79 Home Depot
April 14, 2023
81 The Garden Company
May 12, 2023
Griggs Nursery
9220 Carmel Valley Rd, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93923 • (831) 626-0680
Website • Facebook • Instagram
I could have sworn I already blogged about this fabulous nursery, but per my list (and I have several) NOPE. Over the years, AP and I have been to Griggs Nursery so many times. And thanks to AP doing her job, we have quite a collection of photos from there. (Plants too, hee-hee.)
I could share a lot about Griggs, but I was very selective, otherwise this post would become a novel, and who has time to write a novel? Not me! Apparently all my clients felt to wait until Spring before hiring me to beautify their landscapes. (Don’t they know there are THREE other seasons when landscaping is possible?) So right now my life is “squirrel”—running everywhere all at once. I think I’m developing a permanent twitch.
Speaking of “squirrel,” if it’s your first time visiting Griggs, you’re going to feel like one. So many things to see and it’s all so fantastic you want to see (and possibly buy) everything all at once.
When AP and I enter a nursery, I tend to veer right and AP, well, she just goes where there are flowers.
Or succulents…
But foliage is more my jam, and oh my, can Griggs…do…foliage!
You remember my Rosie…
Well Rosie’s family is at Griggs! Here they are moseying through some purple salvia…
Luckily Rosie is very happy watching over me in the garden by herself. She says she’s had enough of family for awhile and needs some peace and quiet. Amen to that, Sista!
Griggs has many other animals waiting for a home as nice as Rosie’s…
I bet these Lemon Cypresses don’t stay in the nursery for more than a day…
Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Wilma Goldcrest’ (Lemon Cypress)
They’re perfect for downtown Carmel’s restaurants and retail shops or for anyone wanting that “instant look.”
Talk about “a look,” you cannot go wrong with these…
Lomandra longifolia ‘Platinum Beauty’ and ‘Breeze’
Here’s the thing about Lomandras: they are not a grass but evergreen plants with grass-like blades. Best thing? No need to cut them down like grass EVER. Once established they need very little to no water. And did you know in the right conditions they can grow up to 4 by 4 feet?
Readers! Can you say, “MASS PLANTING?!”
I love garden art, but you’ve figured that out and I hardly need to say it. So let me say this: thank you, Griggs!
In particular I like garden statues. Because if you need a damn digging bar to dig a damn hole for a plant, put a statute there instead, and that’s all I got to say about that!
Awwww, nothing to say but “loveliness” here…
On my first trip to Griggs I bought this next plant along with a ground cover and a Calla Lily.
Thuja plicata ‘Whipcord’ Patio Tree
But that’s not MY Whipcord in the photo. Five years after I bought mine it just up and died. Same with the ground cover (whatever it was).
The Calla Lily’s still alive but barely. This is sooo the wrong climate for it.
As much as I love Griggs, on our most recent visit there—and we even drove my work van with lots of cargo space—I bought nothing. Before heading there, AP and I ate lunch down the road at Wagon Wheel Restaurant. It was delicious but by the time we got to Griggs I wasn’t much in the mood for nursery waltzing. Let’s just say my lunch was not sitting well with me. Need I say more?—except that it was one of those days I feel grateful to know there’s a toilet in the back of my van.
On a happier note, AP’s lunch had no affect on her buying spree. As we were loading up her treasures, a woman came up having seen my business name on the van. She looked inside at the purchases from our trip so far and said, “You two must have a lot of fun!…”
“Why yes,” we said, wanting to finish and get out of there.
“Well you know…I have a brown thumb, I’m sorry to say,” though she said it anyway, and I was not in the mood to hear the longer story I knew was coming so she could ask my professional advice about something.
I quickly cut in. “Well you just continue being an optimist,” I told her. “And that green thumb will come eventually. Or not.” And we closed up the van and waved our goodbyes.
Carmel By The Sea was our last destination that day and we were exhausted. We got on the road to Salinas and drove straight to our hotel.
AP and I were so tired we stood in the elevator for like 5 minutes before we realized neither of us had pushed the button to go up to our room.
In spite of all that, I cannot wait for our next visit to Griggs on a better day for me. Their website says they’ve been voted “Best Nursery on the Peninsula” for 13 years, and I have to say I am with those voters!
If you can’t make it to Griggs this weekend yourself, come to The El Dorado County Master Gardener’s Annual Plant Sale, April 29, open 8-12.
