A new favorite – Ladera Garden and Gifts

The Belmont outpost of Portola Valley’s truly excellent Ladera Garden and Gifts opened its doors last spring. While nothing can replace Half Moon Bay Nursery in my heart,  LG&G is within walking distance from my house, and it is just fantastic. There is a huge selection of climate appropriate plants – Mediterranean climate, natives, and succulents – and everything is very well priced. There are also gorgeous, on-the-expensive-side containers and the indoor shop also carries decor, kitchen and gifts.

Terrain succulent containers at Anthropologie & Co

When your teenager invites you to go Black Friday shopping, you go. Even if you hate shopping. And if you do it right with cupcakes, hot chocolate and the company of said teenager who has just turned 16 and wow the time is really flying by these days, it’s really not that bad. And I finally got to visit the new Anthropologie & Co at the Stanford shopping center yesterday and It. Is. Gorgeous. The best part of course is the Terrain shop. The place was completely mobbed but I was able to get some quick photos with my phone outside of the store.

The outdoor tables at the Terrain cafe each had a single small log planter with succulents. These would be a fun DIY project and you don’t have to hollow out much of the wood since succulents don’t need much root space to thrive. If you remove the bark like they’ve done here, you can use paste wax to seal them which will make them last better, keep them from growing moss, and give a natural, not-shiny finish.

The garden at the Williams-Sonoma original store

I was in Sonoma last weekend and happened upon the original Williams-Sonoma store, which was just reopened a couple of years ago. Which is cool and everything but YOU GUYS there is a garden in the back and it is gorgeous.

It’s simple and green and immaculate and perfect. The few pictures I took with my phone don’t do it justice, unfortunately.

Icee Blue Podocarpus (I must have this NOW) underplanted with bronze heuchera

More of the vegetable garden and patio which is bordered by dwarf olives and two potted citrus trees at the entrance to the dining space.

Fall gardening in California: October nursery haul

In California, fall means rain, and rain means the best time to plant. Fall planting means bigger plants with more blooms in the spring and summer, and established plants that won’t die over the dry season. Last fall, I didn’t plant a thing. With El Nino coming, and hopefully rain this week, I am feeling a little more confident. Plus I have to get some things in the ground to fill in where everything died or all my dirt is going to wash away when the heavy rains hit.

Once again, I headed to my favorite nursery with a plant list and good intentions and once again I was completely derailed. In my defense, I did get the rosemary and they were out of Galvezia which has done well for me but has not bloomed yet. Here’s what else came home with me:

 

Cuphea ‘Strybing Sunset’ will be a 3’x3′ dense, shrubby perennial that can take a bit of shade. It’s supposed to be very easy to grow so we’ll see. Plus, the tiny adorable flowers have tiny, adorable, burgundy EARS. How could I not take this one home?

Leonotis menthifolia has the same flowers as leonotis leonuris, grows to a dense 3’x3′, and does not get woody at the base? Sign me up! These were kind of on the list – I needed something to fill in around a variegated agave.

Salvia splendens ‘Sao Borja’ This one is from Annie’s Annuals and I have no idea where it’s going but it’s amazing. It will grow quickly to 6′ tall, likes shade, and attracts hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. SOLD.

Streptosolen jamesonii ‘Marmalade Bush’ According to Annie’s Annuals, this will be an easy to grow, year round flower covered hummingbird magnet. Right now it looks like this (above) but I’m hoping it’s going to look like this:

DIY succulent dish gardens

I spotted this beautiful succulent dish garden a few months back at Flora Grubb Gardens (they also offer classes if you want to make your own).

Unfortunately, we are still in the grip of this terrible drought. I didn’t plant anything new this fall, because a lot of the poor plants I planted the previous fall didn’t make it through the summer heat without enough winter rain to get them established. Suffice it to say most of my gardening this year will be succulents in containers.

1. The container:

Two of the best places I’ve seen for containers are Flora Grubb and The Botanist in Los Altos, Ca. Online, I’ve found gorgeous ones at: West Elm, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, and Anthropologie. Terrain has wonderful things as well but they are just too expensive for me.

You can drill a drainage hole in the bottom or put a layer of small rocks or pea gravel on the bottom.

2. The potting soil:

Honestly, I just use whatever potting soil is cheapest. If you live in an area where you get a lot of rain, you should go with a cactus or succulent mix or save money and make your own with 3 parts potting soil, 2 parts sand and 1 part perlite, all of which you can get at your local nursery, Lowes, Home Depot, OSH, etc…

3. The plants:

You can see this container uses the Thriller, Filler, and Spiller method. I’m guessing the Thriller is Echeveria ‘Perle Von Nurnberg.’ Mix in some clusters of not more than four kinds of smaller echeveria. Make sure to vary color and texture: green, purple, silver, spiky leaves, fuzzy leaves, rounded leaves. Tuck some small sedums in two or three places around the edges where they can spill over.

Pack the dish or container completely full so that you don’t see any dirt. Succulents slow growers and ridiculously easy to repot when they multiply or outgrow their space. With these plants what you see is mostly what you get, so I like to move them around and arrange them in my nursery cart until I’m happy with my composition.

4. Care:

Succulents grow beautifully in full sun, part sun, and bright shade. Water once a week, less in cooler weather. You can feed them if you want, but you don’t need to. When they multiply you can snap off the babies and repot them. If the stems get too long, pull them up, snap them off close to the rosette, and stick them right back in the dirt.

Gardening tips from Flora Grubb Gardens

I finally visited the world’s coolest plant nursery, Flora Grubb Gardens. There is so much inspiration here for creating stunning gardens and outdoor living spaces with low maintenance, water wise plants, and every kind of succulent under the sun (and lots of gorgeous stuff for indoor plants too). They also offer design services and classes, and the staff is unbelievably friendly, helpful, and knowledgable. Here’s what I learned from this visit:

• Go for low maintenance plants that thrive in your soil, water, and light situation. Be realistic about how much time you have for watering and other gardening work.
• Get your color and drama with foliage instead of flowers.
• Your garden will feel bigger and be more functional if you divide it into spaces: living areas, passageways
• Containers provide color and (flexible) structure. Use containers in a variety of sizes but in similar colors and materials.
• Invest in large scale containers the way you would in hardscaping or furniture.
• Use multiples: repeat plants, plant types, containers, and objects for a more cohesive look.
• Plant and accessorize your vertical spaces.
• Shop your local nurseries. While I do use the big box stores, there’s no substitute for a local nursery and the deep knowledge the staff has of the plants.

Put a succulent on it

File under more uses for succulents: underplanting and filling in.

Give your succulents a temporary job filling in blank spots between or under plants. Succulents can take some shade, especially if it’s only for a short time. And while they might not pair well with your ferns, they can take some moisture. I have succulents filling in right now in bright shade and heavy clay soil. Heavy WET clay soil, now that we finally, thankfully, have rain! Since they transplant so easily, you can move them around wherever they’re needed. Or you might decide to just leave them where they are since they look great with everything.

Photographed at Sunset Magazine’s celebration weekend display gardens.

Succulents in neutral toned pots

Succulents’ cool greens, grays, pinks, and purples mix so well with natural tones, like this mix of worn wood, stone, and neutral ceramic pots. This is a nice, easy little grouping. A single specimen in each container makes the plants easier to care for, and easier to change things up by simply rearranging your pots.

Sunset magazine: How to create a clutter-free garden

This is a fantastic article on Sunset.com with tips on creating a clutter-free garden. A simpler, more serene space inside and out is so appealing to me right now.

A low maintenance silver, purple, and black garden

At Sunset’s Menlo Park gardens: a low maintenance, low water garden with year-round color interest.

Here, they’ve used bronze Phormium, Variegated Pittosporum, Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’, Lorapetalum ‘Purple Diamond’, and silver Thyme. These plants won’t need much more than the occasional light pruning.

The Aeoniums are a nice touch here – their forms are stunning, they add color and height, don’t take up any square footage, and soften the transition between the purple and silver. The cement, steel and celadon ceramic containers continue the color theme and can be moved around as needed.