A tour of historical gardens

In 1979, Carol Soucek King and Richard King commissioned architects Conrad Buff and Donald Hensman to design a home on a 2-acre parcel near the Arroyo Seco, literally in the shadow of Pasadena’s Colorado Street Bridge.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Carol Soucek King stands by a rustic river-rock retaining wall, believed to be at least a century old. It was found covered in overgrowth and restored during the home’s construction. The wall — the “last intact vestige of an old mill,” according to the architects’ description — remains a focal point of the landscape.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Rustic details bring more life to the Kings’ landscape.  (Christina House / For The Times)

The Kings wanted their property to speak with “one voice,” so they asked Buff and Hensman to design the landscape as well as the house. “Our original concept was to have a manicured appearance near the house and leave things beyond it wilder,” Carol Soucek King says.  (Christina House / For The Times)

The untamed spirit of the arroyo endures.  (Christina House / For The Times)

“The house has very few materials, which makes it feel spacious — and that idea is true for the garden as well,” Carol Soucek King says.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Wood and rock — a natural palette for Buff and Hensman’s design.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Plant fashions may change, as will the availability of heirloom cultivars, so homeowners often have to reinterpret schemes in the spirit of what historical documents reveal. In the case of the King garden, the original design has been maintained beautifully.  (Christina House / For The Times)

A deck in the King garden.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Buff and Hensman’s design: a celebration of the natural world in the shadow of the Colorado Street Bridge.  (Christina House / For The Times)

The conservancy’s two-day program, “Gardens That Re-Make Themselves: A Discourse on Regeneration, Sustainability, and Preservation,” will feature lectures by local designers, landscape architects, botanists, architects and historians. Home tours will include several gardens in Pasadena, including this private residence.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Whether a vintage landscape dates to the Victorian era or is midcentury modern, it often inspires a sense of stewardship in its 21st century owners, says Betsy Flack, the Garden Conservancy’s West Coast program manager. Here, one of the properties on the Conservancy’s Feb. 28 tour.  (Christina House / For The Times)

“When people understand the blueprint of what they have and value ideas of the past, they can restore and edit their garden in a way that suits them for today,” Flack says.  (Christina House / For The Times)

More Southern Californians are looking for evidence about their landscape’s past, says Ann Scheid, an architectural and landscape historian who manages USC’s Greene & Greene archives at the Huntington Library in San Marino. “Hardscape defines what is left,” Scheid says. “It is often the one thing you can find, even if it has been covered with vines and overgrowth.”  (Christina House / For The Times)

Here, another garden to be featured on the Feb. 28 tour. By studying these gardens of past, homeowners can learn strategies for the future, says Stephen Orr, a design writer and former garden editor for House & Garden magazine who will open the seminar with remarks on sustainable practices.  (Christina House / For The Times)

According to Orr, “today’s garden-makers should be asking: ‘How do you design a landscape now that will be around in 50 or 100 years? How do you move forward from a preservation standpoint?’ ”  (Christina House / For The Times)

The answer is a design approach that wisely uses resources, including water and human labor, Orr says. “Because of the new economy we’re in, even if you don’t consider yourself a ‘green warrior,’ you can’t afford to have vast teams of people taking care of something that must be constantly maintained.”  (Christina House / For The Times)

“A really sustainable idea for a garden is good design, lasting design,” Garden Conservancy’s Flack says. Succulents peek out the sides of their containers in one garden to be featured in the Garden Conservancy event. A seminar will run 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 27 (lunch included) at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden’s Ayres Hall, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. A guided tour that includes public and private residential gardens in Los Angeles and Pasadena will run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 28 (bus transportation and lunch included). Cost for the seminar only: $135 to $155. Cost of the seminar and tour: $270 to $300. Information and registration: (415) 441-4300, www.gardenconservancy.org. For a look at more Southern California homes and gardens, go to www.latimes.com/homesofthetimes.   (Christina House / For The Times)