Comedian and filmmaker Eric Wareheim has opened Serpentine, an appointment-only rare-plant atelier in East Los Angeles, turning his fascination with unusual botanical specimens into a new creative venture. The project matters because it extends the surreal, eccentric sensibility associated with his comedy into horticulture, presenting plants as cultivated works of art.

Wareheim sources or shapes specimens with twisted trunks, unusual leaves and dramatic forms, often using bonsai techniques and constrained growing conditions to create distinctive appearances. He runs the indoor-outdoor compound with a small professional team and says starting it also gave him access to exceptional plants; friends and clients including Bob Odenkirk and producer Matt Dines describe his enthusiasm as intense and infectious.