who we areBirch and Basil Design is a boutique, Manhattan-based landscape design firm specializing in the urban domain of rooftop gardens, terraces, and backyards. We believe nature and landscapes provide life-changing benefits
Featured Project: Chelsea Terrace
Featured Work: Residential
This residential space for a young family embraced color and eye catching perennial plantings.
A palette of blue and purple plays off the custom terrazzo floor tiles.
Here are our three Favorite vantage points of this sprawling terrace in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.
Our StoryHi, I’m Kristin
The principal, Kristin Monji, brings a California sensibility to East Coast gardens, having spent her formative years climbing trees and exploring orange groves in Southern California. Kristin is a landscape designer, horticulturist and certified arborist from Orange County, California. She is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine.
Clients we worked with
-
![]()
High Line Terrace
Modern Lantern House Building Terrace Garden
-
![Rooftop garden and NYC penthouse terrace with views of new york city, tall trees, potted plants, flowers, outdoor kitchen and gas grill, landscape lighting and luxury patio furniture]()
Upper West Side Penthouse
This penthouse terrace runs the full length of the apartment, so we started out with the vision of making the terrace truly feel like an extension of the indoor space, just a few steps away. We created outdoor living, dining and kitchen areas, complete with a gas grill, surrounded by a garden of trees, evergreens and perennials.
Featured Video: Upper East Side Penthouse
2023 Projects Before & After Video
Watch the before and after transformations from five of our favorite projects from 2023.
-
![Manhattan townhouse garden with cascading ivy and a facade with planters and window boxes]()
Casa Cruz Townhouse
We did ivy on ivy on ivy at this gorgeous beaux arts townhouse on East 61st Street for Casa Cruz. Five terraces and a rooftop full of greenery for guests to enjoy. Recently opened in NYC, Casa Cruz is known as an iconic A-list hangout in London and Buenos Aires.
-
![Brooklyn heights backyard garden with custom cedar benches and seating, built in planters and an outdoor kitchen]()
Brooklyn Heights Backyard Renovation
This Brooklyn Heights townhouse got the full outdoor renovation treatment that included a new patio, custom built in cedar seating and planters, an outdoor kitchen with soapstone counters and a cozy raised seating area/deck under a fifty year old dogwood tree. We kept some of the mature plantings and layered in lots of new perennials and larger pieces to complete the look.
