It's the perfect time of year to add some lush green beauty to your home. But we know lots of you have questions about keeping pets safe from plants (and vice versa!). Here's some inspiration and tips for growing an indoor garden with fur babies in mind. SF jewelry designer Kirsten Muenster recently gave us a sneak peek of her own plant collection, beloved by her Maine Coon cats (Miles and Milu) and mostly brought home from Flora Grubb.  "Plants are a major inspiration for my work," Kirsten says, "so I need to see fresh green life all around me." She uses the f ..read more

What better place to cozy up for this weird winter at home than an artful plant-filled beach house on the coast south of SF? Our own Jeff Wright graciously invited us into his sweet cottage for a peek. Jeff recently joined the FGG team after a long career working to revitalize the gardens and landscapes of the Presidio. Lucky us! “I worked at the Presidio for twenty years,” Jeff says. “At first there were a lot of abandoned gardens left over from when the Army was there. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to test-drive a new palette of plants that were just taking a foothold in California—dr ..read more

At Flora Grubb Gardens nursery in San Francisco, we love to help customers find just the right houseplants for their needs and designs. A mid-century Eichler home in SF, with its warm wood paneling, sleek (heated!) concrete floors, and flood of light from inner courtyards, is the perfect place to grow a lush indoor garden. Longtime FGG friends Jen and Gary Witt invited us into their home to share some houseplant inspiration. Read on! The rich brown, orange, aqua, and soft gray tones of Jen and Gary's cozy living space look gorgeous with lots of vibrant green plants and modern ceramic pots. Go ..read more

Right now our nurseries in SF and Marina del Rey are packed with unusual cactus and succulent treasures for your bright, low-water indoor garden.  Grown on our own farms down in the Rainbow Valley, many of these special plants are hard to find in nurseries, and we're so excited to send them home with you! They're unusual but easy to grow: A bright room and minimal water are all your dry indoor garden will need to thrive. The monkey tail cactus, Cleistocactus colademononis, is about as cute as it gets, with its furry "tails" that trail over the side of the pot and stunning ..read more

BY TYSON CURTIS Grow an Adenium. Here’s what they need to thrive: A warm room is essential. Adeniums don't want the temperature in their habitat to dip below 65 - 70 degrees Fahrenheit. A few hours of direct sun—more is better, but not within one foot of a window, or you risk burning the caudex. During summer, let the surface of the soil dry out, but don't let it dry deeper into the pot (standard houseplant watering). During winter, water Adeniums like cactus—totally dry between waterings. Cactus mix! Typical (all-purpose) houseplant fertilizing when actively growing during the su ..read more

Houseplant dreams are just what you need for a cozy winter weekend. Here's a peek inside a plant-filled SF house to inspire your indoor garden plans. Our lovely FGG friend and customer Anne Wintroub uses plants to complement the warm and artful style of her family's home. Plants and pots, like Calathea warscewiczii in royal blue, are chosen with care to pick up the color and whimsy of Anne's art and objects. This calathea is a velvety tropical beauty with a rich purple color on the backs of its leaves. It doesn’t mind lower light and enjoys moist soil. Anne loves a dramat ..read more

HOUSEPLANT CARE: LIGHT, WATER, AND SOIL Here at FGG, the question we hear most often from customers is “How often do I water my houseplant?” It sounds like a simple question, but the answer is actually pretty complicated. Frequency of watering should be based on a combination of factors: primarily light, water, and soil type. So if you want to know how much water your new plant needs, first you’ve got to get to know the plant and its environment.  LIGHT Understanding the lighting in your space is essential when choosing or placing a houseplant. Each plant will have its own needs, and ev ..read more

For houseplants we recommend using a cachepot system for planting, instead of direct planting into your decorative pot. Historically cachepot was used in the Victorian era as a way of cycling plants indoors and out throughout the year. This allowed them to be grown in their weathered terra cotta pots for outdoors, but still displayed elegantly indoors.   To cachepot, leave your plant in its original plastic nursery can (or it can be up-potted into a larger can) and set it within a plastic saucer inside your decorative pottery. If the decorative pottery is me ..read more

One of our favorites -a rare and exquisite variegated String of Hearts plant (Ceropegia woodii ‘Variegata’). Its heart-shaped leaves are strung together on delicate vines, like a tangle of precious necklaces. Shades of mauve, dusty pink, silver, and butter yellow are scattered across the variegated foliage with a soft patina. When it blooms (usually in spring or summer), the flowers will look like tiny magenta trumpets. This plant will grow indoors in bright indirect light or outdoors if sheltered from rain. It's a succulent, so keep the soil fairly dry and give it good drainage. Originally ..read more

We love collaborating with Daniel Nolan, who got his start ten years ago on the FGG team. Now he's one of SF's most sought-after garden designers! We had so much fun catching up with Daniel in his gorgeous studio office filled with houseplants. Read on for some inspiration for your own workspace. Daniel's bright and airy office space was once the garage of his friend Jeff Wright's house by the beach. (Jeff is also a longtime member of the FGG family. More photos of his home here!) Like the gardens Daniel designs, the studio is stylish, artful, and inviting. Plants are so important in a work ..read more