80 Griggs Nursery
April 28, 2023
82 The Queen’s Backyard
June 2, 2023
The Garden Company
2218 Mission St, Santa Cruz, CA 950603 • (831) 429-8424
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F irst of all, this place has a freaking tight small parking lot for a van like mine. (I need room people!) The Garden Company is located on a busy Santa Cruz street and you’d better know how to turn in or you’ll wind up doing a U-turn. Which is nothing new for me and AP. In our travels we’re always making U-turns or pulling other driving stunts in traffic. We’re known (by drivers everywhere) to be very creative on the road. Good thing the van is highly visible and has secure shelving in the back for bad-driving-vulnerable plants!
We’ve visited The Garden Company on a more than one nursery tour, and I still have this charming little scenery bowl I bought the first time we went…
It’s in my office at a low enough level to be touched by my grandkids who 1) somehow feel it’s theirs and 2) believe it needs spiffing up now and then. (Grandmothers know…you have to pick your battles!)
The Garden Company is a small boutique style nursery with hidden gems here and there.
It’s a tad messy but I actually love a hot mess of a nursery. It peaks my curiosity to see what’s around that weed-infested corner.
Might be something like this beautiful Malva…
Lavatera assurgentiflora x venosa ‘Shadowhawk’ (Black Heart Malva)
It grows up to 6-feet tall and wide with red-purple flowers. (So why is it called BLACK Heart??) It grows in full sun or light afternoon shade and is hardy to 20-degrees.
When I saw it, I was torn—buy it or not buy it? I ended up NOT because quite frankly I thought, “Where in the hell do I have room for 6 by 6-foot shrub?!”
So I waltzed on to smaller beauties, and readers who’ve been with me from the start might remember how I love Lewisias. I will always find room for them.
I introduced Lewisias way back in post #3—about Annies Annuals and Perennials.
These plants will take freezing temps, snow, rain, blazing heat whether full sun or shade. They are hardy plants for sure, but they look very delicate and just lovely. How can you not love, love, LOVE Lewisias!?!?
At The Garden Company I came upon an entire tray of them…
…and saw they were priced at an unbelievable $6.95 per plant instead of $12.95 at Annies.
So I bought them ALL!!!
Now they’re at my house beautifully displayed.
Remember that houseplant—Aglaonema ‘First Diamond’—I mentioned buying in post #30?
I forked out serious money for that. $69.50!! (And it’s still alive!)
Well AP just looked at me sideways but kept her mouth shut when I paid The Garden Company a whopping $159 (yes, triple digits) for THIS houseplant…
Philodendron warscewiczii ‘Aurea Flavum’
Apologies for the blurry pic, but it’s really not my fault as I was simply beside myself pacing back and forth looking at the damn thing. I mean deciding to spend $159 dollars on a single houseplant deserves some pacing, right?
We all know the common Philodendron with dark green leaves. Every house has one except for mine, because I always just waltz past them at nurseries. I never pace.
But as you see, this variety has vivid chartreuse leaves. I hardly ever waltz past chartreuse! But at THAT price?
I paced.
Finally, an employee—a nice man who had been watching me—said, “You should really just buy it because you’ll never see it again. It’s that rare!”
Damn. That tactic works on me almost every time I’m at a tipping point. “Rare” is part of my love language for plants. So I had to buy it. And I’m even keeping its nursery pot for the memories.
Here is my fabulous “rather rare” chartreuse Philodendron in its new home—my bedroom—where it gets morning sun…
This plant grows to 3-feet tall and wide. I can’t wait for it to get bigger so I can put it in a larger insert and it won’t look so ridiculous in that tiny-ass plain one in the middle of that large beautiful pot.
It is low maintenance (so far so good). A fast grower (yes it is). Toxic to humans and pets (I’m sure I can avoid eating my $159-dollar plant even if I get really hungry). And it needs very little water (I wait for watering until it’s dry).
How easy is this plant, Readers?! Ask me…it’s worth every penny.
Now THIS is absolutely stunning…
It appears to be 3 Sweet Potato vines, Creeping Jenny, Cordyline, Coral bells, and Petunia.
Kudos to The Garden Company! And FYI: creating something large and eye-catching like this really works when you want to “hide” less beautiful sights behind it. Been there, done that, still doing it!
When you need to get away this summer—and you WILL due to our fabulously wet winter and spring that we’ll pay dearly for during non-stop 110-degree days—just drive west to the coast. Cooler weather, beautiful scenery, beaches, boutique shopping, great restaurants. And in every town, top-tier nurseries to enjoy waltzing in.
Or pacing…
