Freeland Tanner's Napa Garden

Freeland Tanner's Napa garden - San Francisco Chronicle
6/30/13 11:02 AM
Home & Garden
Freeland Tanner's Napa garden

DESIGN
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, especially winter. "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 and compromise-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 become even 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 harvest basket 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
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tanner@comcast.net
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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: home@sfchronicle.com
2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
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Home & Garden

Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle