Woodside -- Lurline R. Coonan Garden

This 32 acre property, established in 1933, is surrounded by the rolling grass hills of California while the Pennsylvania-style colonial house built in 1920 sits at its center. A farm once existed on the property that spanned 100 acres. The design of the property was inspired by the current owner's grandmother's estate in Filoli, which was given to the National Trust in 1975. It features a pool, guest residence renovated from an old barn, many native trees, and symmetrically designed gardens.

After the current owners purchased the property in 1951, they defined various areas of the property with paths, fences, walls, and hedges, keeping the surrounding California landscape in mind. They adapted the previous garden to better feature native California plants. The various paths are lined with perennial blooms and there are designated areas for shrubs, cutting flowers, and vegetable and fruit trees.

The property features formal and naturalistic garden areas including a rose, vegetable, and knot garden. A stone wall topped with a picket fence surrounds the formal rose garden whose beds are divided by euonymus hedges. The vegetable garden beds are outlined with green and white striped society garlic. The center of the garden features an old well covered with creeping ficus. The entrance garden is square and formal, echoing the architecture of the house. It is enclosed by a picket fence covered with jasmine. The knot garden at the south end of the home, designed by Denise Bates, was a gift from the owner's landscape architect daughter to celebrate their 85th birthday. The design was also inspired by a similar installation at Filoli and acted as a water sustainable alternative to the previous lawn. Berberis, Santolina, and Teucrium create the woven pattern which is anchored by a Haddonstone sundial at its center. There are approximately 20 trees on either side of the road at the entrance to the property, including olive, persimmons, apple, apricot, fig, lemon, and pomegranate trees. Birch, native oak, and a grove of redwoods also border the property.

Persons associated with the garden include: Mrs. Mathew Harris (former owner, 1933 – 1951); Gordon B. Kaufman (architect, 1932 – 1933); Bern Cotton (landscape consultant, 1950s); Denise C. Bates (landscape architect [Knot Garden], 2002).