Encinitas Sharing Garden Tour II

Sat, July 11, 2026

Twenty-five years ago Heather and Morrie Callaghan embarked on a very ambitious project: to create a welcoming garden to replace a boring lawn, and visual privacy around their 2/3-acre Olivenhain home, and to include many plants that these former New Zealanders were familiar with.  They hired landscape designer Scott Spencer to create what he called a "California fusion" garden of Mediterranean-climate plants including many grevilleas, heather (a nod to the owner's name), dozens of varieties of trees (including some Dawn Redwoods) and shrubs, and a small rose garden.  Over the years the garden has aged gracefully, and the house is now entirely hidden from the street by a wide berm of low-water plants, including many California natives. 

Today, there are espalier fruit trees, an enclosed garden of very productive raised beds tended by Morrie, and a wide range of colorful foliage to please the eye even if no flowers are in bloom.  Blades of black mondo grass leaves jostle with the silvery foliage of "Rose de Mai" carnations, there are colorful succulents in abundance near the swimming pool, lots of grevilleas of all sizes, and flowering trees from all around the globe.  This expansive garden, now cared for by Jason Chen, has something for everyone, and is sure to inspire.