Hortense Miller dies at 99

Hortense Miller, founder of the Hortense Miller Garden in Laguna Beach, died Monday at the age of 99. Miller, an avid amateur gardener and a writer, donated her garden to the city of Laguna Beach in 1976 with the stipulation that she be allowed to live there until she died.

Miller was moved to a facility two years ago. She had been sleeping most of the time in recent weeks, said Marsha Bode, of the Friends of the Hortense Miller Garden.

“She was peaceful,” Bode said. “She didn’t wake up too much.”

Miller lived alone for most of those years at the 2 1/2 -acre Boat Canyon property where she and her husband moved when she was 51. He died shortly after the house was built in 1959, and she devoted her energies to gardening and writing. She also covered the walls of the house with murals.

Born in St. Louis on Sept. 9, 1908, Miller graduated from St. Louis Teacher’s College in 1930, and married Oscar Miller, a Chicago lawyer, in 1942. The couple moved to Laguna Beach in 1953 after they both retired, and took six years to build their modernist home on a canyon-overlook lot.

The garden became famous for its emphasis on native plants, and Miller hosted gardening enthusiasts from around the world. The garden was nearly destroyed in two fires, in 1979 and in 1993, but the house itself was not harmed.

The garden became controversial when a neighbor on the private street sued the city in 1979, claiming that opening the site up to the public lowered property values. The public tours continued after a settlement was reached.

The garden was one of the first “natural” or native plant gardens of the time, and Sunset Magazine, House & Garden and local newspapers featured it. In 2002, her book “A Garden in Laguna: the Garden Essays of Hortense Miller,” was published by Casa Dana Books.

In the book, she writes of daily life in Boat Canyon, and of plants, animals and disastrous events, such as mudslides, wind storms and wildfires.

“She and her garden were well-grown,” said Ginny Worthington, a longtime friend and a founding member of the Friends group. “She was an unforgettable personality.”

Bode said volunteers are needed to help with upkeep in the garden, and to train as docents for tours of the house and garden.

Under the agreement hammered out with Miller in 1976, the city agreed never to sell the property and to keep it open to the public forever, Bode said.

“Nothing will change,” Bode said. “We will go on as we were.”

The Friends of the Hortense Miller Garden is planning a memorial in September.

Donations may be made to the Friends of the Hortense Miller Garden, P.O. Box 742, Laguna Beach, CA 92652.

Tours of the garden may be arranged by calling (949) 497-3311, ext. 426.

“THE GARDEN WRITINGS OF HORTENSE MILLER”

“In the last 30 years we have not had such winds as rioted around for days and nights in a stretch in December. Everything that could be loosened was tossed over the moon and then down again, the idea being that then you would have to pick it up, and everything that could not be blown away was rattled, simply to fray your nerves.

“The chaparral went through the wind, scarcely turning over a leaf. Love that chaparral! It recovers from fire and gives you a wild flower show while doing it; it stands the long summer droughts; it shrugs off the wind. If the garden were all chaparral, we who work here could have fingernails like ladies’ and catch up with the society news.”

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She can be contacted at (949) 494-2087 or cindy.frazier@latimes.com.