Flowers, Fruit Trees, and Entertaining Spaces Abound Inside This Organic Garden in California

In Mountain View, California, where the weather is mild nearly year-round, software engineers Sarah Nguyen and Andrew Poon wanted their garden to be a sprawling outdoor living space. They envisioned beds overflowing with flowers, fresh produce to pluck for a salad, and breezy open areas where they could unwind and entertain. And since they were planning to have kids, it needed plenty of room to run and play.

The couple hired Oakland-based Pine House Edible Gardens for the transformation. "I like their philosophy of having as many edibles as possible without it looking like a farm," says Nguyen. Owner and designer Leslie Bennett and landscape architect Holly Kuljian worked closely with them, merging Nguyen's love of a floriferous English-cottage style with crops the couple wanted to grow, including strawberries, yuzus, and other citrus. The garden is organic, harnessing pollinator-attracting flowers like buddleia, penstemon, salvia, and yarrow to draw birds, butterflies, and bees. Drip irrigation provides efficient supplemental water, and beds are planted densely to leave little soil exposed, which suppresses weeds and minimizes evaporation.

Instead of a thirsty, time-consuming lawn, Bennett and Kuljian filled the front yard with a succession of easygoing flowers and perennials that morph with the seasons and "always look completely gorgeous," says Nguyen. The backyard, with its "rooms" for eating, lounging, and sitting around the firepit, is made for get-togethers. All the areas are linked by a concrete path that loops the plot's perimeter—and makes a perfect racetrack for the couple's sons, 4-year-old Hunter and nearly 2-year-old Darius, to run, bike, and pull their wagons on. Narrower paths paved with pea gravel lead to harvest spots and clearings under mature trees, where guests can overflow. "We prefer hosting at home to eating out," Nguyen says. "It's a lot more comfortable, since many of us have young kids."

As the garden has grown in, new traditions have taken root. Starting in June every year, the children harvest strawberries. In summer, Nguyen and Poon share their bounty with neighbors, giving away their abundance of plump tomatoes and figs. Each autumn, friends join forces with Nguyen's parents to pick and dry heaps of persimmons from their tree. And on any given day, you'll find the family tossing a ball in back, chatting with neighbors out front, or enjoying a meal made from homegrown ingredients. "This is where the magic happens," Poon says. "I have so many favorite memories tied to this space."