Perched on a two-acre bluff surrounded by the rolling topography of Hidden Hills, the Gardens at Hidden Ridge paint a canvas of movement, color, and texture, a composition growing with each season throughout the year. The estate’s new owners commissioned 64North to create a new landscape for the existing residence completed by the firm four years prior. The design, one of an increasing number of landscape projects recently undertaken by the practice, takes inspiration from its rustic environs to create a verdant equal to the residence’s architecture. With an extraordinary palette of perennials, native grasses, cacti and succulents, the project reflects a nieuwe vaste approach, singular in vision while grounded in the specific character of the site and its terroir.

A sweeping meadow welcomes visitors to the site, lyrically unfurling over the gentle, rolling rise of the estate’s terrain. Eight species of native grasses, including carex, fescue, feathergrass, reed grass, fountain grass, blue grama grass, muhly, and maiden grass, are planted in layered, billowing drifts, their warm, golden tufts glowing in the afternoon sun, their slender silhouettes swaying in the wind. Lavender and rosemary provide a colorful, fragrant accent, tracing the serpentine figure of the flagstone drive. A promenade of pears march through the center of the meadow, the trees’ white blossoms a delicate counterpoint to the swirling grasses beneath.

Five distinct ecologies stretch across the site, each a reflection of their specific orientation, soil, climate, and use. Meadow, orchard, oasis, garden, and vista are interlinked by a network of meandering pathways, knitting their myriad characters into a singular gestalt. They beget a landscape that is not fixed, but unfolds as part of a natural process that is ever-changing, with the slow march of changing climates, the yearly cadence of the season, and the rapid rhythms of daily life, built of emotion and evocation as much as flowers or stones. Through the dramaturgy of landscape and its design, the gardens create an evolving terrain of imagination, discovery, and wonder.

To the south, an expansive orchard with more than twenty species of stone fruit and citrus echoes the area’s agricultural heritage, providing fruit throughout the year. Planted in neat rows, the orange, lemon, lime, fig, olive, avocado, apple, apricot, pear, beach, and pomegranate trees step down the hillside, divided by narrow, linear pathways of tawny crushed granite lined in weathered Corten. Nearby, a woody arbor creates a quiet retreat, with swaths of wildflowers, including thistle, coneflowers, and sage quickening into a soft, muted veil of pattern and color beneath the mottled shade of a copse of oaks overhead.

Beyond these trees and eccentric figure of a small clearing in their midst is a surprise: an exuberant oasis of succulents and cacti, a wild riot of color surrounding the luminous blue sheen of a multipurpose sport court. This effervescent xeriscape includes agave, aloe, succulents, and other drought tolerant species. Otherworldly spines of kniphofia rise above the baroque coils of aloe, their florescent orange and green whorls superimposed against the overlaid blue and black lines of the court. Given the paucity of rain the region receives and several years of drought, through careful plant selection the entirety of the landscape consumes 30% less water than strict state standards despite its lush, verdant character.

Nearby is a quiet, fragrant series of gardens, a more contemplative, serene refuge protected by the foliage that surrounds it. Serpentine walkways braid through their midst, their sinuous forms cartwheeling between the plantings, anchored by the imposing outline of nine large boulders and the supple forms of six mature olives framing the vista to the west. Tranquil plumes flank these winding slate and granite paths, the rhythm of their contrasting blossoms creating an intricate, ever-changing composition of color, texture, and form. Their prismatic blooms catch the rays of the afternoon sun, casting long shadows over the rocks’ rough contours and the smooth textures of the granite underfoot, creating an ephemeral, liminal space of scent and light.

The florid amethyst and magenta hues of Spanish lavender and other flowers have proved fetching attraction for a countless number of bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies, providing vitally needed pollinator habitat and animating the site with an abundance of ever-changing activity. A smaller herb garden provides a constant menu for the estate, including cilantro, parsley, dill, basil, and lemongrass as well as unexpected flavors reflecting the family’s heritage such as chepiche, hoja santa, and epazote.

At the ridge, the arms of the residence open to a breathtaking view and an expansive pool extending on axis outward from the doors of the home, its reflection of the hills and skyline beyond linking site and vista into a singular whole. A new colonnade and trellises overhead shade outdoor spaces for lounging and an outdoor kitchen, blurring the boundary between inside and out and linking the heart of the existing home’s interior to the life of this new exterior landscape. Formal gardens intertwine the two, rough-hewn stone pots contrasting with the taut lines of concrete paving strips and the feathered, fugitive form of the grasses and succulents planted between. At the far edge of the lawn is a wide fire ring, its stone and aluminum encircled by an inviting spiral of integrated seating, a convivial space for gathering and reflection.

S E R V I C E S

Landscape Design