This was TALC STUDIO's first project. We installed everything ourselves—planting, irrigation, wood treads. Each piece handled and placed by hand. A pocket garden, but full of life.

In the dense clay soils of San Francisco's Casto, we worked between structure and softness. A collection of individual specimens, held together by a continuous layer. Pittosporum tenuifolium gathers to one side; bird of paradise anchors the other. This is where we fell for Acacia stenophylla—long, pendulous leaves moving in the marine wind. It took to the clay easily, as if it had always been part of the site.

Early on, Jason Dewees uncouraged us to plant palms. "There is a palm for every garden." It stayed with us. San Francisco is, after all, a palm city—shaped by microclimates where they thrive. Here, we planted three rare palms and several smaller fronds that established quickly. One, set near the sidewalk, has grown into a kind of marker—something between the garden and the street.