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SWALE

LOS ANGELESFIELD LOG
A front garden of California native shrubs and young oaks along a decomposed granite path in morning light.

PRIVATE GARDEN · ALDER CANYON · 0.4 AC · 118 NATIVES · 2026

Front garden, five months after planting

Gloved hands lowering a one-gallon sage into a freshly dug hole, a hand trowel resting beside it.

PLANTING DAY · QUAIL RIDGE · 1 GAL · 240 PLANTS · 2026

Setting white sage on the upper terrace

A dry-stacked boulder retaining wall part way through construction with a string line and level on top.

DRY-STACK WALL · SUMAC FLAT · 62 LF · 3 COURSES · 2025

Second course going up along the drive

A crew member seen from behind pushing a wheelbarrow of mulch along plywood boards over a half-graded yard.

GRADING · MESA COURT · 0.2 AC · DAY 06 · 2026

Boards down while the yard is still moving

We photograph the middle of a job as often as the end of one. A garden that only looks right on handover day was built for the photograph, not for the house behind it.

Close view of hands pinning a drip irrigation line into mulch around a young manzanita.

DRIP RETROFIT · BARRANCA VISTA · 1/4 IN · 96 EMITTERS · 2025

Pinning line around a young manzanita

A backyard just after planting, a gravel swale curving through young plants with irrigation flags still in place.

SWALE AND BASIN · TULE WASH · 0.3 AC · 74 NATIVES · 2026

The swale takes its first storm next month

A shaded patio under a simple wood pergola, a level and clamps still lying on the bench below.

PERGOLA · MESA COURT · 12 × 16 FT · DOUGLAS FIR · 2025

Pergola oiled, hardware still on the bench

A galvanised watering can and stacked terracotta pots on a nursery bench in morning light.

NURSERY YARD · STUDIO · 1 AND 5 GAL · 41 SPECIES · 2026

What is waiting in the yard this week

Everything here is grown within a day's drive of the yard and watered on a schedule the people who live there can actually keep.

A hillside garden at dusk, native grasses catching the last light with city haze far below.

HILLSIDE GARDEN · QUAIL RIDGE · 0.6 AC · 210 NATIVES · 2025

Last light on the hillside grasses

A hand sketching a planting plan on paper spread over a tailgate, pencil and plant tags scattered around.

PLANTING PLAN · ALDER CANYON · SHEET L-2 · REV C · 2026

Redrawing the plan on the tailgate

Boots and hand tools lined up by a truck bed at the end of a work day in dusty light.

END OF DAY · SUMAC FLAT · CREW OF 5 · WEEK 04 · 2026

Tools down, week four

SWALE — landscape design and build, Los Angeles

000 Example AvenueLos Angeles, CA 90000(000) 000-0000studio@swale.example

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© 2026 SWALE

SWALE is a fictional landscape studio built as a portfolio demonstration. Every project, place name, figure and note on this site is invented, and the address, telephone number and email address are placeholders.

Licensed and insured — demonstration only. No licence number is shown because this studio does not exist.