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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

All Too Soon It Ended - Visiting Flora Grubb Gardens

The climate (USDA zones 10a and 10b but it seldom gets horribly hot in the summer) in the San Francisco Bay area allows for a wide variety of plants to be grown out of doors.  After three days of admiring gardens which beautifully utilized this wide palette of green goodness, we flingers were brought to Flora Grubb Gardens, an exceptional nursery with an emphasis on design, for our closing party.  I could live at this nursery!


Flora sells these letters empty and ready for you to plant.  Think of the fun words you could hang in your own garden!

Giant metal flower sculptures.  These could make quite a statement in your garden yes?

Paradise

Agave (mediopicta alba?) in a waterfall of acacia.
The day had been unusually warm but as evening approached there was a nice breeze and cooler temperatures.  I can still feel the excitement of walking among all of these great plants and deciding that in a future life, I should live in this area.

These sempervivum are hardy to very low temps so this idea could be used just about anywhere!  It's been widely copied but I still think it's cool.

It was about at this point that I heard the most interesting cackling from overhead.  Looking up I saw a flock of wild parrots flying overhead chatting with each other, their brilliant chartreuse color glowing in the slanting sunlight. 

No visit to this nursery is complete without checking on the car!




Vertical gardening is not my personal cup of tea but these are so well done that they won my admiration. 
 
 

While Grubb tends to lean toward modern design, there are pieces of all styles to be found.


 
Next time I visit, it will be with a car so that I can bring home more plant treasures!


The well known wall of chairs.

The fling was such a great experience and we lingered hoping to make it last as long as possible.

I'm sure that the organizers of this great event were very happy that it went so well and that their hectic pace would shortly be a bit more relaxed.

Got the blues? 


Still loving these glorious palms. 


Cool combination to copy!


An imaginative way to display sarracenias.
 
Happy trio of Alison, Scott, and Judy



I bet these would be comfortable but might be a little interesting to get in and out of.  Who cares, they look great!

Ah to grow phormium without loosing them every few years.

Loved this combination of powdery blue with burgundy foliage. 



All good things must come to an end and all too soon the Garden Bloggers' Fling of 2013 had flung.   I hope you've enjoyed visiting sunny California with me as much as I enjoyed experiencing it myself!

34 comments:

  1. Such a great place. I would have brought lots more plants, and probably pots as well, home with me too, if I'd had a car. That vertical garden with the Bromeliads is so fantastic. The next Fling will be upon us before you know it, and we're going to have a blast.

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    1. It will be great fun! I can just imagine our cars on the way home!

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  2. Wow! Amazing!! I love it. I´ve enjoyed visiting sunny California with you!! Thank you so much!!!

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    1. Thanks for coming along and I'm glad you enjoyed the trip. We'll be seeing sunny Portland together in just a few months!

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  3. What gorgeous shots of this amazing garden shop! My extended family live in the Bay Area, so I visit (from Washington) a couple times a year. Do you know if any of the gardens you visited on the Fling are ever open to the public? Thanks!

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    1. What a dream area for gardening! Filoli in Woodside, The Wave Garden in Richmond, Keeyla Meadows and Marcia Donohue's gardens in Berkley, the Conservatory of flowers, the S.F. Botanical Garden, Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek and probably others are open to the public. The Berkley gardens are only open on certain days or by appointment. Here's a place to start http://www.gamblegarden.org/bay-area-public-gardens/ Have fun!

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  4. I had a great time "on tour" via your photos & fine narratives!
    The wall of chairs and car here were new to me - and quite clever!
    Wish I'd seen anything even a FRACTION as interesting as this for the past 2-3 months...

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    1. Always a pleasure to be in such good company Rebecca! The fling was a great opportunity to see quite a variety of great gardens!

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  5. Oh Flora...

    I wonder how often they redo their displays? Not the car and wall "painting" but the plants and containers. It's always so fresh and colorful with a slightly different palette. Andrew is talking about another trip to the Bay Area this year, with a car. The only problem is it probably won't be until after the PDX Fling, maybe fall. In other words I'll be less inclined to buy marginally hardy plants...

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    1. They're always changing stuff around at Flora :) I'm sad we missed out on meeting up with the fling in SF.

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    2. Lucky you! Right now would be a great time to visit that area, feel some warmer temperatures, maybe go south and visit San Marcos but buying plants in the fall to coddle all winter is a little less appealing. Still so much to do and see in that area You'll have a great time!

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  6. I wish everyone with junk cars in the back yard take notice of the endless possibilities presented here! The awesome use of sempervivum is making me very excited and determined to follow through this time... the wall of chairs is so amazing but impossible to recreate, and that's Okay. I can't have everything I see, right? Love the palm tree trunk (can't have that either). I half expected to see someone fall asleep on one of these unusual modular chairs.

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    1. Yes, if everyone would turn their junk cars into planters, things would be a bit more interesting. With all the rain we're having, some junk cars are growing moss and ferns. Does that count?

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  7. The letter-shaped planters are indeed fascinating...especially with the words you are likely to come up with. The succulent tablescape is a nice variation on the one at YGPS (more permanent, and allowing room for the table to still function as a table). When you drive to this nursery your car is in danger of looking something like the one they feature once it's loaded up with plants.

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    1. I will try to show some restraint. After this winter, it will be easier to pass on some borderline hardy plants. "Do I want this enough to keep it in a pot and schlep it inside and outside several times per winter, maybe forget to water it, probably kill it?" Much easier to say no to something like that.

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  8. Loved it all. Thank you for letting those of us who are recluses tag along on your excursions. I'm inspired to hang a shiny red motorcycle high in the air around here somewhere and group my pots by color.

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    1. You're such delightful company, Jean! Thanks for coming along! I cannot wait to see your flying red motorcycycle!

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  9. How lovely to revisit Flora Grubb with you again seven months later! That was such a cool nursery, with eye-catching merchandising at every turn.

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    1. I agree! Thanks so much for dreaming up the fling! I'd have never found half of those cool places on my own.

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  10. A garden shoppers paradise and looks like the perfect place to cap off last years fling!

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  11. That seriously made my day!!! thanks for sharing this outlaw. I can't wait for the day I get down to visit Flora

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    1. Glad you liked it Louis! I thought of you every time I saw a palm on the fling which was often!

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  12. What I wouldn't give to have that car planter.

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    1. I'm sure you could find quite a few of them sitting around town. If not, just park your car on the lawn, cut a hole in the roof, break out the windows...

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  13. In my next life I want to be an agave living at Flora Grubb!

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  14. I'm pretty sure that's what heaven will look like. Thanks for the sneak peek!

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  15. Wow! Don't know where to start, it's so creative, so different, wonderful to look at. Inspiring stuff. Even Bean - very funny - lol!!

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    1. It was a great place to visit and it made me want to live in that area!

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  16. Shoot, I'm sorry I accidentally removed Evan Bean's comment: "So, attaching air plants to a bicycle will make it float? Wires, what wires." Sorry Evan!

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    1. Yes, it's a little known fact that tillandsias will do this given the correct climatic conditions. You should give it a try!

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    2. No worries, Peter! I did the same to Alison a few weeks ago! Hmm, I may have to investigate this phenomenon.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.