Trees are not void of beauty in the winter months.



By Andrea Estrada

South Coast Beacon

hen friends and family gather for the holidays at Marilyn Gillquist’s house, a newly landscaped front yard will welcome them home. Purple-red poinsettias lying close to the ground hint at Christmas while a bright red one trimmed as a holiday topiary seems to offer a yuletide greeting. Beside the front door, an almost-life size sculpture of a lion (named Aslan in reference to the character in author C.S. Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia”) sports a festive bow tie.

For more than a year, Marilyn has worked with landscaper Doug Giordani to create what he calls a California-style English garden. Mock heather, fortnight lilies, English and Spanish lavender mix with manzanitas, lobelia and new guinea impatiens to create swirls of color and texture.

Two paths, one grass and the other flagstone, meander through the yard, intersecting at only one point. The narrow lawn path adds a lush green to the otherwise pastel hues.

In arranging the plants and individual flowerbeds, Giordani considered the overall shape of the yard, the curved lines of the driveway and the traditional style of the house. He wanted to integrate the landscaping with the house to create one cohesive unit.

The house is situated a short distance from the ocean and as a nod to its coastal location Giordani incorporated Gillquist’s collection of seashells into the overall design. He used them to form borders around flowerbeds as well as to connect them.

He also took advantage of a number of found items such as rocks and garden art to accentuate the individual beds. A pair of flat rocks standing on edge, for example, serves as a backdrop for a delicate paper white narcissus.

The house itself has a Cape Cod feel that suits its proximity to the ocean. The oversized antique English front door, decorated with a holiday wreath, opens to a small foyer and a staircase that leads to the main living area.

According to Gillquist, the previous owners purchased the door from a shop in England and designed the entire front of the house around that one element.

It’s a striking piece, dark wood with a framed beveled window that Gillquist often opens to let the sea breeze float into the house.

Upstairs, the living room is warm and cozy with lots of natural light streaming in from picture windows and a pair of French doors that open to a spacious balcony.

A baby grand piano and stately grandfather clock add a quiet elegance to the room.

The kitchen lies on the other side of the stairway and bedrooms extend from the hallways beyond.