23 Flowercraft Garden Center
January 15, 2021
25 Conifer Crazy
January 29, 2021
F orced to leave Flowercraft Garden Center with our need-to-pee issue still intact, Aunt Patti and I decided to pop into Berkeley's Westbrae Nursery—since it was on our way home (we have a lot of "on our way home" nurseries). We hoped to get lucky there and find pee relief so we could then happily waltz among the plants.
Funny thing about this nursery, for 10 years or more we blindly passed right by it on our way to Berkeley Horticultural Nursery just 3 blocks farther down the road. Maybe we never noticed it because it is located at a very busy Berkeley intersection where you must stay focused on traffic around you. Plus something about the way the nursery's outside walls are painted...I tell ya', it always seemed to us like a corner grocery store.
But then one day coming back from Berkeley Hort, we were driving past and suddenly noticed hanging plants. Hanging plants!! We immediately flipped a U-turn—always fun in Berkeley with loads of pedestrians and cars (with horns!) on all sides.
Westbrae is a small nursery that doesn't stock many multiples of each plant. This strategy makes shoppers think the plants are more "special" or maybe scarce, so you think you must buy buy buy before they run out. It is an impulse hard for me to control.
As for uncontrollable impulses, guess what we found when we veered into the parking lot and made a mad dash for the nursery restroom? "CLOSED TO PUBLIC!!!"
Now Aunt Patti and I really were in trouble! And browsing through plants—no matter how scarce—was not going to distract us nearly enough. So we only glanced at the plant displays as we hurried towards the exit.
If the restaurant next door, Westbrase Biergarten, had been open, we could have "gone" over there and then had a fabulous lunch (which you must do if you visit Westbrae). Free of trouble, I could have put down some serious money on Westbrae's excellent plant offerings. But no, something else was more urgent, so I did not buy a single thing. (See what happens, you pee-unfriendly businesses? You lost that sale!)
However (sigh), Miss "I-Just-Don’t-Need-Another-Plant" had a moment of clarity amidst our fog of pain and decided she HAD to have some plants! Well Westbrae does have a great selection of succulents, and Aunt Patti never leaves without one or two or three. But it takes her just as much time to buy one plant as 10. OMG!
Echeveria ‘Chroma’
She also loves her sweet peas, so when she noticed Westbrae carried some from Annie's Annuals & Perennials (most nurseries in the Bay Area do stock Annie's plants) she just had to buy those too.
The plant did not have time to grow and bloom for a photo here, but this is what it will look like—and I am sure Aunt Patti will attach it to her white trellis.
Lathyrus ordoratus ‘North Shore’
Even though our plan was to head over to Annie's later that day—also "on the way home" and presumably AFTER finding open bathrooms somewhere—as Aunt Patti went through her process of selecting and purchasing her ANNIE'S (!) sweet peas and the succulents, I waited very patiently. Very patiently.
On our first visit to Westbrae (U-turn!) I had purchased the Cordyline 'Cha Cha' featured here but which is now readily available in all nurseries, including Home Depot!
Below is what it looks like in winter with a few dead leaves. It has at least 4 babies attached, but I won’t take them off because I like the fullness they give.
Cordyline ‘Cha Cha’
Westbrae also carries some beautiful outdoor artwork that is waterproof. During every visit I admire it, but the price tags are steep—not unusual around the Bay Area. You can take a virtual tour near the bottom of the nursery's homepage where you can see some of the paintings hanging on the fence.
The instant Aunt Patti got her plants loaded in her side of the car, we sped to a nearby Whole Foods that someone on the Westbrae staff swore to us had bathrooms. We had to drive around and around (OF COURSE) before finding a place to park, but yes, we finally "did our thing" (pause for applause...) and grabbed lunch to-go for our drive to Annie's.
Turned out a good thing Aunt Patti bought those sweet peas because Annie’s was closed! Actually most all the nurseries we tried to visit that morning in Half Moon Bay were closed. It was the week between Christmas and New Years, so...you know.
Just another day in the lives of 2 plant lovers.
Oh, and FYI. Annie’s has Porta Potties with wash stations. And they are NEVER "CLOSED TO PUBLIC!"
Photos courtesy Sheri Lynn Burke. All rights reserved.
