Helen and Helmuth Deetjen (Kunst)

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Today’s Wild Love is inspired by one of the most beautiful places in the country, Big Sur, and the couple who helped define its style: Helmuth Deetjen and Helen Haight Deetjen.

In the late 1920s, carpenter Helmuth Deetjen fled Norway and eventually settled in beautiful Big Sur, California. He met and married Helen Haight, who came from an important family of wealthy and prominent political figures in California. She settled with Helmuth, trading a house in Carmel for a tent on four acres that she owned in Big Sur’s Castro Canyon. Using reclaimed wood from canneries in Monterey, Deetjen built a redwood barn on the property. As people like Henry Miller and the Beat poets started coming through Big Sur, word spread about the Deetjens’ barn, which they opened up for weeks to travelers looking to write, hike the Castro Canyon or just unwind.

By 1941, they had started building five structures and turned the property into Big Sur Inn. The main barn was turned into a restaurant that was overseen by Helen. The warm, self-taught-carpenter look of the buildings became the defining style of architecture for not only Big Sur, but also much of northern California, inspiring countless builders of handmade houses with its hallmark exposed redwood beams, low ceilings and concrete floors, reclaimed windows and fixtures and hand-carved and handmade touches. — Mary Kathryn

Helmuth and Helen became known as “Grandpa” and “Mrs. D” Deetjen to everyone who stayed. Mrs. D had a love of chocolates and juicy gossip, while Grandpa spent much of his time in the beautiful library onsite, listening to classical music and enjoying red wine. Their spirit and spunk for managing their paradise lasted throughout their old age. Robert Cross writes in his book, Big Sur Tales, about the hand-painted sign at the front desk that read, “All of our guests make us happy — some by coming, others by going.”

After Helen died in 1962, followed by Helmut in 1972, their ashes were buried together at the base of the redwoods in the Castro Canyon, and the property was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Their love for Big Sur and its beauty inspired not just a community of artists and writers, but also a style of handmade architecture that reflects the warmth, quirkiness and natural beauty of the area.

Today’s arrangement is inspired by the local beauty of Big Sur, where the wildflowers are exceptionally bright and beautiful. Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn has a beautiful English-style garden that winds around the cabin on the property and is made up of shade-loving plants such as begonias, roses and ferns. My arrangement is a bit more summery, as it is inspired by the bright wildflowers that grow along the Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur, the likes of which one encounters when stepping out of the redwoods and toward the beautiful rocky beaches.

To begin, I used the tall bushy stalks of Queen Anne’s lace and euphorbia, both found growing in Big Sur, to create fullness and height in the arrangement. Next I added yarrow, which I consider to be an iconic California flower. Yarrow comes in many different colors, and I opted to use both a peachy orange and a blush pink to soften the greens and yellows of the Queen Anne’s lace and euphorbia. Next I added beautiful English lavender, which is grown in many Big Sur gardens, including the one at Deetjen’s. Finally, I finished with long stems of scabiosa, which also grows in the garden at Deetjen’s. This particular scabiosa is purple, but it’s variegated with white, which gives the petals a soft, almost dyed feel.

http://www.designsponge.com/2012/07/wild-love-helmuth-helen-deetjen.html