Indian Summer in Santa Fe

The Earth laughs in flowers.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

I gave a dinner party last weekend in Santa Fe to honor my friends and the garden flowers. When I bought my casita 10 years ago in an old Hispanic compound on the city’s historic east-side, the tiny garden had little connection to the indoors, few trees, a low adobe wall with a view of broken down cars, no place to sit, and little beauty.

Back then, the prominent colors in the garden came from the cracked brown adobe wall that defined its perimeter, a small stark white stone patio, and two fragile green trees surrounded by dirty gray gravel. Sadly, a low thick cluster of black electrical wires connecting the house to a fat gray utility pole seemed to dissect the garden in half.

Ugly Duckling Transformed

However, I saw the potential of this ugly duckling, sparsely planted and bleak, black-wired box of a garden. I knew it could dramatically expand the footprint and living space of the tiny casita.  But first I had to connect it to the small adobe through as many passageways as possible which would serve the dual purpose of letting light into the dark casita. I installed two sets of French doors in the dining room and a single French door in the kitchen that were in keeping with the adobe’s 1930’s architecture. A two-paneled casement window above the kitchen sink opened to a view of the trees. Taller four-paneled windows in the living room let in light from the stone patio.

As I tore down walls inside the adobe between the kitchen, dining room, entry and family room to create an open, light filled living space, I built walls in the garden to create separate yet intimate outdoor rooms that each had a purpose. First, I raised the perimeter garden wall several feet and added a layer of fresh rich brown stucco. To my good fortune, new neighbors moved in next door and built a tall coyote fence which extended two feet above the new wall creating even more privacy for the garden and casita.

Outdoor Rooms

What better elements to draw people into the garden and serve as focal points for outdoor rooms than fire and water?  I designed a traditional kiva fireplace to sit diagonally in a corner adjacent to the living room fireplace inside, creating vertical harmony as the two chimneys merged back to back. A rustic wooden trellis was built overhead, intersecting with the chimney to anchor and define the footprint of this outdoor room. A banco created for sitting by the fire was added to the right of the kiva with a wall behind it. Both served to separate the intimate walled garden from the large grassy area of the former Hispanic compound.

To compliment the substantial fire element, I added a water feature across from the kiva adjacent to the dining area. A 60” round metal clock face, complete with stylized hands, serves as the table top resting on a rusty wrought iron base. This outdoor room could easily accommodate one to eight people depending on the occasion and the width of the chairs. A pink and orange umbrella protects the area from the bright New Mexico sun or sudden rainstorms that frequent the high desert plains. It also, like the trellis, serves to define the feeling of an outdoor room.

The third exterior space consists of a curved banco sporting the same colored stucco as the kiva and exterior walls. It is covered with thick cushions and stacks of pillows for comfort while sipping coffee and reading the paper in the morning or gathering with friends for wine and appetizers before dinner.  A beautiful tree standing in the raised garden nearby extends its branches over the banco to offer the most primitive yet elegant shelter from above.

The Party

And this is exactly where the dinner party began last weekend. As my treasured guests arrived, they were immediately drawn to the garden through French doors to sit on the banco and enjoy goat cheese, crackers and bottles of rose, white wine and sparkling water, piled on the stone table before them.  From the banco beneath the pear tree, the six of us moved to the dining area for salmon and salad followed by coffee and chocolate cake by the fire.  The party lasted until midnight as old friends laughed and caught up with each other’s lives surrounded by the sound of falling water, the smell of burning piñon, the flicker of golden candle light and soft jazz drifting through the window of the living room.

The Grace of Nature

But the most essential element of all was the nature that held us that evening. Ten years of growth in the garden was a feast for the senses. Thirteen pots of pink, purple, orange, yellow, red and white flowers outlined the three outdoor rooms filling each with their fragrance, color and beauty. Lime green pears hung low from the tree by the banco surprising guests with their whimsical shape, texture and taste.

Adjacent to the dining table, the fountain splashed water on the sweet-smelling lavender enhancing its scent as we ate. And for the finale – clusters of orange and yellow Trumpet flowers dropped from the trellis above to dance in the breeze beside us as we sat for hours by the fire savoring the magical evening.

The ugly duckling of a garden had been transformed by the extraordinary grace of beauty through nature. Indeed, the flowers were laughing that night and so were we.