Grubb Heaven

If your name is Flora Grubb, what better business to own than Flora Grubb Gardens? She couldn’t have picked a better name to own a garden/nursery business! Flora Grubb Gardens is a sophisticated garden boutique, nursery and floral/landscape design business located in San Francisco. Something like I would love to own! All the elements unusual plants, design, fresh flowers, and, unique nursery hard goods are part of the mix that I thrive on and draw me like a magnet.

On a recent trip to San Francisco with other garden bloggers on our annual “fling”, we visited this destination with a lot of anticipation and ready to shop. The nursery is located in the Bayview section of San Francisco in a pretty rough industrial neighborhood, but Flora Grubb stuck out like a green thumb!

Flora Grubb started with about 4 employees and as soon as she opened her doors at the Jerrold Ave location in 2007, the business was “hot” and has continued to grow with over 25 employees at present. Featured in many magazines and Martha Stewart Living, Flora Grubb must have the right “stuff”. And from what I saw at the store front which is simply a tall steel open-faced structure, covered with Douglas Fir reclaimed wood, I can see how she has been so successful.

The plants are integrated with the nursery wares in a seamless way that shows you how to display them in your home.  Typical nurseries line up the plants in sections and have a section for hard goods, but Flora Grubb takes plant shopping to a new level.

They offer all kinds of services such as a potting station where you can pick out your plant/s, pot, choose your soil, and top it off with a selection of toppings. Just check the Yelp reviews and you get the idea that people love this place and can’t say enough good things about it. Here is a typical description on Yelp – Part plant oasis, part dream garden, part coffee shop, and part nirvana! What a recommendation.

As well as very unusual plants, they have a huge selection of succulents in a rainbow of colors and shapes suited for the San Francisco climate, but houseplants for me in zone 6b. They sell the coveted Victoria Agave which is a slow-growing beautiful Agave known for its striking markings.

Also, the beautiful spiral agave.

Flora Grubb is a trend setter for plant lovers and buyers and has an array of beautiful unique containers.

We had our cocktail hour and munchies at the nursery so had plenty of time to browse and get into trouble with plants needing to go home on a plane! Some people were lucky and could drive home and picked up some nice larger specimens.

I picked up some unusual things that I have never seen before. I found a new salvia that is hardy to minus 20 called ‘Curling Waves’.  I loved the crinkly textured leaves, and though it wasn’t blooming I am a sucker for salvias and bought it.  And am I glad that I did! Here it is on You Tube-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dq8eUttc4U.  I can’t wait for this one to bloom.

I am also a sucker for oddities and loved this cactus called ‘Tail of the Monkey’ and since it was small and portable bought it.

I found that it grows pretty quickly to look like this.

Since I do a lot of flower arranging, I was intrigued with their grape wood selection and their colored reindeer moss collection. The grape-vine wood is sold in pet stores as perches for birds and reptiles but Flora Grubb’s selection was especially interesting, good for accents in arrangements.

This is a destination nursery for anyone interested in plants and floral design to pick up that unique plant or container. The living succulent walls alone are worth the trip.

If you happen to be in the San Francisco area, this is a must-see for plant lovers everywhere!

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