National Planter Project: Flora Grubb of San Francisco.

Windy, mild and mostly frost-free, the San Francisco Bay Area offers a huge range of horticulture possibilities. Flora Grubb, whose nursery in San Francisco’s Bayview district has attracted wide recognition as a design-driven gardener’s destination, looks to exploit those favorable conditions. “With so many compelling, low-water plants available, why waste our advantage?” says Grubb. “You can make use of a palette that includes everything from stunning foliage plants, ancient ferns, bold palms and exquisite succulents. The range of textures and colors is infinite.” We sent Grubb three Rubber Tubs, which are crafted from recycled tires. She filled these durable planters with Urginea maritima (the smaller plant with green leaves), Agonis flexuosa After Dark (the purple leaf tree) and Banksia menziesii Dwarf (the larger shrub with green leaves). Grubb explains her approach: “The language of the modern garden has too often become about reputations of architectonic plants. For this project, we wanted to stay away from the predictable and instead chose to include three rare specimen plants. They all require little water and can thrive even in windy locations.” Learn more about Flora Grubb here.

Comments

[Mari Malcolm]

Fabulous plant choices from Flora, as always!

The rubber tubs look great, but I'm far more enamored with the steel ones with legs that look like sawed-off missile bottoms. Looks like one might have to go to her nursery for those....

[evergreen]

i have to question which part of the design within reach is within reach with the rubber tubs? $350 for recycled tire tubs is steep by any account. and shouldn't we be thinking more along local lines for recycled goods and services? these tubs are imported from Eygypt, which not only increases the cost but the carbon footprint as well. the tubs are marketed at those eager to jump on the earth-friendly train, with little consideration to what this really means. source local... it truly makes a difference, and making recycled products within reach to us all gets everyone thinking about re-purposing, re-using and re-cycling.