Flora Grubb: An Interview with the Nurserywoman on Gardening

Plantswoman Flora Grubb is here to dispel rumors that she sold her beloved namesake nurseries in San Francisco and Marina del Rey. They are not under new ownership. “In fact, you can still find me working (like most nurserymen) at least fifty hours a week. I’m still both pulling weeds and poring over spreadsheets. My fingernails are still perpetually dirty,” she tells us. “Along with my business partner Saul Nadler, who co-founded the nursery with me twenty years ago, I do whatever it takes to keep my independent nursery growing.” 

Thank goodness! For as long as our site has existed, we’ve been inspired by Flora and her keen eye for interesting plants (in particular succulents). Today, she’s sharing her thoughts on gardening, including why there’s no rest for the weary gardener in California and the reason she makes room for some non-natives in her landscape.

Photography by Caitlin Atkinson, courtesy of Flora Grubb, unless noted.

Your first garden memory:

My first garden was a patch of Gerber Daisy grown against a scruffy rental house in Austin, Texas, where I grew up. My dad would take me and my four siblings to the nursery and let us each get one plant. I’ve been gardening ever since.

Garden-related book you return to time and again:

Designing with Palms by Jason Dewees.

Instagram account that inspires you:

The account of a wonderful wholesale grower in New South Wales, Australia: @exotic_nurseries.

Describe in three words your garden aesthetic.

Lush. Textured. Cohesive.

Plant that makes you swoon:

Cussonia. We grow cussonia from seed at our farms in the Rainbow Valley. We’re growing a few different types, and we’ve experimenting with raising them in our greenhouses for our customers to put in their homes as well as their gardens.

Plant that makes you want to run the other way:

After 20 years of being surrounded by thousands of plants every day, I’ll say… I just like plants. Plants I thought I didn’t care for have surprised me by turning up in places I don’t expect them looking perfectly lovely. What makes me want to run the other way are plant combinations. Mostly, multi-colored six packs of annual plants never end up looking beautiful in any context.

Favorite go-to plant:

Dudleya britonii, a beautiful chalky white California native succulent.

Hardest gardening lesson you’ve learned:

In our coastal Californian climate, gardens don’t “rest” in the winter time, and neither can I. When we have mild and wet winters,the garden must not be ignored. The plants love the rain and the coastal California version of “cold” does not slow them down much. By the time the sun comes out in spring, the plants I’ve nurtured may be buried under plants I don’t like as much. The lesson: pick any dry-enough, warm-enough winter day and get out there!

Unpopular gardening opinion:

The beauty of the California garden comes from the liveliness that natives contribute when combined with the forms, colors, and wonder brought by well-adapted plants from around the world. For building resilience to climate change, particularly in the dense coastal cities where my customers live, “California Natives Only” is not a good strategy. This may seem self evident to some, but in some circles this is an unpopular opinion.