Let me help you find a nursery in the Southern California & Los Angeles areas.
What makes a destination nursery?
A mossy fountain at Laguna Nursery
This is a difficult post to write because most nurseries are special in some way. Every community needs and deserves a generalized “garden center” for obvious reasons (especially since Target has closed all of theirs — yea!). So I’m not necessarily talking about service, selection or price. With destination nurseries something more indefinable is usually in play, starting with the passion of the owner. Most of the nursery men and women I’ve met love what they do — which is lucky for us in this harsh economic climate. But it is much harder to specialize because it cuts down on clientele. So, need Australian plants? Go to Jo O’Connell’s Australian Native Plants Nursery in Ojai. Jo provides Australian plants to the Huntington Botanical Gardens, among many others. Want your roses grown locally and acclimatized — Otto and Sons in Fillmore has an enormous selection. How about a custom topiary spelling out your name? Get it at Eden Nursery in Orange County. Two nurseries that specialize in jaw dropping fountains, planter arrangements, orchids, garden furniture and accessories: Laguna Nursery in Orange County and Rolling Greens Nursery in Culver City. Upland Nursery in Orange County has 350 varieties of plumeria. Does your spouse want to see a phenomenal car collection while you shop for petunias? The only place for that is Simpson’S Garden Nursery in San Diego County. Also in San Diego County: Botanical Partners with every bamboo imaginable, and Jungle Music for collector’s palms. The owners of these nurseries (Ralph Evans and Phil Bergman, respectively) will give you help in deciding what will do best in your garden — they want you to succeed and come back for more. Of course, that is true of all nurseries, large and small, general or specialized.
I have a “Destination Nursery” listing at the bottom of my categories on Socalnurseryplants.com. For more information on each nursery, go to the category for that nursery.
State of the Website Address
Birdhouses at Mission Hills Nursery, San Diego
I’m going to try to time my updates on my website to the President’s State of the Union Address every year because it adds gravitas. Not that this is such a serious endeavor; it’s a lot of fun, and the best idea I’ve ever had. Since Socalnurseryplants.com went active last September I have visited and/or researched over 100 nurseries. Soon Orange County and San Diego city and county will be online. I’ve also decided to add the Santa Barbara area since visiting nurseries is my passion (technically SB may be Central, not Southern, California). There is also the thrill of discovery: every once in awhile I’ll be tooling down the road and discover a nursery I can add to my website that wasn’t on any of the data bases I’ve researched. It’s also fun to answer the queries that come in, including where to buy a certain kind of persimmon tree in Orange County and a good source for procuring 24 Bay Laurel trees.
I’m also discovering the nursery business is a vibrant and professional industry. Just visit the following websites for inspiration: www.provenwinners.com, www.monrovia.com, www.burkardnurseries.com, www.sgnurserynews.com, www.greenarrownurseries.com, www.sperlingnursery.com, and www.armstronggarden.com. All are informative and give seasonal and design advice. There are nursery men and women who are passionate about bamboo, orchids, cacti, succulents, topiaries, roses, palms, bonsais, California natives, plumeria, tropicals and more. Some Southern California nurseries are 60 to 100 years old (Mission Hills Nursery in San Diego). And don’t think of nurseries solely in terms of “planting your patch”. They are great places to go for an unusual gift (many have gift shops) or an inspirational stroll on a sunny day.
LA Flowermarket: just in time for Thanksgiving">Flower power @ the LA Flowermarket: just in time for Thanksgiving
I’m sure many of you have heard about the LA Flower Market. You may not have gone because you heard it was wholesale only. Fear not, little ones, go and buy to your heart’s content. I went on a tour there Saturday, November 15, under the auspices of Descanso Gardens (www.Descansogardens.org). Their popular class is conducted by Ray Tucker (www.creativeray.webs.com). Ray is a floral artist and teacher and all around great guy. Very well known and well versed in the market, he took us on a comprehensive tour for about 3 hours. Ray explained that our LA Market is the largest wholesale market in the US, goes back to early 1900, and the second largest in the world after Holland. We saw so many gorgeous flowers there it’s impossible to list them all, but a partial list would include orchids, hydrangeas, tons of roses, mums, lilies, alstroemeria, daisies, tropicals, and dahlias. Vendors were also selling succulents and cacti, greens, house plants, whimsical and glam containers, wreaths and dried plants. A lot of holiday decorations were also available.The frangrance of the buildings has to be experienced to be believed.
The secret to the buying at the Market is to go during public hours: Mon-weds-fri ($2.00 admission) 8am — 12 noon. Tues-thurs ($2.00 admission) 6am — 12 noon Saturday ($1.00 admission) 6am — 12 noon. The market is between 7th and 8th Streets and Maple and San Julian Streets. There are 2 large buildings across from each other on Wall Street. You can park on the street but it’s very easy to get a parking ticket so Ray recommends using a garage (he likes the one at 742 Maple Avenue — $4.50 on Saturday). Take cash — most vendors do not accept credit cards.
After our tour and buying spree, my friends Dorothy, Lisa, Robin and I hightailed it over to the Nickel Diner (Nickeldiner.com), famous for their maple bacon doughnuts. We had terrific lunches composed of scrambles, burgers, blt’s, onion rings and of course doughnuts — we barely scratched the surface of deliciousness. A perfect way to end a flowery morning.
By the way, if you are really into flowers, there is a wonderful magazine to check out: Flower Magazine. Go to www.flowermag.com.
