Hello Friends –

For summer's kickoff holiday, please come visit us for our sale over Memorial Day Weekend! This Saturday, Sunday, and Monday all plants are 20% off. It's a great time to get summer vegetable crops into the ground and to make outdoor spaces beautiful. We're crossing our fingers for good weather, and we promise a bountiful array of amazing plants and pots and garden goodies.

Inspiration from Garden Fantasia

Part of the fun of making a newsletter is that we love to share the garden work that intoxicates us.

An urban garden of riotous beauty by Garden Fantasia

Our friend Piotr Mazurek creates some of the most audaciously beautiful gardens we've ever seen under the moniker Garden Fantasia. He has taught us a great deal about the plants we sell. With an extraordinary eye for color, pattern, and texture, he grabs the coolest, most exotic plants for his designs, deploys familiar plants in completely new ways, and combines them with gorgeous containers and artwork. About his work, Piotr says,

It's like a never-ending adventure: discovering new species and varieties and finding new ways to weave them together to create a living and ever-changing sculpture, painting or tapestry

Enjoy more visions of his creations below.

Piotr's wit pokes through.

Orchestrating this level of diversity into harmonious gardens
takes fearlessness and talent.

Little Lane Kids' Classes

For a while now we've been offering classes for kids with Little Lane Studios, taught by our friend Julie Benjamin. This summer Julie's offering more extensive mini camps here at the nursery.

Each camp will be geared for up to 8 kids and offered at a rate between $185 and $200, plus a materials fee. To sign up, just email Julie at info@littlelanestudios.com.

Botanical Drawing and Stamp Making
June 21 – 23, 2011, 9:30am – 12:30pm

Using plants ranging from succulents and agaves to rosemary and strawberries, children will get the opportunity to examine, learn, and draw from the many plant species at Flora Grubb Gardens. We will spend time on detail drawings of different plants and create stamps to use on cards, notes, and collage. Ages 6 – 10

Jar, Pocket, and Container Gardens
July 19 – 21, 2011, 9:30am – 12:30pm

Come explore how plants can grow and flourish in all sorts of containers. We will see how you can create a garden from produce found in the local market and we'll make gardens you can wear! Each child will get the chance to bring home a container garden filled with plants ready to thrive and grow. Ages 4 – 8

Stick Art And Mobiles
August 9 – 11, 2011, 9:30am – 12:30pm

Children will get to learn different ways to use sticks, branches, and wood to create their own little worlds. We will explore and then make a terrarium in a jar, a mini tree house, and a tillandsia hanging mobile to enjoy. Come spark imaginary adventures! Ages 4 – 10

To sign up, just email Julie at info@littlelanestudios.com.

Atriums Are a Great Place for Vertical Gardens

We love to help our customers create vertical gardens. Our interest in vertical gardens sprung from their use a a small-space design solution. Lots of San Francisco houses have a light well or atrium with a dreary view of a wall, too narrow to grow a regular garden. This can be a great spot for a vertical garden, and a great way to add a burst of life to a room. One of the designers who works here at the store, Daniel Nolan, recently worked on a project in a classic San Francisco light well. The clients brought Daniel in to help them remake the garden. Placed against the wood backdrop, Daniel's Woolly Pocket garden brings a vibrant green cascade into the heart of the house. Look at the results!

From above, the bromeliad Vriesea philippo-coburgii makes a splash.

The dark pockets recede from view beneath bright-green plants
that will soon conceal them.

Give us a call at 415-648-2670 or contact us via the Web Shop if you'd like a Bay Area garden consultation.

Grow Dahlias Like a Pro: a Discussion with Mike Schelp

Sunday, June 26, 2011 11:00am – 1:00pm at Flora Grubb Gardens (free)

Dahlias are a real favorite of ours. In the garden, they provide a vibrant splash of color from middle to late summer, taking over from spring blooms. Exuberant and romantic, they are the shining stars of our floral bouquets in the summertime. The Cutting Garden gets a lot of its dahlias from an artisan grower in Half Moon Bay named Mike Schelp. Mike's dahlias are astounding, some of them as large as clocks, others with gorgeous fluttery petals or variegated color.

At this event, Mike Schelp will share his secrets for growing dahlias like a pro. And this year, Mike will be providing us with limited numbers of his amazing dahlias available for sale for your garden.

Please RSVP online.

Something to look forward to:
We'll have this dahlia called "Nick" in the store later in June.

Join Us on Facebook and Twitter

It's just like neighbors chatting about their gardens over the fence, but digitally. Please join us on Facebook and Twitter.

Come and see us.

– Flora and everyone at Flora Grubb Gardens