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July 28, 2023
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August 25, 2023
Succulent Gardens
2133 Elkhorn Rd, Castroville, CA 95012 • (831) 632-0482
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B efore I tell you about lovely Succulent Gardens, here’s how our morning went before AP and I even got there.
We left our hotel at 7:30am headed for the first nursery on the day’s list, Ortegas Nursery. As sometimes happens, we got there and did a drive-by for first impressions and quickly decided…well let’s just say Ortegas turned out to be a “YEAH, NO!” and I immediately made a quick U-turn on a very narrow gravel road.
When we got back to the main road we noticed right across the street was Freedom Nursery—which was not on our itinerary. But it was open and the morning was young, so we thought, “Why the hell not?”
Freedom Nursery sells both retail and wholesale, so most of its plants come in 5-gallon or bigger sizes. As we “oohed and ahhed” our way through very mature plants, AP and I felt like we were waltzing through a fabulous jungle. And I have to say the folks there definitely give good care to everything they grow.
AP had her wallet out at one point, but in the end, neither of us bought anything. Why? Because of what most people don’t think about when they’re drooling over a huge flowery shrub they imagine taking home and just plopping in their yard for instant mature beauty.
People,…if you buy big, you gotta’ DIG BIG! Which means you’re gonna’ sweat big too. Better to buy small and have big patience!
So we walked out happy but empty-handed, hopped into the van and drove an hour to Succulent Gardens—next on our adventure list that day.
This nursery is located inland from Monterey and Carmel and we had to fight through morning traffic to get there.
When we arrived, AP did her usual routine before getting out. She checks her wallet, phone, pen, snack, drink (not alcoholic—too early for her) and makes sure she has everything she thinks she’ll need. We don’t want to waste precious nursery time having to go get something we left in the van.
I’m already getting out when I notice AP is not moving.
“I can’t find my credit card,” she says.
I think, Oh, crap! She’s left it at Freedom Nursery…
“I must have left it at the last place,” she says.
No, duh.
Because Freedom Nursery was not on our itinerary, we didn’t already have its contact information. Tech-geniuses that we are, it takes us fifteen minutes to find a phone number, and then when I call, the guy answering does not speak English.
I get him to understand “credit card” and he puts together why I’m calling.
“Yes,” he says, “credit card is here.”
Oh good. But oh brother, now we have to go get it…
So we buckle up again and fire up the van—me wishing now it was not too early for alcohol—and we drive the full hour it takes to get back to Freedom Nursery.
Finally, with AP’s renegade credit card safely back in her wallet, we head for Succulent Gardens the second time. But by now the traffic is much worse, and it takes us an hour and a-half to get there.
Thank gawd I can report that this nursery is well worth ALL of that! It has the absolute perfect weather conditions for growing succulents. Not too hot, not too cold, off-shore breezes, days that begin overcast (perfect for me!) and gradually turning to friendly sunshine.
I have tried numerous times to grow a succulent wall at my place like Succulent Gardens has…
…as well as picture boxes like Succulent Garden’s…
But in the excessive dry heat of California’s interior where I live? Nope. Failure every time.
I’m sure I’ll keep trying though because it’s not in my nature to give up, and my picture boxes are sitting empty staring at me—which is annoying as hell.
I love love love Succulent Garden’s cluster of pots in various shades of blue!!!
You’d think using succulents in the landscape is as low maintenance as you can get. But I’m telling you there’s no such thing as low maintenance…unless you’re growing rocks! Even then you’ll have weeds popping up—landscape fabric or not. Weeds will grow on concrete! Just sayin’.
Succulents need their share of care and maintenance like any other plant. Thing is…compared to a lot of other plants, they’re uniquely beautiful and can be a lot of fun! As Succulent Gardens definitely knows…
These air plants are terribly expensive but they can make great gifts.
Speaking of which, meet MY air plants which I’ve had for over 7 years…
I keep them right there behind my kitchen faucet, and every Sunday morning I rinse them off—which air plants need because, what…you think all they need is air?!
I bought them in 2016 at an unusual “nursery” in Eugene, Oregon. We found it one day when AP and I had time left to visit one extra nursery. We did a Google search and found Pierce Street Gardens which sounded nice so we typed the address into Google Maps and headed out. But when the Maps woman said “you’ve arrived at your destination” the place looked like somebody’s house with a wildly overgrown landscape.
The Maps woman had steered us wrong again, we thought. But then we noticed all the plants were in pots and all crowded together covering the entire yard—some sitting on random chairs and tables.
Turns out this woman (quite a character!) had turned her front yard into a nursery. She has since closed it though. She either got tired of all the one-woman-work (heh-heh) or just wanted her front yard back.
Anyway, the air plants she sold me are still happy and thriving.
Here’s a closer look at the little cactus I have sitting between them behind the faucet…
Mammillaria spinosissima ‘Red Headed Irishman’
I bought it in Sebastopol, California, at Lone Pine Gardens. It’s a wholesaler of succulents and cacti, and you can find their plants at many nurseries.
That little cactus cost me $35 bucks (!!!), and it’s AP’s fault I bought it. She made me wait at the checkout stand for her, and when I spotted the little cactus, it spoke to me.
It blooms profusely from November to April!
So, Succulent Gardens…
Yes it’s always a Best Day Ever at this place! It gets even better as you venture further into the greenhouses…
In here, it’s “squirrel” because you want to see everything at once and you don’t know which direction to go first.
It’s overwhelming, even for me, because I’m not educated about succulents enough to know which ones to choose—other than “Ooh, I like that one!”
Ooh, I do like that. So simple and yet stunning!!!
Obviously, some very talented person has time on their hands to create all the fantastic succulent displays.
I love succulents in pots…
I love them in pots because I can move them to my greenhouse to over-winter. In spring I move them back into the yard but not necessarily back to the same spot or into the same arrangement. Movable landscape elements feed my creativity, and simple changes freshen up the view I look at every day.
When I saw this plant at Succulent Gardens it was in bloom and I had to bring it home with me…
There it is at my place a year later. And it’s in bloom again. Gawd it is beautiful.
And this…OMG…
THAT is what perfect succulent weather can do. I definitely cannot grow agave. Just too cold in winter. (Ahhh, doesn’t “cold” sound good in this August heat?!)
At the end of our Succulent Gardens visit, we went to pay for our purchases. And that credit card of AP’s we spent 2 1/2 hours driving through traffic to get? DECLINED!!!
OMG. I just slowly backed away holding my tongue. Thank gawd she had another card that worked.
Long story short, that night AP was on the phone with her bank for over an hour trying to figure out why the card had been declined.
Well…turns out the guy at Freedom who found the card and doesn’t speak English? He called the bank and reported it missing!! So of course they declined it!
Readers, we ended up having an alcoholic drink that evening.
