another day at work

please step into my office...ha ha.

one of tomas' neighbors has this grass couch outside of their house and we love it! learn how to sprout your own through readymade's tutorial.

garden paradise in pasadena

my favorite mustached magic maker, shrine, is at it again. you may remember him from an earlier post about his making love out of trash art show in which he and his daughter jesse transformed 19 truck-loads of trash into beautiful art.

shrine was recently featured on the front page of the house and garden section of the los angeles times for the inspiring garden world that he has created around his pasadena home.




shrine's gardens tell stories of found treasures, intricate mosaics, and fascinating succulants and cactus plants that are artwork in themselves. because of his focus on drought-tolerant species, shrine's garden is a xeriscape which does not require supplemental irrigation. shrine gets a big green thumbs up for his urban greening project. he's not only conserving resources of water but also reusing other people's trash to create beautiful green space.

read more about shrine and his funky gardens from the la times.

and i just couldn't resist adding a photo of zee artist and myself from burning man this past year :)

city of palms, ca changes name to palm-less

one might say that palm trees are to el lay as, say, potatoes are to idaho...neil diamond even sang about los angeles as a place where “palm trees grow and rents are low” (remind me to ask neil who *his* landlord was!) however, the long-time symbol of classic southern california landscape is slowly being phased out as the trees are dying from fungal disease and old age. the city is replacing the sick palms with oaks, sycamores, and other native species with greater environmental benefits such as shade cover, air-pollution trapping, and wildlife habitat (although i know that owls nest in palms...and rats too!).

although we're not going to wake up tomorrow to a palm-less city, it is likely that our treescape will continue to be altered through the million trees initiative launched earlier this month 'cause palms didn't make that the cut for that either. (via msnbc)

i am quite happy with the push for natives as i don't consider palms more than ornamental picks (remind me to tell you about the thumb-numbing work i did at the american academy in rome carving model-bound trees from toothpicks!) and crave streets lined with real trees like the ones that they use up north...you know, ones with leaves and stuff!

image titled "transition 5 ( sunrise )", 2006,
by my incredibly talented friend and local venetian kenny littlejohn harris