The studio’s first community project, at the Rancho Colorados Swim and Tennis Club. Working alongside fellow members Silicani Designs and Xanscapes, we put in 50+ volunteer hours of design, pruning, cleanup, and installation.

The site is a full-sun hillside with surprisingly good soil. The brief: a dry garden that would serve as a striking backdrop to the pool and turn the path up to the tennis courts into a planted walk.

With the material budget extremely limited, the design started in private collections. Each of us pulled specimens we were willing to donate or relocate, supplemented by propagations and offsets. The result: more than 20 succulent varieties and over 10 California natives, every plant low- or very-low-water — an essential constraint given the site and the long-term care plan.

It’s become a true collector’s garden, which makes choosing highlights difficult. A few favorites anyway: Agave striata, Aloe ‘Blue Elf’, Aloe striata ‘Ghost Aloe’, and Phacelia californica.

More photos to come as the plants do their thing.