|Landscape Architecture · Since 2011
The Nakamura Courtyard
Marin County, CA · 280 sq ft
A single Japanese maple anchors a composition of decomposed granite, a recessed water basin, and three boulders chosen over six weeks from a Sonoma quarry. The architect asked for nothing but a view that made the interior feel larger. We gave them a garden that made the interior feel quiet.
Decomposed granite · Corten water basin · Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'
Planting Philosophy
The Planting Manifesto — 12 pages on choosing the single right specimen.
Download Manifesto →
Callahan Ridge Terrace
Woodside, CA · 1,400 sq ft
A tech founder's new-build needed a terrace that looked like it had been there for forty years. We planted a single Pinus thunbergii trained for five years before installation, built two dry-stacked stone walls from on-site granite, and graded the ground plane so rainwater disappears without a visible drain.
On-site granite · Pinus thunbergii 'Thunderhead' · Decomposed granite · Mondo grass
Stone Sourcing
The Stone Guide — quarries, selection criteria, and how to read a stone's age.
Get the Stone Guide →
Okonkwo Estate Gardens
Atherton, CA · 3.2 acres
The full estate commission: a motor court, two arrival gardens, a contemplation garden visible from the primary bedroom, and a cutting garden hidden behind a clipped hornbeam hedge. Every surface is either stone, gravel, or living — no lawn, no irrigation beyond the first three years, no color except what the seasons provide.
Limestone paving · Pleached hornbeam · Ornamental grasses · Basalt boulders · Dry-creek gravel
Seasonal Maintenance
The Pruning Calendar — 52 weeks of maintenance, month by month.
Read the Pruning Calendar →We work for
three kinds
of client.
The Architect
You have spent three years refining the interior. The exterior is the last drawing. You need a landscape that doesn't look designed — it looks inevitable.
We work from your floor plans outward. The garden is a continuation of the architecture, not its frame.
The Founder
You built something from nothing. Your estate should feel like it grew from the land, not from a contractor's catalogue. You want a garden that looks a century old by year three.
We source aged stone, train specimens years before installation, and design drainage that disappears.
The Hotelier
Your guests should exhale the moment they step into the courtyard. That exhale is worth more than any amenity. It is the memory they take home.
We design for arrival: the first view, the sound of water, the single scent of something flowering exactly once a year.
"The hardest thing to design is the space between things. Anyone can fill a garden. The skill is in what you leave out."
— Prune Studio
Download the
Planting Manifesto
Twelve pages. How we choose the single right specimen. Why we never plant more than three species in a garden under half an acre. The questions we ask before drawing a single line.
Begin a
conversation.
We take four commissions a year. If you are building something that deserves a garden designed with the same precision as the architecture, we would like to hear about it.
Studio
San Francisco Bay Area
studio@prunestudio.com