Martin Short's '80s Backyard Teaches Low-Maintenance Planting

martin short on a red background — (Image credit: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images via Getty Images)

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Recreate Martin's Look at Home

Garden design isn't always about the flashy redesigns that catch the eye of every passerby; sometimes, it is the quiet planting adding subtle beauty to the background of our lives. The brightly colored, tiered borders at Martin Short's Santa Monica home are the prime example.

A 1988 portrait captured the comedian goofing around in his backyard, with gorgeous purple, yellow, red, pink, and white wildflowers rising up behind him. The vertical stone planters help to create height, while a variety of small hedges build contrast with the brilliant florals. Though the look is understated, these beautiful plants are not soon forgotten.

Martin's backyard shows that with a bit of planning, the best edging plants, and wildflowers, gorgeous borders are well within reach. To explore his design, Homes & Gardens curated an edit of everything you'll need to plant your own wildflower border. We also spoke with master gardeners on how they recommend pulling off a gorgeously colorful and fragrant garden like Martin's. To start, here's a glimpse into his '80s backyard.

Recreate Martin's Look at Home

Buttery-Attracting

Groundio Wildflower Seeds

Bathe your garden in color with this stunning pack of wildflower seeds. They create an effortlessly gorgeous spread and attract positive pollinators like butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden. They are perfect for creating a wild look around more manicured hardscaping.

Exact Match

Caradonna Blue Salvia

If you want to add a purple pop to your garden, these flowers add beautiful height and an unexpected shape. They are gorgeous mixed in with white, pink, and red blooms.

Sophisticated Style

Martha Stewart Leather Gardening Gloves

If you're going to plant out your garden this season, you're going to need garden gloves, and who knew they could look so chic? Perfect for roses or shrubs, they keep hands protected and make it easy to reach into thick foliage or handle prickly stems with confidence.

Expert Choice

Miracle-Gro Quick Start

This starting solution is an expert-approved fertilizer preference, and we can see why: the liquid plant food can be used with seedlings, flowers, vegetables, trees, and other plants when planting or transplanting. It's great for sluggish florals.

Stunning Colors

Cosmos Seeds

Adorn your garden with these beautiful flowers of love. These hearty seeds will let you sprout your own cosmos flowers from scratch.

Carbon Steel Blades

Niwaki Secateurs

These stunning pruners win for both style and function, and are a must to maintain well-kept borders. The high-quality blades deliver clean cuts, while the safety catch prevents accidental cuts.

If you love a colorful garden like Martin's, you're in luck. Brilliant wildflowers are among the easiest flowers to use in your garden.

Garden Expert Chris McIlroy explains: 'Wildflowers will grow just about anywhere. If you have any problem areas where you’ve been unable to grow anything else, wildflowers are likely to manage. You can even buy different varieties that are best suited to shaded areas or clay soils, too.'

He continues: 'No need for fancy compost or plant food; wildflowers are very low-maintenance. The usual rainfall through autumn and winter should be sufficient to keep the plants hydrated, so you don’t even need a watering schedule.'

martin short in his backyard 1988 — Martin Short's expertly planted borders are clearly visible in the background of this portrait session, complete with pink, yellow, red, and white flowers

Ultimately, the art of a whimsical yard comes down to careful planning. Putting in the work on the front end ensures that your yard will thrive for years to come with little care, like Martin's. Julian Palphramand, Garden Expert at British Garden Centres states: 'Whether you're planting your very first border or looking to finally get it right, the secret is simpler than most people think. Get your layers right, choose plants you love, and give them a good start in the soil, and the rest takes care of itself.'

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Sophie is a writer and News Editor on the Celebrity Style team at Homes & Gardens. She is fascinated by the intersection of design and popular culture and is particularly passionate about researching trends and interior history. She is an avid pop culture fan and has interviewed Martha Stewart and Hillary Duff.

In her free time, Sophie freelances on design news for Westport Magazine and Livingetc. She also has a newsletter, My Friend's Art, in which she covers music, culture, and fine art through a personal lens. Her fiction has appeared in Love & Squalor and The Isis Magazine.

Before joining Future, Sophie worked in editorial at Fig Linens and Home, a boutique luxury linens brand. She has an MSc from Oxford University and a BA in Creative Writing and Sociology from Sarah Lawrence College.