Garden Blueprint Workshop
Learn how to design a garden in less than three hours.
Reimagine your garden with Poly/Ana. A “quick and dirty” approach to conceptual design – a playful, practical way to explore possibilities and begin putting ideas on paper.
Limited to 15 participants. Reserve your space!
Join regenerative designers Shawn Maestretti and Leigh Adams for a hands-on morning exploring how to read the land and translate what you discover into a garden design.
Working together in a Pasadena resident’s front yard, we’ll move through site inventory, analysis, and conceptual design in 2.5 hours. You’ll experience how the Studio Petrichor team observes a place, follows the water, identifies opportunities, and develops a preliminary garden blueprint in conversation with the land.
Tickets are $75 per person, with just 15 spaces available. Reserve your spot and join us at the drawing table – and in the garden.
Read the land. Follow the water. Find the possibilities.
Garden design begins with listening and paying attention. Through guided observation, loose sketching, and movement through the space, we’ll explore:
Landscape literacy: Recognize relationships among sun, shade, soil, plants, and the ways people use a garden.
Water harvesting: Follow the flow of rainwater and identify opportunities to welcome it into the landscape.
Connecting with Soil: Discover what the ground can tell us and how soil health informs design.
Shape and space: Walk potential paths, imagine water infiltration, and use our bodies to “perform the landscape” as we draw..
Conceptual design: Bring these observations together in a quick, exploratory front-garden plan.
Along the way, we’ll consider how regenerative practices - including hugelkultur, permeable hardscaping, and lasagna mulching – can support a connected, living garden.
What you’ll take away
Practical experience moving from observation to a preliminary garden concept.
A printed site plan to sketch on, with drawing materials provided.
A digital site plan for those who prefer drawing on a tablet – bring your own device. (Procreate and Morpholio Trace recommended)
A digital regenerative design resource sheet sent after the workshop.
A fresh way of seeing your own garden and a process you can begin applying at home.
No design experience is necessary. Bring your curiosity and a willingness to observe, imagine, and learn together.
Details
Date: December 5, 2026
Location: A residential front garden in Pasadena [address details sent 3 days before the event]
Arrival: 8:30 a.m. for morning refreshments, coffee, and connection
Workshop: 9–11:30 a.m. We’ll begin promptly at 9.
Admission: $75 per person
Capacity: 15 participants
What to bring
Comfortable shoes for walking and standing outdoors
A hat, sunscreen, and weather-appropriate clothing
A refillable water bottle and coffee mug
An optional journal and pen.
Your tablet and stylus, if you prefer digital drawing
Reserve your space
Ticket policy: Tickets are refundable through November 25. After November 25, tickets are nonrefundable. Tickets are transferable; please notify us of the replacement attendee’s name before the workshop.
Rain policy: If rain is forecast, we’ll postpone the workshop to December 6 or December 20 and notify all registered participants of the confirmed date. Your ticket will transfer to the rescheduled workshop.
Presented by Poly/Ana, with Studio Petrichor, this workshop brings people together to build ecological literacy, share practical skills, and deepen our relationships with Earth’s living systems.
Shawn Maestretti leads a design workshop