The Creative Process

Loss and Secrets to a Beautiful Garden

By liSa Cullen

Iadmittedly struggled at first with writing this column. Being based in Montecito, witnessing the devastation firsthand, and receiving five mandatory evacuation orders since the beginning of December has made this year like no other.

I could not just ignore the magnitude of loss that occurred in Montecito, especially being, as we are, confronted with it on a daily basis, yet I didn’t want to dwell on it either. Suddenly it’s spring and I don’t think any of us ever celebrated Christmas! So I decided to focus on rebuilding, renewing, and the creative process.

If you drive around Montecito right now, you’ll see mainly the destruction phase of the rebuilding process. There’s still lots of debris and mud that need to be dealt with before rebuilding can begin in earnest. Before any creation, whether a new garden or a new home, there’s always some destruction. We remove walls to create a larger kitchen or living room. In that process, the old is cleared away to make way for the new. The creation of a new picture begins with a clean canvas. As the cleaning continues in Montecito we’ve seen the beginnings of a new picture and a vision of the future. I can see evidence of the creative process at work, which is a relief.

The creative process begins with a vision of the ideal, the end result, what is it you want to create. That is all part of the creative process. Without envisioning your ideal you will never improve your garden, your home, or anything else. Spring is the perfect time to flex your creative muscles and start envisioning.

The great thing about imagining or envisioning your ideal is that it’s FREE. Since it doesn’t cost anything to imagine what it is you want, why not have fun with it? Let’s start focusing on the future, how beautiful our gardens will be. By doing this we are creating the future, a more beautiful future, and hopefully a more beautiful garden. After the stones and wood and metal, it’s the garden that softens it all and frames a home by surrounding it with nature and life.

Gardens and life

Spring is the time for rebuilding and rebirth. Plants are waking up. Trees that were bare are leafing out with new growth. Poppies are blooming, roses are in bud, even the hillsides above Montecito are showing a bit of green. Life is returning.

Gardens are full of life. The most beautiful gardens are the ones tended or overseen by someone who loves them. You can tell the difference. Funny, but it seems like some people think that gardening is all about clipping hedges, mowing lawns, pruning, raking up leaves, and keeping things tidy. But what gardening is in actuality is the activity of enhancing life.

Have you ever experienced that? Have you walked through a garden and been transported to another time and place? Have you received that sense of peace or wonder or admiration or joy after a visit to Lotusland or the Portland Japanese Garden in Oregon or hopefully your own backyard?

Have you felt exhilaration while walk- ing through a redwood forest or sitting atop a mountain with 360-degree views of surrounding peaks? That is enhancement of life. I don’t believe there’s anything as restorative. And that is the purpose of having a beautiful garden. A garden or nature herself can ease the stress and strain of daily life and give you a sense of restored well-being.

Nature can give that feeling of peace and delight and inject the soul with life, but so can a garden. Because what is a garden but a copy, a miniature of nature herself? The best gardens do just that: mimic and capture nature. And the task of a gardener is to keep her happy and thriving and giving life as only nature can.

I think John Muir said it best: “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.”

There’s nothing more rewarding than creating a living work of art like a beautiful garden because if it is nurtured and loved, it can last a lifetime or even longer.

Lisa Cullen, landscape designer and organic gardener, owns Montecito Landscape with her husband, Chris. She can be reached at 805.969.3984 or www.montecitolandscape.com

Christina Rottman

Elegant simplicity and organic beauty illustrate the design aesthetic of Montecito-based interior designer Christina Rottman. As founder of her eponymous studio Christina Rottman Designs, Rottman has solidified herself as one of the most sought-after high-end residential designers in Southern California. A noticeable trend in Rottman’s styling includes sophisticated and powerful juxtapositions between nature and grandeur. “Organic materials like wood and stone have always inspired me, and I love mixing refined, luxurious elements with textural elements that are found in nature,” she says.

A California native, Rottman observes, “our town is blessed with such exquisite flora, and I aim to preserve the intrinsic beauty of nature within my work.” Her previous projects, spanning across Los Angeles, Montecito, Santa Barbara, and Hope Ranch, yield breathtaking interior architecture, utilization of space, and timeless design. “Every era of design, whether fashion, interiors, or architecture, has a beginning and an evolution. I find myself attracted to something when it is at its purest point, versus the avant-garde, fantasy, or industrial styles.”

Preserving the purity of Montecito’s structures and native plants is one of Rottman’s primary focal points in the aftermath of the Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flow. Having launched her business and raised three boys in town, Rottman grieves both the loss of dear friends and community stability. A handful of her clients were severely impacted after the tragic mudslides, and sadly she was unable to move forward with a number of properties affected. With a heavy heart and a notepad brimming with visionary ideas, Christina Rottman is prepared to face the future while simultaneously helping pick up the pieces of her beloved hometown.

— Carly Bates