Golden Poppy Awards honor Altadena’s best gardens

Sarah and Mitch Gates decided it was time to do something with their yard.

They had been living in their house on East Mendocino Street for five years.  “The house was painted to be like a Spanish-style house, painted green and orange, but it was basically a postwar ranch house from the 1950’s,” Sarah Gates said. “We had to change the color, and wanted to make the house and garden blend together.”

She says their inspiration was an ornamental pear tree growing on their corner lot — “a beautiful tree with wonderful dark bark on it.  It reminded us of a bonzai tree, so we went for a Japanese-zen-California garden.”

The three-year remaking of their garden earned the plaudits of neighbors, and this year it earned them an Altadena Heritage Golden Poppy award.

Every year, Altadena Heritage honors some of Altadena’s best gardens with the Golden Poppy Award.  This year, the fete — which also features wonderful food in a local garden setting — will be held Sunday, May 18, from 4-7 PM at 425 E. Las Flores Drive.

Among the winners is Hen’s Teeth Square, which is technically in Pasadena, across Woodbury Road from Altadena.  Altadena Heritage president Michele Zack wrote that the landscaping adds “beauty, surprise, and delight to the west end of the Woodbury Corridor, a major path across town. {Jose Cortes] has created shady places to dine casually outdoors at both of this food outlets, at the same time creating folk art to be enjoyed by people driving or walking by. The planted, decorated grottos, succulents, flowers, and other greenery in boxes and beds, as well as a narrow cornfield screening the parking lot from Woodbury — all demonstrate that commercial properties can do a lot to make Altadena Streets beautiful.

“We recognize that Hens Teeth Square is now part of Pasadena, but Mr. Cortes adds so much to Altadenans experience than most commercial properties, and we hope drawing attention to his artistic accomplishments will inspire other businesses to do more to make our town beautiful.”

As for the Gates, their three-year project had to take into account several property problems: their home is below street level, and was subject to flooding during rainstorms and neighborhood debris during windstorms.  They dealt with it by removing the ivy (first by cutting it down, then burying  the roots under a thick layer of compost from Tim “Zeke the Sheik” Dundon to kill them);  using lots of gravel as groundcover, and putting in low-water Australian and California native plants on the street level. “We wanted to have privacy, but also protection from flood and winds,” Sarah Gates said.  “The plants up front take a beating.”

They also “added a new fence, which is also part of the garden,” Sarah Gates said.  “We wanted it to look Japanese-y — we used horizontal redwood planks with space between them.  With our old fence, the winds from north blew it down.  so the [current] fence was a nice upgrade.”

She credits designer Preston Sharp (of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) for coming up with the initial design and helping choose the plants.

The Gates, Hen’s Teeth Square, and other exceptional local gardens will be honored at Sunday’s program.  Admission is $10 for members and $20 for non-members and may be purchased online at: http://altadenaheritage.com/golden-poppy-awards-2014. If you’re not currently a member, you can qualify for the member rate by renewing your membership or joining online. Cash payments and checks made out to Altadena Heritage will also be accepted at the door.   Please RSVP to altadenaheritage@earthlink.net or by calling 626.296.6983.