A backyard garden oasis awaits

The house is nice, but at this place, the gardens are the thing.

Specimen palm trees and a variety of rare tropicals share the grounds of this 7-plus-acre Montecito estate with a vegetable garden and nearly a dozen kinds of fruit trees, as well as a 4,000-square-foot Zen garden sanctuary, entered through 400-year-old temple doors.

The sanctuary has stone walkways over water, leading to elevated rooms featuring a stone fireplace and granite-top desks. The building was formerly a greenhouse, and it also housed the headquarters of a worldwide company for several years.

The gardens were restored after the current owner, an entrepreneur and designer, bought the property in 1995.

About this house: Known as Windsong, the gated estate, on a knoll with views of the Pacific and the Santa Ynez Mountains, also has a pond, a pool, a hot tub, a stream, a shared well and computerized irrigation.

Asking price: $5,395,000.

Size: The sophisticated Bermuda-style main house of about 5,000 square feet was built in the ‘50s, remodeled in the ‘80s and refurbished again in the ‘90s.

With the other buildings, there is about 11,000 square feet under roof on 7.24 acres.

Features: The master suite has a sitting room, a wet bar and a fireplace. There is a guest suite, a guesthouse and a guest apartment. The home also has a gym.

Nearly every room opens to a garden, courtyard or terrace.

Where: Montecito, near Santa Barbara

Listing agent: Maria L. Black, Village Properties, (805) 565-8606.

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos (copies only; we cannot return the pictures) and a brief description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; or e-mail [email protected].