Passion flowers are exotic and aggressively detailed, with a flamboyant artistry that seems almost cosmic, like they come from another planet. Check out some of the varieties we often carry at Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco.

Succulents and cactus love life in coastal California, which makes them a great un-thirsty choice for your garden.

There are many challenges when planting a garden, including considering damage to retaining walls, sidewalks, foundations, and underground utilities. Often the easiest way to overcome these tricky spots is planting small plants that won’t have a large impact on nearby infrastructure. But what if you need a larger, more substantial element?

Parajubaea is a genus of palms with graceful crowns of swaying, silver-backed fronds and edible nuts. The two species that we grow down at Grubb & Nadler come from seasonally dry, cool mountain valleys on the western slope of the Andes in Bolivia. This is probably why they thrive in California, while struggling in other palm paradises like Hawaii and Florida.

Staghorn ferns, also called elkhorn ferns, are aptly named for their upright forked fronds which resemble antlers. These upper fronds, named fertile fronds, are elevated to release spores for reproduction. The fertile fronds often have an attractive matte white or grey dusting to them, and many have wonderful rippled textures like mushroom gills.

In 2017 the Flora Grubb Gardens crew was invited to explore a magical lost world of plants in Bolinas, California. Here’s the story of that day and the rare and unusual plants we brought home, now at last ready for your own gardens!

The popular cactus Echinopsis pachanoi (syn. Trichocereus pachanoi) is known by many names, most commonly ‘San Pedro.’ This cactus is fairly common, and no doubt you’ve seen it around, but if you dive deeper there’s so much to learn.

The giant bird of paradise—sometimes known as “banana leaf plant” or “banana palm” (although it is neither a palm nor a banana!)—can grow both indoors and outdoors here in the Bay Area. It has a lovely breezy tropical look, but unlike most tropical-style plants, it doesn’t need much water to thrive once it’s established. So it’s a great choice for drought-prone areas and low-water gardens!

A dreamy tropical vacation may not be in the cards right now, but there's no shortage of reasons to get away from it all. We're feeling all the lush jungle feels down here at FGG. So many plants that love our Bay Area climate also have a distinctly tropical look.

We can grow many kinds of palms in our coastal California gardens — palm trees, shrubby palms, bamboo palms, little foliage palms — lucky us! Our guide to everything palm has all the info you need to make the best selections for your garden.

The spectacular palm crowning this corner of Flora’s Berkeley garden is a rarity called Brahea clara—the clara palm. It’s a great palm for the Bay Area, from the SF fogbelt to the heat of the East Bay.

Tillandsias (“air plants”) can thrive where few other plants can, because in nature they live perched on branches and rocks and need no soil. Their soil-less habit is why we call them air plants. We have an incredible selection of tillandsia at Flora Grubb Gardens. Learn more about them here.

Plant genera in the Protea family (“Proteaceae”) include Banksia (Australia), Grevillea (Australia), Hakea (Australia), Isopogon (Australia), Leucadendron (South Africa), Leucospermum (South Africa), Protea (South Africa). These plants in the Proteaceae share several requirements and characteristics in common.

At Flora Grubb Gardens, we only offer citrus trees that are proven to thrive in San Francisco gardens. We are proud to offer dwarf citrus trees grown by Four Winds Growers.

Ceroxylon quindiuense, the rare Andean wax palm, grows happily here in San Francisco, where the cool humidity (fog!) mimics the climate of the Colombian cloud forest. We have this palm in stock now!

Autumn is grevillea bloom time! We love these plants for their exotic, shimmery flowers that attract bees and birds over a long blooming season. Among low-water plants, grevilleas can't be beat for their big bright flowers.

We all know San Francisco has lots of fabulous quirks, and the climate is one of the weirdest. For visitors and newcomers, our weather can be a puzzle, but for plant nerds (like all of us here at Flora Grubb Gardens), this particular puzzle is what makes San Francisco a gardening paradise.

Many of us at Flora Grubb Gardens love to cut from our gardens to bring nature inside. This is the time of year when we celebrate mothers, so why not give Mom, or another nurturer in your life, a plant that will deliver bouquets in every season?

My name is Tyson, and I’ve traveled the world in search of rare and elusive aloes and literally worshipped at their feet. This is my manifesto on why aloes are misunderstood, which I believe begins with the ubiquitousness of Aloe vera. Let’s shatter the preconception that all aloes somehow fall into this single category and come to truly appreciate the versatility of the genus Aloe.

Spring is here (at last!) and we know you're dying to get into your garden, so how about indulging our latest plant obsession: The magical, multi-talented ALOE. Here are eight reasons you should be obsessed with aloes, too.