Hearst Castle: The Gardens

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One of the three guest houses placed in a carefully designed setting, 2010.

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Himself: Didn’t quite measure right, and the double bed we bought turned out too be a queen. He worked hard to enlarge the frame before dinner and our Sunday meeting. Herself: Bought a cheep Seely bed for a hundred bucks, and found myself doing a lightening strike to target for sheets and mattress pad at 4pm. Gratitude: The new bed worked.

To visit Hearst’s Castle is not only to view the design of Mr. Hearst’s buildings, it is to admire the drama of these magnificent and entertaining buildings in a garden setting designed by architect Julia Morgan and WR Hearst together.



Betsey Malloy, of About.com writes, “Inspired by the great Italian and Spanish gardens, William Randolph Hearst and architect Julia Morgan created gardens at Hearst Castle that integrate native species, present continuous bloom all summer and whose elaborate features look great against the location's panoramic views of mountains, coastline and ocean.”



Here the Lantana acts both as a hedge and a colorful waterfall. Note that this side of the main house is rough cement.

Gardeners work not only to restore the existing landscaping and gardens, they attempt to keep the vision of Hearst and Morgan clear.





Often the buildings and landscaping spaces are broken with statuary. Here, at Casa del Mar, this lovely golden lady looks off to the far away Pacific Ocean.













The bottom three photo groupings copyright RGB in his own name, 2010.