Hearst Castle has 100 acres of breathtaking gardens. Here’s how crews keep the landscape lush
Maintaining a landscape can be a demanding labor of love for any gardener, especially during the winter when there’s less immediate payoff for all that work.
Now imagine being in charge of 100 acres of gardens that are viewed and photographed by thousands of people every day.
That’s the challenge faced by Hearst Castle’s groundskeepers and landscapers, according to groundskeeper Tyler Melendy. He’s part of a compact, busy team of 10 State Parks employees, one retired annuitant and 10 dedicated volunteers.
The landscape is a highly visible part of Hearst Castle, the former hilltop mansion of late media magnate William Randolph Hearst.
The sprawling San Simeon estate, formally known as La Cuesta Encantada, includes trees, palms, shrubs, hedges, vines, climbing plants, water plants and orchards. Water comes from a Hearst Ranch reservoir, fed by gravity onto the estate.
There are also drought-resistant plants and flowering shrubs, which need little care or maintenance, on hillsides and roadsides. Those plantings are front and center during the bus rides up to and down from the hilltop.
They’re part of Melendy’s turf, so to speak, which includes including the hill road and the Pergola, the remains of a mile-long covered ornamental bridleway where guests could walk or ride horses. That wide hillside pathway even offered some relief from summer sun.
The groundskeeper who tends the trees along the road and in the Pergola area says the varieties growiwng there include citrus, persimmon, quince, pomegranate, acacia, oleander and rock rose.
As any gardener knows, it can be gruelingly hard work.
“Clearing areas of dense growth for fire clearance has been one of my main goals,” Melendy said. “I work alongside Cal Fire to achieve this.”
While the Cal Fire “defensible space” clearance mandate of 100 feet from a structure sounds daunting, firefighters say the resulting fire protection can mean the difference between saving a home and losing it in a wildfire.
Hearst Castle gardens must remain historically accurate
In addition to fire safety, the Castle landscapers and groundskeepers must consider historical accuracy.
They follow the Landscape Preservation Maintenance Plan for Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument, created by the Olmstead Center for Landscape Preservation.
“A couple of major ongoing restoration projects are replacing non-historic roses with historic varieties,” Melendy said, “replacing missing citrus and protecting historic oaks from diseases.”
“A common disease of coast live oaks is sudden oak death,” a dreaded disease for which the grounds crew constantly monitors, he said.
The most commonly used plants in Hearst Castle gardens are roses, which is no surprise, since “William Randolph Hearst loved roses,” Melendy said.
Hearst encouraged the planting of “drought-resistant, old-fashioned, familiar varieties. He especially loved climbing roses,” Melendy said.
“Cecile Brunner roses still climb the palms today,” the groundskeeper said. Although for maintenance purposes, the workers restrict the climbers to a height of 20 feet.
“Historical rose varieties are our most used plant on the hilltop,” Melendy said, and there are about 800 of them to tend. (That’s a lot of deadheading!)
“As long as water restrictions permit,” he said, “groundskeeper Shannon Elver switches out roughly 1,500 annuals every spring,” which was a common practice in the Hearst era.
Each garden bed is numbered. “An esplanade wraps around La Casa Grande,” the estate’s main house, Melendy said.
“Each garden bed is filled with, as William Randolph Hearst coined the term, ‘a profusion and confusion of blooms,’ which were grouped/themed together by color,” Melendy said.
According to Melendy, the Azalea Walk on the North Esplanade apparently caught the attention of visiting celebrity Cary Grant, who told a tour guide that the area was “romantic.” Those garden beds are filled with varieties of azaleas, rhododendrons, fuchsia, citrus, daffodils and roses, as well as coast live oaks, camellias, boxwoods and more.
Some of the most unusual plants, Melendy said, are the zizifus jujube and Wekiwa tangelo.
And where there are that many plants, trees and greenery, there are bound to be tons of clippings. “We create our own compost,” Melendy said, “anything from clippings, excess leaves, deadheaded roses to coffee grounds and acceptable food waste from our break room.”
The compost piles are located near the restored Lord & Burnham greenhouses, which aren’t currently being operated “due to drought concerns,” he said.
Citrus harvested for GleanSLO
There are 150 citrus trees and 200 palms at Hearst Castle.
Hearst “used citrus for the purpose of color year-round,” Melendy said.
Now fruit is left on the trees for that purpose.
“What falls and cannot be salvaged is composted. What is picked gets donated to GleanSLO,” a nonprofit organization that harvests food to give to the needy, he said.
“We have two gleans annually in our orchard,” Melendy said, which “requires all hands on deck, including volunteers. We have finished our first 2020 glean, with another to follow soon.”
From 2018 and 2019, 3,366 pounds of gleaned fruit was donated to GleanSLO, Melendy said.
Who keeps Hearst Castle’s gardens green?
Some Hearst Castle groundskeepers have worked in those gardens for decades. For instance, Don Ruda has been in the department for 38 years, Melendy said, and volunteer Ardy May of San Simeon has donated 895 hours in 12 years.
After former grounds department supervisor Bob Conlen left State Parks, Melendy said, Conlen continued as a retired annuitant, accumulating a total of 29 years with the department so far.
Conlen has been Melendy’s mentor and inspired the protégé to pursue a State Parks career.
Conlen’s continuing dedication is inspiring, Melendy said, “For the past 30 years, Bob has been clearing brush for fire prevention, preventing the spread of invasive weeds, led countless restoration projects … and played an integral role in our department’s success, especially after the passing of supervisor Christine Takahashi.”
Melendy, 27, was raised in Cambria and has worked for State Parks at the Castle for seven years, with five of them in the ground/landscape department.
“I have always enjoyed gardening,” he said, “but have found through my time in the department how fun and truly satisfying it can be,” even in winter.
How to transition your garden from winter to spring
At Hearst Castle, “We focus on dormant pruning in winter to prepare for spring,” Melendy said. “We also plan ahead for spring annual planting.”
Melendy offered some other winter-to-spring gardening tips: “We focus on dormant pruning in winter to prepare for spring. We also plan ahead for spring annual planting.
“I suggest monitoring irrigation systems for excess overspray and for repairs needed,” he said. “I would also check staking for storms and high winds.”
“I suggest planting California natives in home gardens — varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases, and that attract butterflies, birds, and bees,” Melendy said. “I like to add mulch for water retention, test out organic fertilizers, and suggest looking into home composting.”
Not much is flowering on the hilltop now, Melendy said, but that’s expected at this time of year, even in gardens as expansive as the ones at Hearst Castle.
Spring is just around the corner, and then, much to the delight of birds, bees and thousands of visitors, the Castle gardens will once again burst into fragrant, multi-colored blooms.
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 5:10 AM with the headline "Hearst Castle has 100 acres of breathtaking gardens. Here’s how crews keep the landscape lush."
