Succulents and More™

When one door shuts, the saying goes, another door opens. But sometimes all we get is one door shutting without another one opening. In fact, that one door slams shut so forcefully that chances are it will never open again. That’s what happened this past Thursday, October 3. With no advance notice, Annie’s Annuals in Richmond ceased to exist. And just like that, the gardening scene in Northern California is changed forever. In fact, the shockwaves will be felt far beyond our area, seeing how Annie’s had loyal mail-order customers all over the country. The next day, customers received the official email: “Beloved” is not an adjective typically applied to a business, but in this case, it fits perfectly. Annie’s Annuals – technically Annie’s Annuals & Perennials, but for most of us simply Annie’s – was something as rare as a unicorn: a nursery with a selection so large that there was something for everybody, with all plants grown right on site in the Goldilocks climate of Richmond, C...

The last “official” stop on my Santa Barbara trip in January was at San Marcos Growers (SMG), a wholesale nursery specializing in “plants appropriate to California’s mediterranean climate, including many California native plants, as well as vines, trees, shrubs, ferns, perennials, succulents, ornamental grasses and grass-like plants from other areas around the world.” [ 1 ] San Marcos Growers isn’t open to the public, but their plants are carried by retail nurseries across California and the Pacific Northwest. Over the years, I’ve bought many of their plants at the Ruth Bancroft Garden Nursery , Peacock Horticultural Nursery , and Waltzing Matilija Nursery . SMG’s inventory is huge, ranging from Abelia to Zephyranthes , with a particularly heavy focus on two genera near and dear to my heart: Aloe and Agave . Their current availability list has 60 entries for agaves, including their own introductions like ‘ Thorny Warrior ‘, ‘ Filigree Devil ‘, ‘ Cherry Swizzle ‘, and ‘ Tony’s Tiger ...