Freeland Tanner's Napa Garden - San Francisco Chronicle

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6/30/13 11:0reeland Tanner's Napa garden - San Francisco Chronicle

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Home & Garden

Freeland Tanner's Napa gardenDESIGN

Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle

Freeland Tanner, above, and his wife, Sabrina, care for their 1-acre garden in Napa filled with Tanner's

artwork (top and below) and over 700 varieties of plants.

Sophia Markoulakis

December 30, 2012

Freeland Tanner's Napa garden resembles many gardens in the throes of winter: the occasional
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fallen branch, patches of wet bare soil, a scattering of fallen leaves. But step farther into this

landscape designer's 1-acre spread, and it's clear this is no typical garden, and the season's

austerity only highlights the art, structure and thoughtful design.

The property, originally belonging to Tanner's grandparents, is nothing like the neglected parcel

he purchased from his mother in 1985. "She was no longer able to take care of it," says Tanner,

59. Along with his wife, Sabrina, 53, Tanner has restored not only the garden, but also his

childhood home, Blue Jay Cottage, in addition to building their own residence in 1987.

During the early years of restoration, the

Tanners applied the fundamentals of good

design such as line, scale, light and balance to

carry the garden through any season, especiallywinter. "We would both come home from

work, Sabrina from her winery position and I

from my engineering job, and we would garden

together. It was like therapy for us," says

Tanner. He also blended formal European

principles such as French partier (boxwoods)

with more informal English cottage elements

(climbers and ponds).

Throughout the garden's evolution, the Tanners also implemented their own design mantra: Allow

the plants to be themselves. "Allowing plants to inherently express themselves minimizes

maintenance," says Tanner. It's a sensible approach because the couple maintain the acre

themselves. Today, the garden supports upward of 700 varieties of plants with just 5 percent of

those annuals, including vegetables. The bulk of the property is a tapestry of colors, layers and

form made up from trees, shrubs and perennials. Tanner discusses his plants with the clarity andcompromise-like tone of an exemplary parent - and his rewards for good "parenting" are a garden

rich in depth and beauty, even during the dormant season.

A lot of happenstance takes place in the garden, and sometimes the best time to appreciate it is

when the showiness of spring and summer blooms have faded away. "Many of the plants in our
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yard ended up where they are because they wanted to be there. Our anemones traveled to the

toughest part of the garden: Those are some of the nice surprises about gardening," says Sabrina

Tanner.

Depression)era lessons

Freeland Tanner is grounded in the principles of the Depression-era lessons that his grandmother

taught him. Whether it is her egg carton art that hangs on the walls of Blue Jay Cottage or

memories of her surveying the property, he can't help but reference her as he discusses gardening

and art. She taught him a practical "trial and error" approach to gardening, which he still applies.

"She always planted cuttings from the same plant in three different locations: whichever plant

survived was where it was meant to be," he says. Many of the plants that flourish in the garden

were rescued from clients who no longer wanted them in their own yards.

As sought-after garden designers for destination wineries like Darioush and private estates, the

Tanners use their garden as a working studio for prospective clients and host visits by horticulture

clubs and other organizations. Even during winter, their garden is a source of beauty, for

themselves and for others.

Appreciating the garden during the quieter months of winter means that, "shape and form becomeeven more critical during the winter," Tanner explains. This is the time that focal points, plant and

non-plant, in the garden are exposed. Trees like the coast redwood 'Aptos Blue,' 'Swane's Golden'

Italian cypress, and the weeping fruitless mulberry 'Chaparral' that mimic an inverted oversize

basket when bare, do double duty by anchoring the axial views while still providing interest.

Whimsy, structure

The garden is also full of Tanner's art, and there's no better time than winter to fully appreciate its

purpose for providing whimsy and structure. Found items like a vintage plow or an antique

English chimney pot filled with Thuja plicata 'Whipcord' reside in various raised beds. Tall

vertical objects, like his vintage sprinkler sculptures, watering can teepee, and statuesque obelisks

provide a place to rest the eye when viewing the garden. "The blue color on the obelisks was


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custom mixed to match a flower petal that I took to the paint store. I wanted to capture that

intense color year-round, even when the flower isn't in bloom," he says.


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A sculpture of terracotta pots decorates Freeland Tanner's Napa, Calif., garden on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012.

De-cluttering cupboards of his vast collection of garden paraphernalia is just one reason why he

composes art for the garden. Another reason is that he dislikes the notion of anything going to

waste. Tree stumps become pedestals for urns, vintage garden implements and a shallow harvestbasket become a gardener's coat of arms, salvaged tree stakes become poles for his avian

community of custom-built bird houses and trimmings and twigs are contorted to become fencing

for raised beds, which take root and sprout new leaves.

Color in the winter garden can still be interesting albeit more subtle and soft. New growth always

adds a layer of color. "The Taxus 'Emerald Spreader' has a lovely two-tone effect from new

growth that's vibrant against the deeper green needles," his wife says. Tones of green are also

striking on the Agave parryi. Pockets of golden color from golden feverfew 'Aureum' play off

various shrubs' variegated leaves. Tanner sums up winter's foliage contribution: "Every plant has

its moment of glory, which is why a planting sequence is so important."

If a garden is established with the foundations of good design, then even when mistakes happen, it

can still be spectacular, he says. "When you see the garden at its worst and it still looks good, then

you have winning garden."

Design

Proscape Landscape Design, Napa, (707) 226-2540. For information about Freeland Tanner's

birdhouses furniture or folk art go

to www.freelandtanner.com or e-mail freeland
http://www.freelandtanner.com/http://www.freelandtanner.com/


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[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]


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Antique French balloon chairs sit among vegetation in Freeland Tanner's Napa, Calif., garden on Saturday,

Oct. 27, 2012.

Sophia Markoulakis is a freelance writer. E-mail: [email protected]

2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
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Freeland Tanner's Napa Garden - San Francisco Chronicle