Flora Grubb Takes on LA

Memorial Day Weekend was the official launch of Flora Grubb Gardens’ new location in Los Angeles. When I heard Mitch was going to take advantage of the opening 20% sale, I pleaded for a few photos. With the recent closing of the beloved Atwater Village shop Potted, the opening of another design-forward, cool-plant nursery in LA comes not a minute too soon.

FGG’s history is briefly this: With financial partner Saul Nadler, Flora Grubb opened her first shop in the Mission district of San Francisco in 2003, a neighborhood that was at that time still one of the most affordable neighborhoods in SF (before the Google bus regularly made stops there and rents became unaffordable to teachers, nurses, chefs, etc.) A series of very smart business moves quickly followed. A wholesale growing operation was acquired in San Diego in 2005, a frost-free climate ideal for growing agaves and aloes and the other beautiful dry garden plants FGG loves to showcase in their nursery and designs. In 2007 FGG moved from the Mission to Jerrold Street in the Dogpatch neighborhood, which is where I first became acquainted with FGG. At that time, Dogpatch had an industrial, tumble-down vibe and was just starting to become filled with interesting, brave, pioneer businesses like FGG. But cool things have a way of following in Flora Grubb’s wake — Dogpatch was recently named the 36th coolest neighborhood on Earth by TimeOut.

The LA branch of FGG is located on the site of the former Marina del Rey Garden Center, a nursery I routinely visited whenever court reporting work took me out that way to the conference rooms in the office towers with distracting views overlooking the glittering marina. The 90 freeway that takes you to this very upscale coastal town pretty much ends at the nursery.

From Marina del Rey Garden Center’s Facebook post of 4/23/23: We’re so happy to announce that Marina del Rey Garden Center is now Flora Grubb Gardens! We are open daily 9am-6pm at 13198 Mindanao Way in Marina del Rey. Come visit us! We can’t wait to see you.

Marina Del Rey Garden Center has served the community since 1977. In recent years, as they became more focused on sustainable gardening, they turned to Flora Grubb’s farm, Grubb & Nadler, for rare and exceptional drought tolerant plants.

When Flora Grubb heard they were ready to pass the nursery along to a new owner, she was thrilled! In 2022, the Flora Grubb Gardens team began operating Marina del Rey Garden Center and updating the site.

At Flora Grubb Gardens we believe that gardening makes people happy, brings peace into their lives, and offers a powerful antidote to the stresses of life. We believe in creating lavishly beautiful gardens that require minimal water and chemicals to maintain.

Welcome to LA, Flora Grubb Gardens!