Garden Visit: ‘A Cute One in Ojai’ from Terremoto

It’s always a delight to catch up with our friends at the California design studio Terremoto. Talk inevitably ranges beyond the confines of gardens, touching on issues within the landscape industry that are rarely addressed.

Appreciation of laborers and the creativity that they bring to a project is part of the Terremoto DNA. Co-founder David Godshall explains how this dynamic collective of garden thinkers and doers continue to meet the moment, while showing us around a lovely little garden in Ojai, northwest of Los Angeles.

Photography by Caitlin Atkinson except where noted.

On the Client Brief

Above: At the back of the house, old Chinese elm trees provide protection from the elements.

“The bones of the property were very beautiful but needed updating to be more functional for the clients, as their needs were softly different from the previous property owner’s. An avocado orchard existed, which we, of course, preserved and protected, and coast live oaks surround the property in a beautiful halo,” says David.

Above: For an area in full sun, “We created a mosaic of native and non-invasive Mediterranean plants.” These include sage and lavender.

“The magic of Ojai (I say this as a plant nerd) is that it sits at the confluence of multiple horticultural typologies,” David continues. “It’s a place where coastal sage chaparral crashes into agriculture (most notably avocados and citrus) and more cottage-y, slightly old-school garden-making traditions. Opuntia and geraniums have a surprisingly synergistic relationship. Our clients wanted to bring their garden into a thoughtful new era while being respectful of the innate qualities of Ojai that make it the place that it is.”

On Making Use of Free Materials

Above: A functional drystone wall that separates parking from the garden on the other side.

“Most of Ojai is a thin layer of topsoil on top of robust geology. Stone walls are a common and appropriate building vernacular you see everywhere as you drive around. These walls are a primary feature in what makes Ojai unique. In excavating the pool, we ended up with a large quantity of rock that we then put to good use in building the site walls.”

On Hiding Cars

Above: A view not of cars but of the Topatopa Mountains.

“The main feature wall you see near the pool was built to render cars invisible from the pool and garden area. We believe that cars are basically mostly ugly, and their presence tends to ruin the tranquility of garden spaces. So we tend to be quite mean to them in landscape-making, and in this case, built a beautiful stone wall that was intentionally sited in such a way that the entrance drive and parking area become invisible from the pool.”

On Highlighting Process

Above: Before and after, and all the stuff in between. Image courtesy of Terremoto.

Terremoto has always used process shots as part of a garden’s story, rather than revealing just one aspect of it, at the perfect time of day, in the ideal season. “We believe that process is beautiful,” says David. “We take issue with the fact that most mainstream publishing entities make the contribution of the laborer invisible, and that’s not cool! We’re proud of the fact that many younger design offices are being much more explicit about portraying process and properly crediting their builders. That being said, most established offices are still going about business as usual. We get it, change is hard, especially at more institutionalized, corporate offices, especially because changing course in part requires quietly acknowledging that the way you used to do a thing might have created harm or been imperfect.

“To be clear: Terremoto is wildly imperfect too, and the way we navigate this impossible, fast-changing world is by being very gentle on ourselves when we realize that we’ve been approaching something in the wrong way. Instead, when new information comes before us that requires us to make a change in how we do a thing, we have that conversation as a team, and we make that change.”

On Elevating Builders, Makers, and Doers

Above: The property is terraced across three levels.

Landscape workers are never “just” laborers; it’s a more collaborative process than that. “We believe that landscape builders and stonemasons often come with great wisdom on how to efficiently and thoughtfully make things, and thus we prefer to keep our construction drawings and details light and, instead, have a respectful dialogue with the builders as to how they would like to build things.”

Above: “It was a terraced property consisting of an upper pad (the house), a rocky middle level (which became the pool and accompanying landscape) and the lower level, which is the avocado orchard that we kept, abutting the pool.”

“There is, of course, a conversation that happens; a push and pull is natural, but more often than not, we find that the builder-ly intuition of the incredible Latino (or Latinx) crews we work with is spot-on, and it’s much more joyful to figure things out human-to-human rather than drafting details on a computer. Alain Peauroi, my late business partner and friend, was pivotal in making this mode of working a major part of how our office operates and flows. Alain always had great respect and affection for construction workers. We carry this way of working and living forward, to honor him.”

On Editing a Garden

Above: “Our role on most projects is editorial, which was very much the case on this project.”

A blank canvas is rarely an option; decisions need to be made on removing and adding plants and trees. “We removed two Chinese elms (Ulmus parvifolia) in the front patio because they cast the house in a deep shade that was unwanted. We left the Chinese elms in the back because they were beautiful and protected the house from the sun in a way that was desirable. On building the pool, we had to remove about five avocados, though we then planted about ten more downslope of the pool once construction was finished.”

Above: The gravel garden is a mosaic of native and non-invasive Mediterranean plants. “Clearly a previous homeowner had lovingly built a really amazing garden. We left the good things that were there in place.”

Terremoto’s “quiet rules” on tree removals:

• To kill a tree we must have a very good reason.
• Always plant at least double (if not triple or quadruple) the number of trees that the project requires we remove.
• Never kill a native or protected tree.

On Moving in the Right Direction

Above: “We’re proud of the fact that many younger design offices are being much more explicit about portraying process and properly crediting their builders.” Image courtesy of Terremoto.

“We cannot change the past, but we can guide and steer the future,” concludes David. “We like the word protopian, which means positive change in the right direction. We can’t snap our fingers and create a utopia, but we can get better at what we do and look at how we practice from a wide boundary lens, in order to improve as a practice, day by day and project by project.”