Old World Meets Orange County.
Born in London and having lived and traveled throughout Europe, landscape designer Sacha McCrae, founder of Living Gardens Landscape Design, brings a European flair to the gardens she designs from her current home base in Orange County, California. While it’s tricky to pull off the traditional herbaceous borders of an English cottage garden in the arid Southern California climate, the designer relies on the same principles of structure and softness but with far less thirsty plants. “We use a selection of low-water plants that include grasses for softness and movement, succulents and evergreen plants for structure, and long-blooming perennials for year-round interest and color,” says the designer. She’s found that this planting scheme alongside classic hardscape materials such as pea gravel, cobbles, and natural stone can bring old-world charm to California gardens.
