors that have never been altered since they were built.   

I have been very fortunate to tag along with Cristi on some of her outings with her “Merry Band of Archivists” to tour these rare Los Angeles gems. You will learn more about Cristi and her plans to begin leading tours for the public in the future.   

For now, I will share about Wednesday’s adventure. Cristi is a docent and interpreter at the Adamson House in Malibu. She gave a private tour to a small group of friends and wowed us with her knowledge and insights. We were not allowed to photograph anything inside the home, but outdoor photography was permitted, which you see here.   

Yes, this was once considered a beach cottage!

Cristi explained that the very best example of Malibu Tile resides here in the Adamson House. Now owned by the State of California, the Adamson estate was built in 1929-30 as a beach cottage for Rhoda Agatha Ringe and her husband Merritt Huntley Adamson. Rhoda was the daughter of May K. Ringe and Frederick Ringe. The Ringes were the last family to own Spanish land grant property.   

Today that land is known as Malibu, some of the most exquisite property in all of California – in the country, for that matter. According to Ceramic Art of the Malibu Potteries, a 1988 book written by May and Rhoda’s descendant Ronald L. Ringe, the original Rancho Malibu land – all 13,000 acres of it – was purchased in 1892 for $10.00 per acre. Yup, Malibu prices have climbed exponentially since then!   

In 1926, May (Rhoda’s mother) was  a young, wealthy widow who owned thousands of acres of Malibu oceanfront land. She discovered that her property did not have oil (as was the case elsewhere in parts of Los Angeles), but it did have huge clay deposits. May founded Malibu Potteries and hired Rufus B. Keeler, a genius in ceramics engineering, chemistry and production, to run her operation (more about Rufus later).   

The Adamson House's custom-designed peacock fountain uses Malibu Potteries' cuerda seca technique. The fountain features hummingbirds and lavish peacocks.

The beach house was May’s gift to Rhoda and Merritt (a rancher and lawyer who supervised the family’s vast land holdings). And its creation gave architect Stiles O. Clements and decorator John B. Holtzclaw a chance to showcase throughout the home all of the unique tile being created by Malibu Potteries.   

Exquisitely handcrafted details – dramatic and graceful wrought-iron ornamentation, painted murals and intricate surface decoration, vaulted cilings – with the warm buff-colored walls for a background provided an ideal setting for the rich ceramic architectural accents custom designed by Malibu Potteries. There was lavish use of ceramic tile outside the home in fountains, a star-shaped fish and lily pond, murals, the bath house . . . . Some of the more elaborate installations were framed from inside the house by sensitively placed, elegantly detailed windows. (from Ceramic Art of the Malibu Potteries).   

I guess what inspires me about the decorative art of tile is its exuberance. To see even a utilitarian surface embellished with tile – tile that depicts a real rug or a beautiful ocean scene or a colorful bird – can’t help but get you thinking about your own dreary walls, floors, ceilings and furniture. These artists couldn’t help themselves. When they were presented with a blank canvas – the architecture and interiors of a home – they wanted to give it something of beauty. Pure artistry. The good news is that today, there are several tile makers who are reinterpreting some of these classic Malibu designs for those of us just now discovering the tile and its alluring character.   

Here are some other awesome photos from Malibu Potteries:

Take a seat. A succulent seat, that is.

Voila! My sedum-planted wicker chair as garden art

If you’ve ever admired the charm and whimsy of a planted chair, you’re not alone. I’ve always liked plants combined as a design element with furniture. When my mom passed along Grandma’s 1940s wicker porch set, I knew that the slightly unraveled rocking chair was destined for a new role in my garden. So two weekends ago, on Mother’s Day, I started creating a sedum seat for the cherished rocker.

After giving Grandma’s wicker chair a fresh coat of herbal green paint, I was ready to turn the family hand-me-down into an ornamental garden feature. Here’s Part Two of my Mother’s Day gardening project, which illustrates how to prepare and plant the chair. 

Step One

Step One: Using a sheet of 1/4-inch wire mesh and a pair of wire clippers, I cut out a seat-sized section to fit into the chair’s base. A staple gun came in handy to secure the mesh to the piece of wood bracing.

Step Two: I layered sections of dry Angel Moss over the mesh. A highly-absorbent variety of sphagnum moss, Angel moss is a nifty product that I discovered last month while teaching four container and hanging basket design classes for Gardening How-To magazine. The moss hails from the bogs of New Zealand and, because of the way it is farmed and harvested, is considered a renewable resource. You can purchase pre-formed liners to fit into wire hanging baskets or flat sheets to use for projects such as mine.

Step Two

As dry as a piece of brittle cardboard, Angel moss changes its character dramatically when exposed to water. It’s a fabulous medium for baskets, window boxes and the mesh seat of my wicker chair because the moss proves itself to be an excellent material for holding soil and plants. It doesn’t dry out as quickly as the kind of coco-fibre or woodland moss we’re used to here in North America.

Step Three: On top of the Angel moss I spread approximately 3 inches of my planting medium. I’ve learned that the best environment for growing succulents (especially in containers) is to mix equal parts organic potting soil with cactus mix. Erin Taylor, owner of Botanik, a great garden emporium in Summerland (near Santa Barbara) taught me this recipe soon after I moved to Southern California. One look at her shop’s awesome succulent containers and I knew she was speaking from experience.

Step Four: My friend Jean Zaputil, who I call my garden muse for the 25 years of design, horticulture and landscaping knowledge she’s shared with me, was visiting from Seattle last weekend (along with our mutual friend Jan Hendrickson).

We had a little free time on Sunday morning so Jean offered to do the planting layout for my chair. She worked with about 14-16 small succulent plants of varying colors (ranging from silvery-white to lime green to red-burgundy).

Step Four

Before planting the “seat,” we tackled the tricky gap in one of the chair’s rolled arms.

Plants in the "arm"

A total negative from my mother’s point of view (the shredded wicker arm reminded her that a childhood dog had gnawed on the arm and practically ruined it for comfortable use), I decided to use the gaping void as a spot for more succulents.

Jean fashioned a shallow tray with the 1/4-inch wire mesh sheeting. We fit it under the arm and wired it into place. Just as with the seat, we inserted some pieces of Angel moss and poured in some soil. The chewed-away openings now hold three succulents, including the very pretty Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’. Its chartreuse-color and fluffy form will drape over the arm and soon obscure the mesh tray.

Jean Zaputil, as always, my garden muse

Jean arranged the sedums, sempervivums and other succulents to create the planted seat.

Even though the root space appears shallow, these plants will do just fine. They are ideally suited for my project – able to withstand extended periods of drought.  A quick “shower” every week or so will give the plants enough moisture to take root in the soil/Angel moss and begin to spread, eventually filling in the seat.

And pretty soon, I’ll have a lush, succulent “cushion” for my grandmother’s wicker chair.

Now I’m looking at a modern wicker chair – a Pier One version with leg bent from too many teenagers leaning back in it while playing X-box games – and thinking about giving that chaise a new life in the garden. It’s currently natural colored, but maybe a coat of paint and a new planting theme will give it the necessary style to move outside.

Wonder what plants belong in that chair? Maybe I’ll paint it peacock blue and do an all-white flowering scheme! Stay tuned.

Agave attenuata - the most sculptural and simply perfect form in the Southern California garden

Joanne White leads the way along the rose-laden path in Marylyn Ginsberg and Chuck Klaus’s garden

I have spent many moments this past week reliving the wonderful experience of leading the Northwest Horticultural Society’s “LA Garden Tour” last weekend.  

It was a lot of work for the group’s tour co-chairs Gillian Mathews and Renee Montgelas and me, but we agree that the four-day excursion was a huge success (well, we won’t discuss the bus fiasco on Saturday night – no fault of our own!).  

I said “yes” to planning and leading the tour after several years during which Gillian and I fantasized about putting together a weekend trip.  

Gillian and I have known each other since 2000 or 2001 when I was still reporting on retail trends for Puget Sound/Eastside Business Journals in Seattle and she had just launched her garden emporium, Ravenna Gardens. From there, we not only helped each other with our respective auction projects, but we became friends. Gillian, in fact, is responsible for me assuming the editorial duties for the horticultural society’s Garden Notes, a quarterly newsletter that I edited for a few years on two occasions.  

We first worked on a tour together in 2005 when I led an autumn weekend to Eastern Washington/Yakima area. And only three weeks after I first arrived in Southern California in late August 2006, it was serendipitous that Gillian and Renee brought an NHS group to Santa Barbara and Pasadena. I joined them for much of that tour and honestly feel that it was my happy introduction to Southern California horticulture and landscape design. When I visited some of Santa Barbara’s great public and private gardens and nurseries with the group, I thought to myself: “I am going to be okay down here.”  

Gillian may not realize how directly and indirectly she has influenced and encouraged the course of my career to leave business writing and embark on garden and design writing – but she has!  

Fast forward 3-1/2 years and it was my turn to show off LA to many old and several new NHS friends. Here’s a recap and some photos to introduce the awesome design style of LA’s gardens: (more…)

Gregg Fleishman's "Puzzle Prefab Shelter" and Laura Morton's dog shelter with a planted roof were two features of the New California Garden, designed by members of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers/Greater LA Chapter

During the weekend of April 30-May 2, the 127-acre Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanical Garden presented “Living Green: Essentials for the Home Gardener,” an outdoor flower and garden show that was an essential place to welcome the spring growing season.

The LA Garden Show seems to expand in size and style each year, adding exciting and informative speakers on topics ranging from sustainable design (“Green Architecture: Volume and Shape in the Mediterranean Garden,” by Gary Jones) to edible gardening (“Ten Trees in One: Grafting Citrus and Avocados,” with Darren Butler).

There are al fresco-style gardens, planted in or on top of real soil, just like Chelsea and other outdoor garden shows, which I think is a vast improvement over those dark, fluorescent-lit caverns that house indoor displays.

And of course, while the somewhat aggressive male peacocks are strolling and squawking, the two-legged garden show-goers are chatting with designers, snapping pics, waiting in line for lunch (I loved my chicken tacos, served with fresh cilantro), and, of course, doing some plant- and art-related retail therapy!

One of the Arboretum's resident peacocks strolling the greens

I mention shopping because as far as I’ve been able to discern, the marketplace at the LA Garden Show is one of the very best stops for plants, garden art, accessories and other must-have items for the horticulturally-inclined.

 I only wish it lasted longer than 3 days because I didn’t get around to all the plant-sellers, horticultural societies, garden accessory purveyors and other vendors. I learned that efforts by the Arboretum’s volunteer marketplace managers resulted in nearly twice the number of exhibitors this year over last. It was a well-curated lineup of offerings (thankfully, no schlocky stuff).

The festive and enticing Garden Markeplace - where we all engaged in a little horticultural retail therapy

I checked in with a few of my favorite folks including Pacific Horticulture Magazine, Southern California Horticultural Society, Leslie Codina Ceramics and TerraSculpture.

A tiny tabletop landscape by Smallweeds

 A new discovery: Smallweeds, which designs miniature tablescapes and also sells miniature accessories for making your own tabletop and fairy gardens.

I did a lot of browsing and gabbing with old and new friends, a little shopping, and a lot of note-taking while spotting new products, themes and trends. One of my very favorite picks of the weekend is the powder-coated obelisk series, created by Annette Gutierrez and Mary Gray. The women own Pot-ted, an eclectic, must-visit garden shop on Los Feliz in Los Angeles.

Yowzer! Shiny and bold, the powdercoated metal orbs are the hot, new "objet" for your garden.

As experienced and artistic film industry veterans, the women sure know how to create high style on a shoestring. They also know that it’s often easier to design something themselves rather than wait around for the marketplace to catch up with a need or opportunity.

Thus, the colorful objets for the garden, seen at left. Can’t you just imagine how elegant and artful these spherical shapes would look, grouped one, two, or three on a lawn, a gravel patio, or even tucked into a perennial border with stems and petals weaving in and out of the openings?

Annette and Mary aren’t claiming to have invented the ringed orbs (some of the earliest ones were made from leftover steel straps used to hold wine caskets together). But they do love the way the steel shapes take to easily to the powdercoated color. And since aqua and orange are the Pot-ted purveyors’ two favorite garden colors, they started with this palette. You can visit the shop or call to inquire about shipping. There are three sizes and boy do they look awesome: 30-inch ($169); 24-inch ($139) and 18-inch ($98). (more…)