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Those plants, grown from locally collected seed, include black sage, white sage and purple sage, California buckwheat, long-stem buckwheat and ashy leaf buckwheat, wild grape; narrow-leaf milkweed, California bush sunflower; deerweed; showy penstemon, toyon, laurel sumac and ceanothus.

As we meandered along the Arroyo Seco river basin, which was flanked by fields of yellow mustard weed, stalks of purple showy penstemon and feathery clusters of blooming matilija poppy, I offered a little history of the area as well as architectural tidbits about the three grand bridges we passed under.

“It’s a beautiful mix of pine and oak forest. Wonderful riparian areas too, though there isn’t a lot of surface water. It’s big so it’s a good bet. I was just up a couple weeks ago. The ceanothus blooms were stunning. The monkey flower, deerweed, penstemon and lupines were out in force too. Wildflower blooms last longer and start later the higher you go up in elevation. So quiet at certain times of the day. It’s an entirely different world than down in the valley.”

When it was time to plant, Pennes installed repeat groupings of three, including ceanothus, Canyon Prince Wild Rye and penstemon.

“It is such a magical walk to the front door,” Cordeal says of the lupine, poppies, penstemon and sage blooming on either side of the stairs up to the house.