Edna's Bay Area backyard succulent nursery

Last week, I tagged along with the Contra Costa Succulent Garden Club to visit Edna’s succulent nursery in San Pablo. I’d heard whispers about Edna’s garden for many years, and I was happy I finally had the opportunity to go. As it turns out, I didn’t have to wait for a special invitation: Edna welcomes visitors any day of the week.

Edna Roberts

To get to Edna’s place you take the same freeway exit as to go to Curious Flora (the former Annie’s Annuals) — except Curious Flora is west of the I-80 and Edna’s is to the east. The entrance to Edna’s nursery is at the bottom of a steep driveway. There’s a great view across North Richmond towards the Chevron Refinery on San Pablo Bay.

I didn’t have a clear idea of what to expect, but I definitely didn’t expect this:

Edna’s nursery is much bigger than I’d thought!

When I think of a backyard nursery, I picture a few tables with a modest selection of plants. The sheer volume of plants at Edna’s was a big surprise — as was the beautiful presentation.

Artistic flourishes everywhere:

And succulents being propagated:

Mostly soft-leaved succulents, but also a few cacti:

Mexican fence post cactus and golden barrels

And a small, but beautiful, selection of agaves:

Agave attenuata ‘‘Raea’s Gold’

Agave attenuata ‘Ray of Light’ and Aeonium ‘Sunburst’

One of several particularly showy Agave ‘Snow Glow’

Variegated Agave ‘Blue Flame’. I was so tempted, but they were out of my price range (in 15-gallon cans)

Sempervivums may be nothing special to some of you, but they’ve caught my eye lately. They’re a bit challenging to grow for us because they don’t love our summer heat, but the cobweb varieties (Sempervivum arachnoideum) fare better than others. This is a particularly nice display:

Another plant that jumped out at me:

Cotyledon orbiculata ‘Oophylla’ (aka lady fingers)

Apparently this isn’t a particularly rare plant, but it hadn’t been on my radar before

Edna has many kinds of succulents, but judging from the sheer number of plants, her biggest love are aeoniums. I had never seen so many of them in one place before. And I’m not talking about the common cultivars, but the much rarer variegated and striped varieties from Asia like ‘Pink Witch’ and ‘Super Bang’. Take a look!

Edna simply stuck these aeoniums into the cracks between the rocks – no soil

I’m endlessly fascinated by aeoniums. Their symmetrical rosettes and vibrant colors make for a unique look. Maybe part of their appeal is the fact that they’re a challenge in our climate. They tolerate summer temperatures in the 80s and even low 90s just fine as long as they’re protected from the hot afternoon sun. But when the thermometer climbs into the triple digits, they start to shut down, shedding their bottom leaves and closing their rosettes. And when they’re (semi) dormant, they are an easy target for mealybugs. For these reasons, I never let myself go down the aeonium rabbit hole. But after seeing Edna’s treasure trove of aeoniums, my resolve is beginning to weaken. (Yes, I bought a few.)

Another thing that stood out to me were these pots made entirely of pebbles:

As Edna told me, she’s been making them for many years, painstakingly gluing together layer after layer of smooth rocks.

Edna’s pebble planters range in size from what you see above to large troughs like the example below:

Edna also made the floor mosaics:

She must have worked on them for weeks and months — this is not something you do in a quick afternoon.

Edna was very busy — there was a steady stream of visitors, presumably all from the Contra Costa Succulent Garden Club — but I was able to talk to her a bit. She’s been at this location for 15 years, starting small and slowly expanding her inventory. I commented on how neat and clean everything was, from the display areas to the plants themselves, and was surprised to find out that she does it all by herself.  She starts early in the morning and stops late, and she never goes on vacation. She makes great personal sacrifices, but it’s obvious how much she loves her plants.

I left not only with a bunch of aeoniums and some echeverias and sempervivums, but also a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for what Edna is doing. She’s one of those warm, kind-hearted people that make you feel instantly comfortable. I look forward to visiting her on a less busy day so I can hear more of her story — from her early life in the Philippines to how she came to start a nursery in California.

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Edna doesn’t have fixed hours, but she works at her nursery every day and welcomes visitors most of the time. To make an appointment, call or her text at (510) 965-7028 or email her at Ednaroberts@ymail.com.

Here is short video about Edna’s nursery. It’s six years old and the image quality isn’t up to today’s standards, but it gives you a good idea of what there is to see — and you get to hear Edna talk about her plants.

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