2024 Golden Arrow Award

Studio Grey Green’s 407 El Centro project was named a Golden Arrow Award recipient by South Pasedena Beautiful, one of just seven private residences honored in 2024.

At 407 El Centro, the owners transformed an aged grass lawn into a fairy-tale, drought tolerant and interactive cottage garden. Working with the design team at Studio Grey Green to bring their vision to life, the family had these criteria: making the yard more interactive for their daughter, keeping the plantings drought tolerant and/or native, prioritizing fragrant plants, and using their garden to increase the sense of community.

The biggest undertaking was adding a dry creek bed that spans across both sides of the yard, as well as adding dimension with low berms that cradle the California Native no-mow grass meadow. The berms are planted with different types of sage, grasses, and blooming plants. They also added a variety of fruit trees to make the yard more functional, including lime, peach, avocado, and orange. They utilized large boulders and lumber to provide places for play - including a small stump circle in the back of the yard. Lastly, they added three raised beds to the front yard. This increases  serendipitous run-ins with neighbors—everyone wants to know what they're growing or ask about their yard or the vintage wildlife plaster statues in it, and they enjoy getting to know people.