Berkeley -- Hart Estate Garden

The Hart Estate Garden is located in the Claremont area of Berkeley, California. Established in 1909, the 0.35-acre historic property features walled flower gardens, urns, balustrades, lily pond, walkways, pergola, and a copper beech tree. Today, as you enter from the street, a large and lush garden surrounds the historic carriage house. The garden is broken into several garden rooms and crowned with a rock-walled path that meanders through the upper gardens, punctuated by original plantings and new plant additions to the garden. Among the original features of the garden stands a marble statue that once filled a niche in the massive stone wall, and an ornate bench at the end of a reflecting pool. A large pergola, which is a section of the original, forms a colonnade, and rises above an elegant brick walkway. Acanthus leaf balustrades and architectural remnants can be seen throughout the garden. Along the arc of what was once a semi-circular driveway, an Italianate stone wall made by European artisans supports large planters where today Agapanthus thrives. A few of the original planted trees remain. A copper beech towers in front of the house, the trunk's texture reminiscent of an elephant's skin. Other old trees, planted by the second owners of the carriage house, include two 60-year-old magnolias (lending a sculptural elegance to the front garden), and holly with intense red berries. Above the stone-walled terraces in back are numerous fruit trees, including a cherry that no longer bears fruit and a loquat. The current owner has introduced new drought tolerant plantings and succulents rub buds among the long-established perennials and dozens of roses, as an adaption to the environmental challenges of the 21st century. Originally the property was much larger. A 43 room Mediterranean Revival residence, designed by Charles William "C.W." Dickey, was constructed in 1909, but was later razed in 1939. The carriage house, occupied by the current owners, was spared and the remaining property was divided into two building lots. A cement perimeter wall can still be seen as evidence of the original property line. Dickey also designed the estate so the two original structures were connected by a very long and slightly curved pergola and colonnade, a portion of which still stands today on the property. Persons associated with the garden's design: Charles Dickey (architect, 1909-1911), and Harry Whitcomb Shepherd (landscape architect, 1939).