Community Gardens Dispatch No. 19: Wattles Farm, Hollywood

As in most community gardens, Wattles Farm has a rule against trees in personal plots, lest the shade impede crops and raise tensions among neighboring gardeners. One exception here is the lemon tree in the space gardened by Gina Thomas, head of the tree committee. "It was here before I was," she says. "So it was grandfathered in."

It's fitting. Thanks to her decades-long effort, the variety of fruit-bearing shrubs and trees in Wattles' common areas is staggering: bananas, mangos, papayas, nectarines, apples, guavas  (including lemon, strawberry and pineapple guavas), key lime (grafted onto an orange tree by Thomas 30 years ago), dwarf tangerines, olive, figs, Oro Blanco grapefruit, Washington navel oranges, blood oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, Chinese pear, cherimoya, peach, apricot. The list of multicultural delights goes on and on.

Italian by birth — she was born on the isle of Capri — Thomas learned about tropical fruits from David Silber, founder of the Papaya Tree Nursery, a Granada Hills specialist in tropical fruits. Now as head of the tree committee, she and a team of eight are responsible for feeding and pruning the tree and harvesting and distributing the fruit. The last part can be tricky. Harvesting the six coffee plants, for example, is a chore.

When the berries (shown at right) turn red, they have to be picked, then the pulp around the bean must be removed. The beans must be washed, then allowed to dry, and then the husk must be removed, Thomas says.

"It's very complicated. I did it once. I prefer to go and buy my coffee for $15 a pound," she says. "Everybody who harvests the coffee does it once and that's it — never again."

It can also be a task to persuade other farmers to try something new. Many of the gardeners at Wattles are from Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union, mainly the Ukraine, Georgia and the part of Russia around Moscow. They grow copious amounts of tomatoes, cucumbers and dill in the summer, beets and greens in the winter, Thomas says. Until high winds toppled a tall ice-cream bean tree, the center of the garden was inundated with fallen bean pods filled with a sweet, juicy pulp, considered a tropical delicacy. "We had hundreds of them but we had to teach people how to eat them," Thomas says.

On paper, a film about a stuttering monarch and his speech therapist seems as exciting as watching paint dry. Yet "The King's Speech" delivers not only riveting drama, but also Academy Award-nominated art direction by production designer Eve Stewart and set decorator Jude Farr, who capture the grandeur of the royal residences of George VI (Colin Firth, above left) and the home of his teacher and friend, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush, above right).

The locations and furnishings are exquisite, but the walls are what speak volumes. Edward and his wife live in paneled rooms with gilded frames and friezes; Logue's office, above, has a fascinating backdrop. 

Farr described the space via e-mail: "This was a location in Portland Place, central London. A beautiful, but slightly run down Georgian town house. The wall finishes were a combination of years of old wallpapers and thick paint and varnish. All we had to do was clean off the modern graffiti. The idea was that Lionel had very little money, therefore he just moved into this basement with the minimal furniture, obviously not intending visits from royalty. Even if he had, his slightly belligerent carefree attitude would not have fussed about his environment."

Farr said the furnishings in Logue's apartment were minimal, "as we thought the Logue family would have only bought personal things from Australia. Their furniture would have been bought second-hand. We assumed it had been decorated in the 1920s, therefore the Art Deco paper was appropriate." Period paper was purchased from London supplier Trevor Howsam. "He only has 2 rolls left and has been inundated with requests for it," Farr said.

Though I couldn't find an exact match to the wallpaper in the Logue's place, pictured below left with Queen Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) visiting for tea, a few online options deliver the same kind of look. Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers have an Art Deco collection with a pattern called Zenith, below right, in six color combinations; a 30-square-foot roll sells for $72. Hannah's Treasures also has an abundance of 1930s florals and period patterns.

Later in the film, at the dawn of World War II, Logue seems to have moved up in the world, if you can judge by the furniture and wallpaper in his home, below.

The paper, as shown in this picture of one of the Logue children, is Jagmandir from the Sariskar range by Osborne & Little, a British company with a showroom at the Pacific Design Center. The bold, metallic print depicting trees and birds is so beautiful, you'll be pausing your DVD players to get a better look.

-- David A. Keeps

"Set Pieces" appears here on Tuesdays. Follow our reports from L.A. by joining our Facebook page dedicated to home design.

Photo, Zenith wallpaper detail: Bradbury & Bradbury. All other photos: The Weinstein Co.  

Corrected and updated: An earlier version of this post cited King Edward VI, not King George VI. The post also was updated to add a photo and sourcing information for the Osborne & Little wallpaper.

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Every Monday, we post a new home whose design is presented in the designer's or the builder's own words. This week:

Designer: Curated, Santa Monica, (310) 828-6417. Principal designer: Delta Wright. General contractor: Stephen Apelian, (323) 804-3400.

Location: Beverly Hills Post Office area, Los Angeles

Designer's description: In the renovation of this Beverly Hills-area home, we transformed a dated and awkward structure into a func­tional, modern home for a young family with two children. By eradicating kitschy ele­ments from the existing '60s building and '80s addition, and by revising the facade and demolishing and editing the interior architecture, we created a home that exudes modern warmth and style. 

We use color for strategic effect, exploring spatial progressions with complex neutrals. In this case, we used warm whites and cool grays to subtly underscore these shifts. A large-scale canvas adds vivid color to gallery-like spaces in the dining area. Wood finishes throughout received a palette of rich stain from espresso to ebony. We expressed the walls of the kitchen in shades of gray and black to separate it from the adjacent living room.

In the photo at top, a cream-colored chair from Nickey Kehoe complements the bentwood and leather coffee table from Thomas Hayes Gallery. It was important to temper the new concrete floors with wool and silk rugs. We selected this one from the Rug Company for softness and sheen.

To see more of the house, keep reading ...

We've listed select home and garden events below. Suggest your own via reader comments. Submissions must be fewer than 75 words and must be for one-time events with legitimate value to other readers. No store promotions and no frivolous links, please. L.A. at Home staff will determine which submissions will be made public, but we won't edit the text.

Thursday: Palm Springs Modernism Week kicks off, featuring a series of events including a modernism expo, home tours, design lectures and films. Through Feb. 27. (760) 832-3202.

Thursday: Landscape architect Shirley Kerins, curator of the Huntington Botanical Gardens' herb garden, will discuss flowering and herbal flora in the latest installment of the Thursday Garden Talks With Lili Singer series. 9:30 a.m. to noon. $20. Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. (626) 821-4623.

Thursday: Interior designer Thomas Janye will discuss and sign his new book "The Finest Rooms in America" at 6 p.m. Rose Tarlow Melrose House, 8540 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Free. (323) 651-2202.

Saturday: Jo Ann Carey leads a class on square-foot gardening, where vegetables are planted in a grid, as opposed to rows. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. $25 to $28. Register: (626) 821-4623.

Saturday: Landscape architect Amy Nettleton leads an illustrated talk on how a landscape affects the physical and emotional qualities of an area. 9:30 to 11 a.m. Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants, 10459 Tuxford St., Sun Valley. $20 to $30. (818) 768-1802.

Saturday: Urban farmer Jimmy Williams and writer Susan Heeger will discuss their book, “From Seed to Skillet: A Guide to Growing, Tending, Harvesting, and Cooking up Fresh, Healthy Food to Share with People You Love.” 11 a.m. Free. Barnes and Noble Bookstore, 1201 3rd St., Santa Monica. Also appearing Feb. 26 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.

Sunday: The Family Bird Fest at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden highlights the behaviors and physical traits that enable birds to survive. Birdwatchers of all ages are welcome, and activities will be geared for beginners as well as enthusiasts. The annual event also features exhibitors, identification tips and Native American storytelling.10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 1500 N. College Ave., Claremont. Included in regular admission of $4 to $8. (909) 625-8767.

Sunday: Christy Wilhelmi of Gardenerd.com leads a workshop on garden planning. Learn tricks for successful plant placement and healthy soil, and discover the best places to get seed. 10 a.m. to noon.  $40. Registration: (310) 773-4806.

Our latest home profile: He prefers Romanesque architecture. She favors a modern, raw industrial look. How can husband and wife have such wildly divergent aesthetics and still wind up with a house that both love? The couple enlist Janice Shimizu and Joshua Coggeshall of Shimizu + Coggeshall Architects, who design something of a Romanesque loft in Topanga Canyon.

FULL TEXT or NARRATED PHOTO GALLERY

Photos: Joshua White

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The soup's on. The shoes are off. Lisa Napoli, a name many might know from her days as a "Marketplace" reporter on public radio, has perfected the art of no-fret entertaining. "Some people come here and I can tell that they're thinking, 'Oh, my God. I'm invited to her place and all she's got is a pot of chili, and she's wearing yoga pants,' " Napoli says. But as Alexandria Abramian Mott writes, the casual evening of conversation is exactly what brings friends back, week after week. Tag along to Napoli's latest gathering and read how the evening unfolds.

Photos: Stefano Paltera / For The Times

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If the view from your front window is a hedge so maimed by years of buzzing that the only option is to buzz it some more, and if you have better things to do with your money than pay yard crews to torture shrubbery, it may be time to dig out that green wall and start over.

But before sharpening the pickax, dream. Dream aloud. There is no better time than February to view California's native lilac, lemonade berry, coffeeberry, gooseberry and barberry plants, most of which are in full flower at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.

A tour of Southern California's best native garden in midwinter reveals these shrubs dripping with gold, white, pink and blue flowers. Although the blossoms are admittedly fleeting accessories, they are succeeded by berries.

Apologies for language that sounds like red carpet commentary. It's unfair to the plants. Nothing draping the actresses at the Oscars can compare with the dusky elegance of the greens, mottled reds and purples of California's best native shrubs. The same goes for cut and form. Show me a gown with a stitch or flounce that can match the serration of a mahonia leaf, right.

These plants may seem formal because their leaves are stiff, but they perform workaday service in the garden. They deflect and diffuse sunlight to create a filtered understory fit for woodland flowers and picnics.

Shopping for a kitchen from Viola Park, the lower-priced offshoot of custom cabinetmaker Henrybuilt, used to require using a "configuration tool" on the Seattle manufacturer's website.

Not any longer.

Now, customers can shop for cabinets, countertop, backsplash and island at the company's first showroom in the L.A. area. Conceived as a middle ground between Ikea and high-end designers, Viola Park has modular units that can be used in a range of configurations. A typical kitchen order costs $15,000 to$20,000, excluding backsplash and counter.

8650 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood (across from the Pacific Design Center); no phone yet

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Viola Park

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Look for steep discounts on furniture, lighting and accessories by Moooi, American Leather, Calligaris, Surya, Bonaldo, Christopher Guy and others at Interior Illusions' liquidation sale.

The company has plans for a new flagship store to open next month, a representative said, so the West Hollywood showroom is reducing prices 15% to 60% through February. Interior Illusions' custom pieces and some special order items will be included. All sales are final.

8448 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood; (323) 656-8448.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Interior Illusions

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Los Angeles' recycling system is made up of six sellable commodities: paper, cardboard, glass, metal, plastic and expanded polystyrene, each of which can be recycled by itself. But items made of mixed materials can be problematic and generally cannot be recycled in L.A. city residents' blue bins.

Take the coated heavy paper drink cartons that contain milk or juice sold in grocers' refrigerated sections. Although the gabled cartons are primarily made of paper, they are also coated — most often with plastic, occasionally in wax.

Coated paper drink cartons are not recyclable in the city of L.A. because they are a mixed commodity and more difficult for the city’s recycling facilities to sell. They are, however, part of a pilot program along with Tetra Pak for possible inclusion in the blue bin program because "the landscape of new consumer products as well as new markets for what is recyclable is dynamic and ever changing," said Jimmy Tokeshi, public information officer for the city's Department of Public Works.

Because policies and recommendations can vary from city to city, each week we ask a sampling of officials from different municipalities to weigh in. Can you recycle coated paper drink cartons in ...

Glendale? No

Long Beach? Yes (purple bin)

Santa Monica? Yes (blue bin)

Torrance? Yes (gray bin)

-- Susan Carpenter

"Can I Recycle ...?" appears on this blog every Thursday. Bookmark L.A. at Home and follow the series.

Photo: Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times

Illustration: Steve Sedam / For The Times

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Finnish designer Alvar Aalto's clear, undulating Aalto vase was one of my favorite wedding gifts. I cried when I broke it recently. But now that the vase, regularly $205, is on sale for $174 as part of an Iittala clearance, I just may buy myself another.

Other Iittala items are reduced by as much as 60%. Supplies are limited but at last check did include tumblers, dishes, nesting bowls, jars, glass birds and more gorgeous Aalto vases.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Iittala

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Community Gardens Dispatch No. 18: Wattles Farm, Hollywood

Wattles Farm is one of the legendary urban gardens in Los Angeles, situated on 4 acres on the grounds of the historic Wattles Mansion, now a park run by the city. The garden started in the mid-1970s when local residents started farming in what had been an avocado and fruit orchard on the slope north of Hollywood Boulevard. For a while it was a favorite after-hours playground for the first generation of Hollywood punk fans.

The punks have gone, but the 170 garden plots that you see today are a playground for a different kind of uninvited guests: gophers.

Steve Montiglio got his 15-by-15-foot plot here last fall, and one of his first jobs was to deal with the ubiquitous rodents whose holes dot the walkways and gardens. He dug down 18 inches and laid galvanized chicken wire on the bottom of wooden frames, essentially creating an enclosed bed that sat at ground level.

"When we were digging out the hole, they would be popping in from the sides," says Montiglio, right, shaking his head. "I would see them all the time — just their eyes, usually. But there hasn't been any activity where the wire is down, so I think it works."

Like most of the Wattles gardeners, Montiglio lives nearby. After pulling an all-nighter finishing a set design for a client in New York, he comes up to the garden to de-stress, to dig, to water seedlings coming up and to tend a few rescued plants. Gina Thomas, the head of the garden's tree committee, told him to yank out a sad-looking rose in his plot, but he can't bring himself to do it. "Gina has that ruthless gardener thing," Montiglio says. "I'm not there yet."

A few plots away, Tom Houlden also had a gopher problem. Last year they ate all of his beans -- four months of work. But he does have that ruthless gardener thing. He put out a trap and nailed the culprit.

"People told me they pick certain crops and won't eat garlic or onion," he says of the gophers. "But that's what they were eating. They eat the roots and literally suck everything down -- like a cartoon, like in 'Caddyshack.' "