A Back-Alley Portal
to a Koreatown Container Garden
A new family who lives in a rented apartment kept a chaotic array of potted plants in the building's side alley. They needed help wrangling their cluttered jungle into a meditative space. We streamlined their containers while enhancing the lushness of the corridor. The result is a verdant moment of tranquility hidden in one of the busiest neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
With a new baby and new career paths, starting over meant letting some hobbies slip. Many plants had outgrown their pots, dried up, suffocated in porcelain containers, or a mix of the three. Our goals were to repot and give fresh soil to all of the greenery, create some large containers with plants that would support each other, and streamline the design of the containers to clean up the look and give the alleyway a modern minimalist desert aesthetic.
To stay within the client's tight budget, we sourced second run, imperfect ceramic pots and wholesale decorative rocks. After observing the space at different times of day, we quickly established sun patterns where different groups of plants would thrive, like this tiny jade forest.
We also used second hand sources and local makers to add a tranquil space for morning coffee amidst the greenery, and beneath their cat, Louie's, favorite window. Having a background in props and set decoration gives us an edge in budgeting and sourcing to give high end appeal to new family budgets
