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Garden G O O D L I V I NG
Grubb (left) likes to use eclectic combinations of plants, like the Acacia cognata tree, Echium ‘Tower of Jewels,’ and boxwood (right).
A Garden of Her Own California nursery owner Flora Grubb made a name for herself by encouraging Bay Area gardeners to use unique plants that don’t need much water. Here’s what happens when she turns that talent on her own yard. PHOTOGRAPHS BY CAITLIN ATKINSON TEXT BY JULIE CHAI
most days in her eponymous San Francisco garden shop—a 28,000-square-foot Eden—Flora Grubb hadn’t had a personal plot in more than a decade. That changed in 2014, when she bought a cozy cottage in Berkeley and set out to transform a ho-hum spot into a restorative retreat. “I built this garden during a time of personal upheaval and grief,” Grubb says. “My father had died, I’d gotten divorced, and I was ill. What I needed from my garden was sanctuary and respite and healing.” The challenge? Her front yard was small—just a narrow strip of lawn and a pad of concrete used for parking cars. But Grubb knew the space had potential. “There was never a grand plan; I just did it bit by bit,” she says. To prep the area, she had the concrete driveway ripped out and treated her heavy clay soil with American Soil & Stone’s Clodbreaker to improve drainage and fertility. Then she and her 7-year-old son, Greyson, got their hands dirty; Grubb’s first priority was making the space as soothing as possible. THOUGH SHE SPENDS
To get the effect she wanted, she chose foliage plants in a unified palette of warm spring greens, “colors that say everything is alive.” Even the few bloomers Grubb included, such as ‘Moonlight’ grevillea and acacia, have chartreuse flowers that echo the hues of neighboring leaves. “There’s nothing jarring or that grabs your eye and won’t let go,” Grubb says. And none of her plants need much water— ideal for the drought-prone Bay Area—and they only require irrigation once a month. Since she also wanted her garden to look full right away, Grubb planted densely, which means her landscape will always need more upkeep than if she’d spaced plants further apart. “To achieve this billowy look with peaceful curves and carefully constructed undulations, I prune constantly,” she says. “But I love spending a little time in the garden every day.” Now Grubb and her son enjoy the space all year round. “My daily meditation practice is to sit in my window and stare at my garden,” she says. “It’s a true gift to myself.”
