We were thrilled to be invited to work with Alexis Traina on the plant design for her conservatory. We loved working with Alexis, and were honored to be a part of a project that included so many talented people. You can see Alexis and Trevor’s amazing house in December’s Vogue Magazine. Here are our plants, looking oh so pretty.

It has been a long time coming. We finally opened our web shop a couple of weeks ago. We’ve been amazed (and only a tiny bit caught off guard) by its success so far. This week, I’ve discovered how much fun it is to know that people far away who have never even been to the store are getting inspired by what we are doing here and that we can help people we’ve never met to enjoy a little piece of the natural world.

Our most popular item has been this terrarium kit,

which comes with everything you need to build this little terrarium:

We put together this kit for a story  with Sunset Magazine. The plant is a haworthia, one of the toughest, most impossible-to-kill plants that we sell.

We had our first-ever event for kids yesterday, and to assure it was a great success, we asked our friend Julie Benjamin from Little Lane Studio to help. Julie hosted a cookie decorating table for kids. Julie collected all sorts of natural, pretty things to decorate the cookies with. The kids loved it!

Patrick Blanc dropped by the store the other day! Patrick  might be the closest thing the gardening world has to an international superstar. His vertical gardens have inspired the masses and created an eager parade of imitators (such as myself). Patrick is in town working on his fitst US project with Roma Design Group for the Drew School.

Patrick seemed to be leaning towards California natives for the garden. In the hands of a lesser plantsman, this might be a disaster. I had heard that Patrick was a really knowledgeable horticulturalist, and I can confirm this first hand. In fact, I am not sure if I have ever had anyone visit me store and be able to identify so much of what they saw. His horticultural knowledge was mind-boggling.  Patrick was a delight, and I cannot wait to see his project completed!

Please Join us: Saturday December 5, 10:30am – 11:30am.

You can create your own vertical garden! We can teach you all you need to know. Woolly Pockets make it easy to create a spectacular vertical garden. Using a single pocket you can create a small display, or cover an entire wall by tiling the pockets together. The pockets work well both indoors and out.

Jim Kumiega created the vertical garden we have hanging here inside the store. This garden has been fantastically successful. Jim can give you all the tips and tricks you need to create your own vertical garden, inside or out, large or small.

Jim Kumiega with vertical garden at Flora Grubb Gardens

One of the great things about having this store is the amazing people I get to work with every day. Beth Mullins works here at the FGG a couple of days a week and spends the rest of her time designing gardens. You may have seen one of her gardens in the October issue of Sunset Magazine. Here is another garden Beth designed. WOW. These gorgeous photos are by Mitch Maher.

Without Saul Nadler, I would still be landscaping out of the back of my Honda Civic.

When I met Saul Nadler, I had a small landscaping company and a dream of opening my own nursery. I have since learned that most landscapers dream of opening their own nursery. My nursery might have stayed a fantasy forever, had I not met Saul.

I wish we had some pictures of what Saul and Susie’s garden looked like when I arrived. It was a steep up-slope, hard to even walk on. He just wanted to change a few things. A little pruning. Maybe add some veggies. In the end, we slowly replaced just about everything, dug out yards and yards of soil, and planted what was at the time the most beautiful garden I had ever designed.

As soon as I began working with Saul and his then-girlfriend Susie, it instantly became clear that something magical was happening. They were delighted. They were obsessed. They were in love with their garden.

After working on the garden together for several months, Saul asked if I wanted a business partner. Saul is a classically trained French Chef with a degree in Russian History.  He was looking for something new and different to do. Eventually, we agreed we would open a nursery together if we could find a location. Within just a few weeks, we had purchased The Palm Broker, a run-down funky palm tree nursery on Guerrero Street in SF. Is it too cheesy to say, “and the rest is history?”

Neither of us had ever worked at a nursery. Neither of us had ever worked at any store. Neither of us had ever taken a single plant ID class, or any class on any garden topic. We just hopped in. Saul is a really, really smart guy.  He is an incredibly hard-working guy. I often say that I know a thing or two about what is pretty, and Saul handles everything else.

So why then, is it called Flora Grubb Gardens? Because Saul says nobody would want to shop at “Saul Nadler Gardens.”

I bless the day I met Saul Nadler.

We are currently featuring art by Spy Emerson. Spy, besides being an astoundingly prolific artist, is the lady friend of my little brother Moses. Together, Moses and Spy perform and make art, and earlier this year were part of the crew for the  Swimming Cities of Serenissima . The project was living art, designed by New York artist SWOON, and executed by 30 individual artists. The crew build boats that defy description and sailed them on the Adriatic Sea, eventually crashing the Venice Biennale by water. This winter, Spy and Moses will curate a show at the Anonymous Gallery in New York.

I am thrilled to be part of the team designing a garden for the first completely off-the-grid building in the city of San Francisco. The building will serve as headquarters for Literacy for Environmental Justice. LEJ is a coalition of youth, educators, and community leaders addressing the ecological and health concerns of Bayview / Hunters Point and the surrounding communities of southeast San Francisco.

I will post some pictures of the design soon, and let you know how you can volunteer to get involved with this fantastic project.

Come and get your pumpkins, and check out the garden in its Indian Summer Glory.