Pasadena -- The Paul and Georgianna Erskine Garden

Established 1937, this one-acre garden is on a wedge-shaped site which was contoured to fit into a sloping hillside and configured to include all of the elements which are typically identified with outdoor California entertaining and living. Its original owner was a nurseryman interested in landscape design, and many of the landscape features date from his development of the property. Beds of azaleas and camellias were interspersed with a collection of ferns and gardenias. Liquid amber (gum) trees were planted to recall the fall foliage of the east and to complement the colonial southeastern style of the house. Since 1961 the current owners have made many changes to the original design. A brick terrace flush with the lawn with steps down from the house was added. In the 1980s damage from storms and falling trees led to the current design of "garden rooms." The rose garden has been enlarged to include an extended arbor and a folly has been constructed in the south beds. New varieties have been added to the azalea and camellia collections, including a Camellia reticulata 'Howard Asper'. Other plants include a lace-cap hydrangea brought as a cutting from a private garden off Cape Cod and a Vireya rhododendron from the Strybing Arboretum. The rose garden features many gift roses, but especially the cluster-flowered 'Iceberg'.

This garden was originally documented for the Archives of American Gardens in 2001. An update of the garden documentation was provided in 2012.

Persons associated with the garden include: Mr. and Mrs. Morris Miller (former owners and nurseryman, 1937-1961); Horace Colby (landscape architect, 1937); James J. Yoch (landscape architect, 1981); and Thomas Batchelor Cox (architect, 1981).