Growing Inspiration, Harvesting Water

Path through meadows at Crescent Farm. Photo: Saxon Holt

Crescent Farm is a lively expression of a reimagined Southern California landscape designed to nurture plants, water, and wildlife. Replacing nearly an acre of lawn, the garden demonstrates new and ancient water conservation practices that are well suited to the home landscape and inspires a new approach to creating beautiful, bountiful gardens.

An information kiosk at Crescent Farm. Photo: Saxon Holt
“Water is the greatest gift of life, and we want our gardens to honor and celebrate water every day.”
–The Los Angeles County Arboretum
One of the primary goals at Crescent Farm is to demonstrate various ways of using soil to capture water for growing plants and return any excess moisture to the groundwater. Hügelkultur, German for “hill culture,” is an ancient horticultural technique utilizing buried logs and other compostable plant material to construct mounded planting beds. Massive logs felled in a dramatic storm as well as turf that was removed from the 1-acre garden si...