The Palm Broker truck sets up behind a crane.

We helped install a rooftop-terrace garden today in San Francisco. It was hot, sunny weather, the first heat wave since March. The chic, dark-clad, modern house, built by kevin slagle design + build is a beautiful spot for a 36-inch box, five-foot Brahea armata (Mexican blue palm), a five-foot Phoenix roebelenii (pygmy date palm), several Agonis flexuosa ‘Jervis Bay Afterdark’ trees (peppermint willow, from Western Australia), olives, and silvery-green Acacia covenyi (from New South Wales, Australia).

Its box removed, this Mexican blue palm is ready for planting.

The residents chose two stunning and complementary palm specimens. Together the plants demonstrate the varied beauty in the palm family, from stout and radial (Mexican blue palm), to pliable and expressive (the pygmy date palm).

Pygmy date palm (left) and Mexican blue palm in cool custom containers by kevin slagle design + build

Craning a tree into the air is always a source of awe.

Hardhat time

From the street, a peek at the trees over the parapet hints at the lushness felt when you’re ensconced in the terrace garden.

Inside the house is a magical view up into the crowns of the new trees — welcome greenery in this über-urban South of Market neighborhood. What could be more urbane than this confluence of secluded oasis and skyline prominence?

Check out more projects by Kevin Slagle and company at ksdesignbuild.com.