Few gardeners could ever imagine owning an estate as spectacular as the one created by Prince Charles on his 37-acre property called Highgrove in Gloucestershire, England. But even grand gardens are filled with ideas that can translate to small gardens.

Landscape architect Richard William Wogisch, an admirer of the prince's thyme walk at Highgrove, planted his own version of the eclectic thyme-and-stone walkway in his Sonoma County garden. "It's a California version of a great English border," Wogisch explains. More than 20 kinds of thyme grow among recycled chunks of concrete (laid without grout) and tan gravel.

Wogisch's favorite variety, Thymus x citriodorus 'Pink Chintz', blooms from July until December. "The thymes are deer-resistant, too," he says.

Design: Richard William Wogisch (707/588-9912)