A California Dream Garden Brings Healing and Wholeness
John Calhoun was looking for a place to rest. Instead, he found a new life and a lasting passion for plants and nature
Annie Thornton
June 30, 2019
Houzz Editorial Staff
Twenty years ago, John Calhoun uprooted his life in the San Francisco Bay Area suburbs. He left a stressful job in architecture and sold all his possessions in hopes of finding peace and well-being on 8 acres in Fort Bragg, a town farther north on the California coast.
Calhoun, who was living with HIV, wasn’t looking for a project or the opportunity to create his dream home in the country. “I thought it would be a nice place to live out the remaining days,” he says. “I didn’t buy the property with the idea of creating a huge garden.”
But the garden, which Calhoun has cultivated for two decades, digging his hands into the soil and filling it with thousands of plants, revived him. “I think the garden has played the largest role of anything in my life,” he says.
Calhoun, who was living with HIV, wasn’t looking for a project or the opportunity to create his dream home in the country. “I thought it would be a nice place to live out the remaining days,” he says. “I didn’t buy the property with the idea of creating a huge garden.”
But the garden, which Calhoun has cultivated for two decades, digging his hands into the soil and filling it with thousands of plants, revived him. “I think the garden has played the largest role of anything in my life,” he says.
Photos by Nick Klein for Houzz
Garden at a Glance
Who lives here: John Calhoun, who also he rents out a studio on his property on Airbnb
Location: Fort Bragg, California
Size: 8 acres, 3 of which are landscaped
Watch now: See John Calhoun’s Northern California garden
Now Calhoun is finally able to turn his focus away from laboring in the landscape and spend more time enjoying what it has become. “So much of the garden takes care of itself,” he says. “For the first time, I have finished the canvas. I am maintaining what I have, and I am content with that.”
Garden at a Glance
Who lives here: John Calhoun, who also he rents out a studio on his property on Airbnb
Location: Fort Bragg, California
Size: 8 acres, 3 of which are landscaped
Watch now: See John Calhoun’s Northern California garden
Now Calhoun is finally able to turn his focus away from laboring in the landscape and spend more time enjoying what it has become. “So much of the garden takes care of itself,” he says. “For the first time, I have finished the canvas. I am maintaining what I have, and I am content with that.”
Part of enjoying the garden means spending time in it as a visitor, rather than as its tender. New outdoor furniture enables him to enjoy different parts of the property, including this back deck. “I never spent much time out there,” he says. “Now I’m out there almost every evening.”
A flowering wisteria vine grows along the roof of the house. From the deck, there’s a clear view to a dazzling flowering rhododendron, one of the plants Calhoun inherited and first took care of when he moved into the home.
String lights: Asian Import Store; outdoor wall clock: Whitehall Products; outdoor-indoor table lamps: Eangee Home Design; Lyon sectional sofa set: Residence, all available on Houzz
A flowering wisteria vine grows along the roof of the house. From the deck, there’s a clear view to a dazzling flowering rhododendron, one of the plants Calhoun inherited and first took care of when he moved into the home.
String lights: Asian Import Store; outdoor wall clock: Whitehall Products; outdoor-indoor table lamps: Eangee Home Design; Lyon sectional sofa set: Residence, all available on Houzz
Art, lighting and lounge furniture scattered throughout the property enable Calhoun and his guests to relax in the garden. Outdoor fire tables, like the one shown here, create an especially comfortable environment in which to enjoy the “golden hour” right before sunset, when Calhoun says the light in the garden is at its best.
Gas fire pit table: TK Classics; Venturi wicker swivel club chairs set: GDF Studio
Gas fire pit table: TK Classics; Venturi wicker swivel club chairs set: GDF Studio
Calhoun, who says he had no gardening experience or plant knowledge before moving to Fort Bragg, took the first few years there to become acquainted with the land. While learning to care for the plants that friends added or that already grew on the property, he began to work part time at a local nursery. “By that time, it had become my passion,” he says of the garden. “It was almost as if I couldn’t stop.”
The work never drained Calhoun. “As much energy as I expended, the garden seemed to give me energy,” he says, creating a sense of healing, wholeness and well-being. “[It] helped me to heal.”
Barcelona outdoor patio chair: International Caravan
The work never drained Calhoun. “As much energy as I expended, the garden seemed to give me energy,” he says, creating a sense of healing, wholeness and well-being. “[It] helped me to heal.”
Barcelona outdoor patio chair: International Caravan
Over time, the garden grew and expanded. Calhoun brought home plants he loved, walking around with them until he found the perfect spot to plop them into the ground. “I really didn’t set out with a goal in mind,” he says.
Design inspiration came from a variety of sources, including memories spent as a child playing in nature, with waterfalls, ferns and mosses. “Those three elements I have very intentionally developed here,” he says. Another day, Calhoun was wandering through the heather beds at the nearby botanical garden. “That’s when I started planting heathers,” he says.
Cypress trees frame the mounding heathers (Calluna vulgaris) in one of the garden rooms on the property. The heathers form a tapestry of color when in flower. The orange flowers of a young leucospermum pop among them.
Watch now: See more of this inspiring garden in Fort Bragg
Design inspiration came from a variety of sources, including memories spent as a child playing in nature, with waterfalls, ferns and mosses. “Those three elements I have very intentionally developed here,” he says. Another day, Calhoun was wandering through the heather beds at the nearby botanical garden. “That’s when I started planting heathers,” he says.
Cypress trees frame the mounding heathers (Calluna vulgaris) in one of the garden rooms on the property. The heathers form a tapestry of color when in flower. The orange flowers of a young leucospermum pop among them.
Watch now: See more of this inspiring garden in Fort Bragg
On one of the garden’s meandering paths, rhododendrons, still in bud, softly frame the walk. Ajuga fills in as a flowering ground cover below, with Scotch moss adding a chartreuse accent along the path’s edges.
Strawberries, lilies, raspberries, artichokes and blueberries grow in raised beds in a fenced-off area. Cherry trees, espaliered apple trees and kiwi vines grow along the fence.
Visitors and friends gather and hang out in a greenhouse on the property.
The garden has become a hub for wildlife. “There are so many birds here. It used to be I only heard them in the spring; now I hear them all year long,” he says. Turtles, frogs and other wildlife live in a pond Calhoun added. He says about half of the plants growing in and around the water have taken root on their own.
Aruba wicker chaise lounges: Abbyson Living
Metal compass rose: Zeckos
Calhoun has landscaped nearly half of the 8 acres, but his connection to the land grows deeper than that of a caretaker. “It has nothing to do with what I have done to the garden,” he says.
The proximity to the ocean, the air quality and the majesty of the surrounding redwoods infuse the property with a feeling of grandeur and serenity. Calhoun says he felt it the first time he visited property, and it’s an energy he continues to experience and reinforce in the garden to this day.
Watch now: See more of the garden Calhoun created
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The proximity to the ocean, the air quality and the majesty of the surrounding redwoods infuse the property with a feeling of grandeur and serenity. Calhoun says he felt it the first time he visited property, and it’s an energy he continues to experience and reinforce in the garden to this day.
Watch now: See more of the garden Calhoun created
More on Houzz
Watch more Houzz TV episodes
Browse outdoor photos for ideas and inspiration
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You make the world a beautiful place John.
I saw this video for the first time many years ago and it has always stayed with me. I never forgot it. This is probably the most memorable thing that I have seen on Houzz's site. I would love to walk in and sit in this garden. I can't believe how the Universe seemed to rise up and add to this man's garden so beautifully. It was as if it were saying, "I see you're serious about this John, and it's such a lovely project that I'll help you with this by adding this plant here, this one here and will bring this animal, and I will also help you heal your health in the process too." I'm so happy for this man's journey with this beautiful garden. Nature heals.
Yes, also for me it is one of the greatest video, I wish John in his garden-paradise all what it takes for a healing.