What Else Makes a Garden Magical? Water, Rooms, and Patina

Artist Maria del Carmen Calvo identifies three essential elements beyond plants.

Water

Moorish gardens always center water. Calvo includes seven fountains in her modest garden. “I’m never far from its sound.”

Garden Rooms

Spaces with pleasing human proportions—some for family gatherings, others for intimate retreat. “You can’t help but feel good when you’re in them.”

Patina of Age

The hardest element in the West, where everything looks new. Calvo collects architectural antiques—gates, windows, doors—or commissions replicas to build instant history.

“All you have to do,” Calvo says, “is think with your soul.”