THE COASTAL GARDENER:

When you are born with the first name of Hortense, somehow you are fated to spend a life in the service and defense of plants and gardens. In Latin, hortense means “gardener.” Such was the life of Hortense Miller.

Born in St. Louis on Sept. 9, 1908 and married to a Chicago lawyer in 1942, Miller “retired” in 1953 and moved to the small, quaint village of Laguna Beach. For the next six years, she and her husband built their home on two and a half acres on the slopes of Boat Canyon. Her husband died shortly after the house was completed in 1959. For the next five decades, Miller built the garden.

The garden soon became famous for its emphasis on native plants. Miller found herself hosting gardening enthusiasts from around the world. But she was never impressed by celebrity and kept no record of the legions of gardening royalty who visited.

Miller was a pioneer, fiercely independent and strong-willed, qualities necessary to create a trendsetting garden while simultaneously fending off city planners, feisty neighbors and a gardening community that, at the time, didn’t always embrace her garden.

When she realized as a child in 1920 that animals were killed for meat, she became a vegetarian. When learning of overpopulation, she vowed never to have children. She was a lifelong environmentalist. During the Great Depression, as a substitute teacher in St. Louis making $6 a day, rather than teach reading, writing and arithmetic, Miller would take her students outside to study plants, sinkholes, sunfish and nature.

An author and an early feminist, she built one of the first natural gardens in Orange County. Visitors were often given a personal discourse about overdevelopment, overpopulation and the importance of living with the land, not at odds to it. To Hortense Miller, plants and land were more important than people.

Embracing native plants and a more wild, relaxed and less contrived standard, for nearly 50 years Miller’s garden has stood as a testament to sustainable gardening. The term California Friendly didn’t exist when Miller first slid a shovel into the soil. She was half a century ahead of us.

Daily life in Boat Canyon was challenging, with disastrous events such as mudslides, wind storms, droughts and wildfires. The garden was nearly destroyed in two fires, in 1979 and again in 1993, but the house itself was not harmed. Fires, windstorms, mudslides, drought and earthquakes were no match for Miller.

For 42 years, Miller went to work every day in her garden, from sunrise until after dark.

She put in 400 steps made from felled trees, chipped riprap and salvaged railroad ties so she could navigate the slopes.

She made fences and trellises by hand from bamboo she grew on the property.

Friends recall watching Miller climb onto the roof to rake off leaves — at age 82.

She worked in her garden every day until she was 93 and could no longer navigate the steep terrain, limiting herself to the patio.

Eventually, 1,500 species occupied the garden.

Miller sternly defended her garden. In an act of immense charity, not uncommon among gardeners, she gave the land to the city in 1976 so the public could continue to see it the way she liked it, as a wild mix of native coastal scrub, tropical succulents, blooming perennials and exotics. All she asked for was to be able to live out her years among the flowers, bees and creatures of her garden.

Discussing her longevity a few years ago, she declared, “Well, there’s an end to everything. Good God, I’m 96 years old. I ought to die. And I don’t do it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

I fondly recall meeting Miller some 15 years ago, in her garden. Miller died July 28 at the age of 99. She has no heirs and no beneficiaries.

Miller is gone, but her garden and her legacy will always be with us.

Her land will be preserved as she left it, and remains open to free public tours through the combined efforts of the Friends of the Hortense Miller Garden and Laguna Beach’s Community Services Department, reachable at (949) 497-0716.

ASK RON

Question:

When breaking off a dead branch on my tree, I discovered termites (ugh!). Can this condition be treated, or must I lose my tree?

Answer:

It sounds as if you have an infestation of drywood termites, which often infest dead limbs of trees. From these colonies they can migrate, usually in the fall, to nearby buildings and cause more serious problems.

The termites in your tree are considered a secondary pest. In other words, since termites feed only on dead wood, they do not attack healthy trees and are not the cause of any tree problems. However, a termite infestation in a tree is symptomatic that there may be other health issues with the tree. Heartrot, a slow, degenerative internal fungal disease, is a strong possibility.

My suggestion is to have a professional exterminator treat the termites. Then, if the tree is valuable, call a certified arborist to diagnose the tree’s health and prescribe treatment options.

ASK RON your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail stumpthegardener@rogersgardens.com, or write to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.

RON VANDERHOFF is the nursery manager at Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar.