How the Creative Process Helps Heal Montecito Hearts and Gardens

San Ysidro Ranch

The Creative Process

We are based in Montecito California and witnessed the devastation first hand of the Thomas Fire and subsequent mudslide. Receiving five mandatory evacuation orders since the beginning of December has made this year like no other. I admittedly struggled at first with writing this column. I could not just ignore the magnitude of loss that occurred in Montecito; especially since we are confronted with it on a daily basis. Yet, I didn’t want to dwell on it either. Suddenly it’s spring and I don’t think any of us ever even celebrated Christmas! So, I decided to focus on rebuilding, renewing, and the creative process behind a beautiful garden. 

Bees on Matilija Poppy in Montecito spring garden

If you drive around Montecito right now, you still see much of the destruction. There is still lots of debris and mud that needs to be dealt with before rebuilding can begin in earnest. Before any creation, whether a new garden or a new home there is always some destruction. We remove walls to create a larger kitchen or living room. In that process, the old is clearing away to make way for the new. The creation of a new picture begins with a clean canvas. As the cleaning continues in Montecito we have seen the beginnings of a new picture and a vision of the future. I can see evidence of the creative process at work, which is a relief. 

The creative process begins with a vision of the ideal, the end result, what is it you want to create. That is all part of the creative process. Without envisioning your ideal you will never improve your garden, your home or anything else. 

Casa del Herrero Fountain - Montecito

New garden new life

Spring is the perfect time to flex your creative muscles and start imagining new possibilities. The great thing about imagining or envisioning your ideal is that it’s free. Since it doesn't cost anything to imagine what it is you want, why not have fun with it? Let’s start focusing on the future, how beautiful our gardens will be. By doing this we are creating the future, a more beautiful ideal and hopefully a more beautiful garden. After the stones and wood and metal, it is the garden that softens it all and frames a home by surrounding it with nature and life. 

Japanese Gardens, Portland in Spring

Springtime and Rebuilding

Spring is the time for rebuilding and rebirth. Plants are waking up--trees that were bare are leafing out with new growth, poppies are blooming, roses are in bud, even the hillsides above Montecito are showing a bit of green. Life is returning after a major disaster. Gardens are full of life. The most beautiful gardens are the ones tended or overseen by someone who loves them. You can tell the difference. Funny, but it seems like some people think that gardening is all about clipping and pruning hedges, cutting lawns, raking up leaves and keeping things tidy. But what gardening is in actuality is the activity of enhancing life. 

Springtime in California Walnut orchard full of mustard

Gardens enhance life

One of the ways gardens enhance life is what we gain from strolling through a beautiful garden. The way a garden can make you feel as if you have been transported to another time and place. The sense of peace or wonder or admiration or joy you feel after a time at Lotusland or The Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon or hopefully your own backyard.

View of Santa Barbara from Camino Cielo (sky highway)

Gardens mimicking nature

Have you felt exhilaration while walking through a Redwood forest or sitting atop a mountain with 360-degree views of surrounding peaks? That is enhancement of life. I don’t believe there is anything as restorative. And that is the purpose of having a beautiful garden. A garden or nature herself can ease the stress and strain of daily life and give you a sense of restored well-being. Nature can give that feeling of peace and delight and inject the soul with life, but so can a garden. Because what is a garden but a copy, a miniature of nature herself? The best gardens do just that, mimic and capture nature and the task of a gardener is to keep her happy and thriving and giving life as only nature can. I think John Muir said it best: 

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike."

There is nothing more rewarding than creating a living work of art like a beautiful garden because if it is nurtured and loved, it can last a lifetime or even longer. Until next time, do well, rebuild and fill your garden with joy. Lisa Cullen