Drought is normal for Southern California, but many of our public and commercial spaces are landscaped with water-thirsty plants. To help create more climate resilient landscapes, our office worked with South Pasadena Beautiful to design a new sustainable low-water garden at the South Pasadena Post Office. The project will unfold in two phases, dying trees...Read More

For the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with the committed and energetic girls from South Pasadena Junior Girl Scout Troop 9461 on their Bronze Award, a community service project in which the entire troop decides on and commits to a project that serves their local community. Cookies for a cause! Just...Read More

Why plant a rain garden? You might assume that something with the words rain and garden next to each other does not immediately sound feasible for drought-stricken Southern California.  But rain gardens are a form of water harvesting — a way to capture and filter water that would otherwise flow into storm drains and eventually,...Read More

Clients often ask for water elements in their gardens, and lately I’ve been researching ways to help make them more waterwise.  Check out my ideabook for Houzz for tips on siting, designing and maintaining fountains with water conservation in mind. Here are a few water features — from tabletop size to koi pond — that...Read More

As design professionals, it’s important that we express our ideas to clients in a way that is user friendly and captures the qualities of the space. For that reason, when a client requests 3-D visualization, we customize our proposal to their project. GOOGLE SKETCHUP If the project has a lot of built elements, we’ll often...Read More