After Budget Cuts, How Will the Garden Grow?

Ongoing maintenance of the well-known Hortense Miller Garden could become a casualty of the

Dorothea Yellott, president of Friends of the Hortense Milller garden, left, with Ruth Stafford, below the Hortense Miller house.

city's looming budget deficit.

An urgent request for $25,000 to fix a roof and repair a leaking gas line in the midcentury modern home Miller donated to the city more than 20 years ago was one of many unfunded projects identified during a May 5 City Council budget workshop.

The home's upkeep and city coffers less full than in years past may redefine the mission of the Friends of the Hortense Miller Garden, the non-profit group that maintains the property's gardens and provides tours. Board member Marsha Bode said the house needs attention, even though the support group holds no financial responsibility for maintaining the structure.

Negotiations are underway between city officials and the Friends, who want to lease the north Laguna property from the city for a nominal fee, City Manager Ken Frank said. The funding request was one of the negotiating points, he said. Frank intends to recommend the City Council approve the one-time payment of $25,000, provided that the Friends agree to pay for ongoing maintenance of the house going forward.

It is unclear if the Friends will accept such terms, which might require a revision of the organization's current by-laws that address funding for care of the garden.

Time constraints present another potential hurdle. Frank said he is unsure a lease agreement will be reached with the Friends before the City Council approves the proposed budget, which is required by June 30. Obtaining approval for the expenditure outside the budget might be more difficult, he said.

According to the terms of a 1986 agreement, the Friends are responsible for maintaining the garden and the Miller Library, and for providing docents to give tours, while the city is responsible for providing utilities and maintenance of the house. A quitclaim deed provided that the property would remain in Hortense Miller's control while she lived and pass to the city at her death.

Miller, an artist, writer and native plant lover, died in July 2008, weeks shy of her 100th birthday. She hadn't lived in her home during the last year of her life, but resided in an assisted living facility. The Friends lovingly prune and manicure her garden, sustained by fundraising and by applying for community assistance grants awarded by the city.

Established in 1959, the Hortense Miller Garden covers two and one half acres of the upper slopes of Boat Canyon. The garden surrounding the house, designed in a midcentury modern style by architect Knowlton Fernaldand, has since evolved into a world famous natural treasure, unique in its demonstration of the wide range of plants that can be grown in Southern California coastal zones, according to the garden's website. Renowned as one of the few natural gardens of the time, it was featured on the cover of the May 1969 issue of Sunset magazine.

Responding to visitors' comments about her informal style of gardening, Miller is reported to have said, "This is my garden, not Louis XIV's. I don't boss this garden. I merely put plants in the ground and let them do as they wish. They know how to grow better than I do, and far more beautifully." Anyone witnessing the lilac blooms of the Japanese wisteria at the entrance in the spring, the flowers of the perennial gardens on the sunny side of the house, or the large, often rare succulents - not to mention the native coastal sage scrub, would probably agree.

Dorothea Yellott, the Friends' president, wants to keep intact the style of the house and its hillside garden, as "the house is such a valuable example of mid-century modern architecture."

Yellott remains optimistic that a mutually acceptable agreement can be reached. "I'm very hopeful," she said. "It seems the best solution for the Friends and the city."

Susan Cannan, who, as director of community services, which takes reservations for tours of the garden on behalf of the Friends, is also optimistic. "The city and the Friends have always had a good working relationship," she explained and she sees no reason why that would change.