The enchanting beauty of Coronado, California, often captivates visitors with its serene neighborhoods and stunning coastal views. As captured in the accompanying video, one particular residence, a charming cottage built in 1898, stands out not just for its historical significance but also for its truly spectacular garden. This home, carefully nurtured by Maryly Benzian for over five decades, showcases a remarkable blend of architectural heritage and vibrant horticultural artistry, making it a unique gem in the Coronado landscape.
Maryly and her late husband Peter, who met in 1972 and shared 50 years of marriage, transformed what was once a foreclosed property into a cherished family haven. Their journey began with four children and a vision to create a space that was both comfortable and inspiring. This article delves deeper into the elements that make this Coronado home and its English garden so extraordinary, offering insights for homeowners and garden enthusiasts alike.
Embracing History: The Irving Gill Coronado Home
1. **A Legacy of Design Excellence:** The house, originally constructed in 1898, boasts the distinctive architectural style of Irving Gill. Gill, a renowned architect from the Arts and Crafts movement, was a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright, known for his minimalist forms, clean lines, and innovative use of concrete. His work with Requa often emphasized functionality and a seamless integration with the natural environment.
Preserving the original design elements was paramount for Maryly and Peter. The existing doors, hardware, and even the siding of the house remain largely unchanged, honoring Gill’s vision. A particularly notable feature is the “harp staircase,” a signature element found in many of Gill’s houses, which adds a touch of elegant simplicity to the interior.
2. **Thoughtful Expansion for Family Life:** While preserving its historical integrity, the home also adapted to the family’s evolving needs. As their family grew, additions such as a pushed-out kitchen and a granny flat with an extra bathroom were thoughtfully incorporated. These expansions ensured the house remained a functional and welcoming space for their four children, balancing modern living with timeless design principles.
3. **Coronado Living: A Dream Lifestyle:** The video highlights Coronado as an unparalleled place to live, and Maryly’s experience reinforces this sentiment. As an island community, Coronado offers a uniquely friendly atmosphere with minimal crime, providing a safe and idyllic environment for families. The proximity to the beach, a mere stone’s throw away, offers endless recreational opportunities.
Furthermore, Peter’s five-minute drive across the bridge to downtown San Diego for work underscores the convenience of this coastal paradise. The excellent public schools, which all of Maryly’s children attended (with one later going to boarding school), are another significant draw, solidifying Coronado’s reputation as a top-tier residential location.
Cultivating a Showstopping English Garden in Coronado
4. **From Dirt Patch to Lush Oasis:** When Maryly and Peter first acquired the property, the garden was merely a dirt patch amidst a remodel. Maryly, who once owned a nursery in Coronado, embarked on a journey to design and cultivate the English garden of her dreams. Her passion for gardening, inherited from her parents who were avid gardeners, transformed the barren landscape into a self-sustaining ecosystem over the years.
The garden, now mature, thrives with minimal intervention, a testament to thoughtful planning and plant selection. Maryly’s approach combines classic English garden aesthetics with practical choices suitable for the Coronado climate, creating a vibrant tapestry of colors and textures.
5. **Remarkable Rose Varieties and Their Care:** Roses are undeniably the stars of Maryly’s English garden. Her collection includes several striking varieties, each with its own unique charm and resilience. The ‘Color Magic’ and ‘Apricot Dream’ roses are celebrated for their continuous blooms, gracing the garden from spring until they are cut back in December. This extended blooming period makes them exceptional choices for lasting visual appeal.
The ‘Iceberg’ rose, a pristine white variety, is another favorite, known for its consistent blooms and disease resistance. It forms a lovely, elegant hedge, constantly adding beauty to the garden. Perhaps Maryly’s most cherished is the ‘Eden’ rose, a magnificent climber reminiscent of David Austin English roses, which weaves its way throughout the garden, creating a truly romantic ambiance.
6. **Edible Delights and Fruitful Harvests:** Beyond the ornamental beauty, Maryly incorporates a variety of edible plants and fruit trees into her garden. This nod to her parents’ tradition of growing vegetables and fruits ensures the garden is not only beautiful but also bountiful. Nasturtiums, which volunteer freely, add a peppery kick to salads, demonstrating the dual functionality of many plants in her design.
Her apple tree, initially producing less-than-desirable fruit, began yielding delicious apples after a one-gallon sunflower tree was planted nearby. This delightful cross-pollination story highlights the serendipitous nature of gardening. Furthermore, a Meyer lemon tree, once yielding only three lemons, now provides an abundance of juicy fruits, perfect for cooking or refreshing cocktails, albeit sometimes shared by appreciative, impromptu visitors.
7. **Unique Climbers and Resilient Plants:** Maryly’s garden features several impressive climbing plants that add vertical interest and lushness. The ‘Blue Thungbergia’ vine, for instance, has vigorously climbed over an arbor, blooming profusely and creating a stunning overhead canopy. Another eye-catching climber is the ‘Candy Cane’ rose, which also provides beautiful blooms but occasionally tempts passersby to clip a few cuttings!
The ‘geranium’ Maryly shares freely is famously easy to grow, thriving even in colder climates like Lancaster, Pennsylvania, without needing to root. This adaptability makes it a gardener’s favorite. Even the persistent ‘cleavers,’ affectionately called “dinosaur food” by her granddaughter, showcase the garden’s wilder, more untamed beauty, though they require regular pruning to prevent them from taking over.
Thoughtful Outdoor Living Spaces
8. **The Serene Gazebo Retreat:** What was once an 1898 shed has been artfully transformed into a charming gazebo, serving as Maryly’s private retreat. This tranquil spot offers a perfect escape for reading or enjoying a quiet cocktail while still allowing her to keep an eye on her children playing in the house. It embodies her philosophy of creating functional, comfortable spaces within the home and garden.
9. **Clumping Bamboo and Majestic Ficus:** Surrounding the gazebo, ‘Old Hamy Grand Cane Bamboo’ provides a lush, verdant backdrop. This clumping bamboo variety is especially favored for its non-invasive nature, staying within a 10-foot diameter, unlike many running bamboos that can quickly spread. Its maturity, now 30 years old, speaks to its enduring presence in the garden.
Alongside the bamboo, a colossal Ficus tree, one of five originally brought from Maryly’s previous home in Los Angeles, stands as a testament to perseverance. These potted Ficus trees grew to immense sizes, eventually requiring removal, leaving this one magnificent specimen as a striking feature of the garden.
10. **A Palm Paradise from Seeds:** The back area of the garden, once a grassy play structure for the children, was re-envisioned with a pool cover and new landscaping. Here, a collection of impressive palm trees now thrives. These palms are “babies” of much larger ones, grown from seeds that naturally fell into pots placed at the end of the previous fence line. This organic growth showcases nature’s ability to propagate and flourish, creating a self-sustaining mini-forest.
Maryly’s challenge of growing anything between the bamboo and ferns in a small, stubborn space was eventually solved by these same palm seeds, which, blown by the wind, naturally took root and added the desired color to that area. This unexpected solution is a gentle reminder of nature’s surprising resilience and design.
11. **The Philosophy of a Lived-In Home:** Maryly’s overarching philosophy for her Coronado home and garden is comfort and usability. She believes a home should always feel welcoming and lived-in, not like a museum. “It doesn’t matter if you drop your drink or your child throws up,” she remarks, emphasizing that every inch of their house is used and enjoyed. This approach fosters a relaxed atmosphere where beauty and practicality coexist, creating a space that genuinely feels like home.
