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Los Angeles
Lisa Gimmy, MLA (Harvard Graduate School of Design), ASLA, LEED AP, has spent nearly 30 years of her professional life as a designer and educator, and over 20 as the principal of the firm that carries her name. After working for SWA, she founded LGLA in 1992 and has earned a reputation for creating beautiful gardens that invite their owners to enjoy outdoor living. Each garden is a detailed response to a specific set of conditions, including the client's program, the architecture and the setting.
The design provides the owner and his two young daughters with a sophisticated landscape that includes a gracious entry, outdoor entertainment area with pool/spa, and play space. Crisp board-formed concrete, perforated metal and patterned tile complement the home's "California Spanish bungalow" architecture. The entry garden features a custom-designed metal gate, a small fountain, and mature olive trees. In the rear garden, a low tiled wall at the pool is a focal point and separates the dining/entertainment area from the play area. Strategic placement of trees and hedges provide privacy within the small, urban lot. All plants have low-to-moderate water needs, with exception of the small turf play area. The turf is planted on Grasspave, and provides a play area for the kids and serves alternately as a parking space. 
A failing slope provided the impetus for taking a fresh look at the landscape of Richard Neutra's 1957 Kun 2. Neutra, a native of Austria, studied architecture in Vienna before going to Switzerland and working with the landscape architect Gustav Ammann. Neutra immigrated to the U.S. in 1923 and briefly worked with Frank Lloyd Wright. He spent most of his career in Southern California, and is considered a noteworthy modernist architect. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal in 1977. 
LGLA's landscape design for this 1952 house designed by Eugene Kinn Choy, AIA, provided a young family with new outdoor areas that expanded their home's living space. The back of the property consisted of a pool, a steep slope and retaining wall, drainage problems and a monoculture of Algerian Ivy. The existing retaining wall was demolished and rebuilt with increased height to meet city standards while retaining the pool. New concrete steps and a terrace were created to float within bands of gravel, which provide onsite drainage and infiltration. The dining and pool areas, visible through floor to ceiling glass, are unified by the simple rock-band detail on the ground plane. LGLA transformed the slope above the retaining wall into a tapestry of colorful drought tolerant agaves, succulents and shrubs, and softened the wall with trailing rosemary and numerous pots of richly colored aenoiums. It epitomizes the best of mid-century indoor-outdoor living with a fresh interpretation of sustainable plant material and comfortable, easy living. 
This soon-to-be-published home is set within the walls of a 17th century former convent. The courtyard echoes the spirit of Guatemala's forests through dense plantings rich in leaf colors, variations and textures. The client requested that the custom-made fountain be a contemporary expression of Guatemalan tradition. 
The 1960s water-use intensive landscape was transformed into a series of drought- tolerant gardens to compliment the classic modernist pavilion and celebrate panoramic views of the Santa Monica Mountains. Challenges included the need to re-grade the site to give more space to garden areas, control views and solve erosion at the precipice of a steep slope. The garden areas feature sculptural agaves and aloes, grasses that sway in the breeze and a grove of eucalyptus trees. South African aloes coupled with Colorado moss rock boulders act as a three-dimensional sculpture at the foreground of the mountain view. A zigzag hedge of bush germander frames the view, connecting with the colors of the hills beyond. The hedge disguises an abrupt edge that made the house feel precariously sited. Bold masses of kangaroo paws and ornamental grasses provide dramatic seasonal color. A turf area used for entertaining large groups sits adjacent to an intimate, wind-sheltered seating area anchored by a stacked-stone fire feature. 
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