San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties’ nurseries, gardens, and plant shops bring the world’s biodiversity to our fingertips. This holiday season, pick from a cornucopia of flowers and houseplants as eleventh-hour gifts that still show you care. Our list is in no way exhaustive but highlights some savvy local businesses that cater to green thumbs.
Cal Coast Orchids
Co-owned by Dutch native Bas van Eijik and his wife, Allison Glasco, Cal Coast Orchids produces sustainably grown Phalaenopsis orchids. Van Eijik learned the art of managing orchids—famously known to be a difficult houseplant to keep alive—in New Zealand after he was tasked with reviving a struggling Phalaenopsis orchid production that threatened to shutter their greenhouses. The result was a sustainability plan that is still in use today. Now, the couple operates Cal Coast Orchids in Los Osos, an area that they picked for its ideal climate to grow Phalaenopsis. They provide orchid care tips, ship plants all over California, and are also available on harvestly.com.
2181 Blue Heron View Lane, Los Osos; (805) 305-1410; calcoastorchids.com.
Idyll Mercantile
Idyll is a Santa Barbara brick-and-mortar shop run by Hannah Bangs. She has a background in natural history, botany, and ecopsychology.
“I work with small-batch artists who are mostly United States-based women who are not on Amazon,” Bangs said. “I have a lot of local artists also, and the plants support the art.”
She recommended user-friendly and foolproof plants like the tropical ZZ (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) and the monstera deliciosa, which is also called the Swiss cheese plant. Customers can browse through Idyll’s gallery of other plants too, like Bangs’ favorite, the hoya. The shop also offers plant-related accessories like books, automatic misters, and plant food. Bangs said that shopping from Idyll means supporting women in business who are carving a path forward in pursuing their craft, with affordable options available for everyone.
“Buying a plant is an investment in a friendship for a long time because [cut] flowers die,” she said with a laugh.
703 Chapala St. Santa Barbara; idyllmercantile.com.
Growing Grounds
Growing Grounds Farm and Nursery is a social enterprise of Transitions-Mental Health Association.
“Established over 35 years ago, Growing Grounds is a nonprofit wholesale nursery that provides therapeutic horticulture, socialization opportunities, paid employment, and soft job skills training for adults with severe and persistent mental illness,” according to its website.
They have something for residents of both SLO and Santa Barbara counties. The Growing Grounds Farm in Santa Maria sells plants and succulents—including plants that are edible, drought-tolerant, and native to California. They can be purchased Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
In SLO, Growing Grounds operates a nursery open to the public on Tuesdays, and a downtown retail store for local honey, beeswax candles, air plants, and houseplants. All proceeds support mental health services in the community.
820 W. Foster Road, Santa Maria; 3740 Orcutt Road, SLO (nursery); 956 Chorro St., SLO (downtown store); (805) 544-4967; t-mha.org/buy-growing-grounds.php.
Cal Coast Succulents
Cal Coast Succulents was created by an association of local growers in 2020. It comprises Mike Bush and Jeanne Miller of the SuccShack, Grow’s Nick Wilkinson, Richard Rowe of Rowe Clayworks in Morro Bay, and Steve Super of Steve Super Gardens.
They’ll have a sale in Los Osos on Dec. 17 and 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’ll feature all four growers and a holiday gift market with four local artists who create high-end plant pots, silverworks, handcrafted wooden spoons, and even succulent-themed scarves.
Miller told New Times that they offer six-packs of plants, too, that the growers will put together for customers. They’ll get to pick from hundreds of varieties of plants, and they’re “not stuff you see in Home Depot.”
“This is a great time of year for winter-growing plants like African bulbs, and landscape plants,” she said. “This sale will have beautiful specimens of plants in gorgeous pots with pretty rocks, so they’re gifts that are ready to go.”
2016 9th St., Los Osos; (805) 602-7817; wegrowslo@gmail.com. Δ
Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal is putting down roots. Reach her at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Last-Minute Gift Guide 2022.