Living la dolce vita in a Montecito garden

by E. Kirsten Honeyman
photographs by Stefano Scatà

Photographs to illustrate the article published in The Mediterranean Garden No. 107, January 2022

The photo at the top of this page shows agaves planted ‘backstage’ in boxes to contain their aggressive growth, in John Saladino’s Montecito garden

Kirsten Honeyman writes: It would be difficult to view John Saladino’s creative accomplishments in isolation from John Saladino the man. His prodigious talent and his cell-deep desire to surround himself with beauty inform everything he does, and so to know and appreciate the creator is to better know and appreciate the creation.

John Saladino always had a strong sense of himself. As a young boy travelling through California with his family, he sat up and took notice when his father drove through the charming community of Montecito. Cruising two-lane country roads past gated entrances to hidden estates – stone walls, oaks, olives, blue-green eucalyptus, flowering bougainvillea, citrus and agave floating by – Saladino made a pledge to himself that he would one day live in Montecito.

All roads lead to Rome, and Montecito is Saladino’s Roman countryside. His heritage is Italian-American, although in view of his passions it might be more accurate to say American-Italian. Immediately after graduating, he spent two years working in Rome for an Italian architect: “That experience changed me forever; it allowed me to be sensual.” He has remained an Italophile of the highest order.

Saladino’s great paean to the essence of Italy was the creation of his chef d’œuvre, Villa di Lemma in Montecito, which showcased his exquisite taste, particularly in the masterful pairing of traditional design with modern elements. True to his Italian roots, Saladino proceeded to savour his beautiful dream, living la dolce vita in Villa di Lemma until life indicated it was time to move on to something simpler: “If you own a house with a name, the house owns you!”

Saladino decided to downsize and streamline his life in 2013, and he has never looked back. He purchased a lovely new home in another part of his beloved Montecito. This house, were it to have a name, might be called “Sweet Release.” Its size and layout allow for an easy, relaxed lifestyle.

True to his comprehensive approach to projects, Saladino planned the garden in tandem with the interior design of the house. The colour palette, the sightlines and the garden “floor plan” have been seamlessly integrated with the home’s interior spaces. Arriving at the residence by car, one enters a gravel motor court where the entrance to the home is announced by two stone piers topped by stone spheres. This entryway, designed on a human scale, is simple and welcoming – a prelude to what is to come.

From the sunny motor court, one passes into a shaded room, its walls a hedge of Indian laurel (Ficus microcarpa), its floor a grid of generously-sized stone pavers and gravel, and its ceiling the gracefully arching branches of crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica × fauriei ‘Natchez’). The overture has begun in earnest. To either side of this entry courtyard are pathways with sightlines ending in tongue-in-cheek references to Saladino’s Italian heritage: a giant marble Roman foot of Mercury to the right and a trompe l’oeil painting of the hand of Constantine to the left.

Referencing William Kent, an 18th-century English architect and landscape architect, Saladino describes leaving the shade of the crape myrtle courtyard as being “released into a burst of sunlight – the emotional reward at the end of your journey.” One is greeted by a singular gnarled olive tree (Olea europaea) and a Roman sarcophagus planted with rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis). Nothing is random in Saladino’s world: “Rosemary, whose Latin name means ‘dew of the sea’, is my favourite plant – it’s drought-tolerant and was grown in the gardens of ancient Egypt. It is prized throughout the Mediterranean for its blue blossoms, its perfume and its culinary uses. I use branches of it to scent my closet shelves and car interior, and we use it here in the kitchen as a brush for olive oil.” Adjacent to the entrance, a rare miniature bougainvillea blooms in a colour reminiscent of wisteria, giving a cue to the beauty to follow.

It’s not unusual for Saladino to greet guests at the front door with his beloved opera wafting through the house. He immediately escorts the garden visitor through the centre of the home towards the rear of the property. His entrancing interior, like a Siren on the rocks, beckons one to linger inside, but the maestro is on a mission… He wants you to see his masterpiece, the Leontyne Price aria of his garden. Once again, the pedestrian mind takes in a lovely area planted with Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), various agaves, dwarf olive (Olea europaea ‘Montra’) and English boxwood (Buxus sempervirens); curved beds step up beautifully around a central pool. Then the illumination commences: “I view this as a theatrical nymphaeum. Sitting under the pergola against the house, you are in the audience. The curtains are pulled back, and you look through the granite columns across the water’s surface – the floor of the stage. The demilune of the planting beds creates a false perspective against the mountains in the distance: first the low brick wall, then the olive hedge, and finally the high ivy-covered wall. The tall cypresses add vertical strokes of grandeur. The stepped-up plantings alter the horizon line, effectively eliminating the golf course and making it feel as though the property extends to the distant mountain range.” Saladino has created his own Teatro Olimpico. The scales fall from the visitor’s eyes.

It might seem that once Signora Price has performed her aria it is time for the audience to go home but supporting gardens have yet to sing their parts. After a brief interlude in the Nymphaeum, the bel canto continues. On the way to the west side of the house the path passes a stately Robert Adam urn framed by blue-grey junipers (Juniperus scopulorum ‘Wichita Blue’). True to Saladino’s philosophy of uniting interior and exterior spaces, the urn is perfectly placed for maximum enjoyment from the living room window.

Rounding the corner, under a terracotta-and-white striped awning, Saladino has created an outdoor dining area; it sits just outside the formal dining room. The focal point of this garden room is a wall fountain with a kettle basin. A hedge of the fragrant star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) provides the backdrop, and the vignette is flanked by two mayten trees (Maytenus boaria). The handsome fountain is underplanted with undulating clipped germander (Teucrium chamaedrys). Saladino serves lunch and casual summer dinners in this lovely spot, the soft splashing water adding to the soothing atmosphere.

Beyond the dining patio one finds the working part of the garden which, in lesser hands, might be a mere “backstage.” Here, within tidy parterres of English boxwood, various herbs are grown for use in the kitchen. This is a functional part of the garden, but it is of course done in a manner that pleases the eye: a pair of matching stone obelisks add a decorative element and a mature Mission fig (Ficus carica) growing along the back wall gently leans in over the parterres.

Following the pathway further, past a Gala apple tree (Malus domestica ‘Gala’) espaliered against the kitchen wall and a mature Valencia orange tree (Citrus × sinensis ‘Valencia’), one eventually arrives at Constantine’s hand near the entrance to the guest quarters and working office of the home. The walkway has circled back to the crape myrtle entry courtyard where the garden visit began. Saladino, however, has an encore for the visitor to enjoy. Across the courtyard, the amusingly large foot of Mercury is nestled among Agapanthus ‘Storm Cloud’, juniper (Juniperus procumbens), lobelia and clipped balls of English boxwood. Through this small entry area lie two private gardens.

The first, the Urn Garden, might be the destination of a houseguest seeking a quiet moment to read a newspaper at the thoughtfully placed café table. From this shaded vantage point, one can gaze across low-clipped clouds of Helichrysum and admire an ancient terracotta urn set among purple blossoms of Verbena bonariensis. A gate at the back of this garden opens on to the Bath Garden, adjacent to Saladino’s private rooms. The view from the master bathroom looks on to this lovely vignette of ‘Natchez’ crape myrtle, cones of variegated Pittosporum tenuifolium, Westringia fruticosa (syn. W. rosmariniformis) and clipped English boxwood. Giant calla lilies (Zantedeschia ‘Hercules’) and Dalmatian iris (Iris pallida) add seasonal floral interest.

Completing the circle of the house, it seems fitting that one arrives back at the heart of the garden, the Nymphaeum. The space feels entirely different in the deepening twilight. The lights in the pool begin to glow as the Santa Ynez Mountains turn to lavender. One half-expects Signora Price to step out of the shadows to shouts of “Brava!” If anyone could make that happen, it would most certainly be John Saladino.