The Lasting Impact of Sea Ranch
When The Sea Ranch — a radical experiment that merges architecture and ecology — opened in 1965 on a wild stretch of Sonoma coast 100 miles north of San Francisco, it was most remarkable for what it was not. Covenant restrictions for the planned community explicitly forbade stereotypical signs of suburbia: no lawns, no mailboxes or street lamps, no flower beds or garages — certainly no garden gnomes or pink plastic flamingos.
The Sea Ranch’s planting guide for owners specifies only native or naturalized vegetation with the caveat to “avoid prettiness — maximize rugged character” and, for flora, no “conspicuous blooming performance.” The only standout element should be the landscape: steep cliffs bordering the ocean, wind-swept meadows formerly grazed by sheep,
