Green Thumb: Vertical Gardens at Flora Grubb

Photo by Caitlin Atkinson

This image of the new vertical succulent garden at San Francisco's Flora Grubb stopped me in my tracks when I saw it, and I just had to share it here.

More "green wall" inspiration:

Another installation from Grubb and fiancé Kevin Smith.

Photo by Max Whittaker for the New York Times

The vertical Tillandsia garden (yet another Grubb/Smith creation) at Napa Valley's Bardessono Hotel.

Wouldn't one of these be a fantastic addition to a patio, garden fence, or atrium? If you're game to try your hand at building a "living wall," you can find a video tutorial right here.

Retail Therapy: Life + Limb

On my last visit to Portland, an in-the-know local urged me to check out a relatively new shop called Life + Limb on East Burnside. I popped in just before closing one day, and although my time there was short, it was love at first sight. In fact, I bought more irresistibly affordable goodies during my 10-minute shopping spree at Life + Limb than I did at all of my other PDX shopping stops combined.

Opened in November by graphic designer and photographer Molly Quan, Life + Limb is a full-service urban plant shop as well as a modern homegoods boutique. "I wanted to have a store that featured less-common plants, so I decided to focus on succulents. I also wanted to incorporate my love of modern design and my art background, so I carry home accessories and have monthly art shows, too," Quan explains.

One especially nice touch: Pick a plant (or three) and a vessel to put it in, and Quan will pot it up for you right there in the shop -- perfect for those last-minute hostess or housewarming gifts or if you're the type to let your nursery purchases languish for weeks before you get around to putting them in some soil.

Among the non-plant items Quan stocks are hand-picked vintage modern home accents (she has some awesome retro bullet planters, for instance), as well as a carefully curated selection of ceramics, tableware, textiles, and accessories from the likes of Perch!, Paige Russell, j.mendicino, Suck UK, Jonathan Adler, Sagaform, Loyal Loot, Modern-Twist, and Normann Copenhagen, among others.

The tree mural is by painter Erik Railton. On the "gallery wall" is artwork from Joan McGuire; a new show with pieces from popular Oregon artist Yellena James will take its place come August, with an opening reception August 1 as part of Portland's Central Eastside Arts District's First Friday festivities. Also starting in August, original work by the shop's featured artists will be available online, with full online shopping coming later this fall.

Until then, be sure to drop by Life + Limb the next time you're in Portland -- and leave some extra room in the suitcase to cart home all your new scores. The store is located at 1716 E. Burnside St., and is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 to 5 Saturdays, and 12 to 5 Sundays.

eBay Find of the Day: Succulent Sampler

Did you know that you could buy live plants on eBay?

Yep, in addition to just about every other item on the planet, you can also procure plants for your garden from the auction super site. (It's a particularly handy service if you don't have a great nursery nearby or if the ground hasn't quite thawed in your area and your local garden center isn't yet stocked up for gardening season.)

I love succulents -- because not only are they almost impossible to kill, they make great modern houseplants (group several in a wide, low planter for a stunning centerpiece or just one in a small container for a pretty, natural accent) as well as interesting and textural additions to your outdoor landscape. Can't decide? Enjoy succulents both ways -- keep them inside until you're ready to get your hands dirty, then incorporate them into your garden.

This succulent selection up for auction on eBay includes a mix of twenty cuttings, including hens and chicks, volcano plants, echeveria, sedum, agave, euphorbia, and several other hardy varieties. The cuttings are easy to grow -- simply stick them in well-drained soil (either potting soil mixed with sand or gravel, or perlite), protect them from hot afternoon sun, and water them every once in a blue moon. I promise, they're practically black-thumb proof.

Current bid: $30

Green Thumb: Flower Arranging With Laurel

Today's flower arrangement: Calla Lilies in Glass Bowl, by my 9-year-old.

Instructions:

* While your mom is catnapping on the couch, expertly navigate the on-demand cable offerings -- the ones your parents can't figure out at all -- to call up a Martha Stewart flower-arranging special. (Trust me, though you may be only 9, you live for this stuff.) Watch the special with laser-like focus, taking notes as you go.

* Your mom is still snoring on the couch, so go out in the yard and gather up some calla lily blossoms, plus a bunch of muddy gravel and some rocks. Bundle them all up in your mom's favorite white linen tea towel and bring them inside.

* Use the kitchen strainer (you know, the one your parents drain the dinner pasta in) to rinse the mud off of the rocks and gravel. Don't worry about the extra mud and gravel all over the counter.

* Find a circular, clear-glass bowl in the kitchen cupboard. Be sure to leave the other ten bowls on the floor, in the exact spot they were when you pulled them all out in your quest to find the most perfect one.

* Put the gravel in the bowl, and fill it with water. Decide that the gravel wasn't rinsed enough, and that the water is too muddy as a result. Dump the whole thing out and start over again.

* Once you're satisfied that the water in the bowl is crystal clear, arrange the rocks in the gravel just so.

* Take a calla lily stem, bend it into a circle, and place it in the bowl so that the bloom rests above the surface of the water. Repeat with the other lilies until they form a blooming ring.

* Carry the bowl into the living room, being careful to only slosh a little bit of water out onto the floor, and find the perfect spot for it on the coffee table.

* Gently nudge your snoozing mom awake, and present her with your masterpiece.

* Make your mom cry. And not because of the mess in the kitchen.

Next time: Inspired by her other idol and culinary muse, Sandra Lee, Laurel bakes up a storm with canned pie fillings, colored sugar, and melted candy bars.

Cool Stuff: Aluminum Herb Pots

These seven diminutive plant pots (plus footed tray) are crafted from unpolished aluminum, which gives them a great industrial vibe that will only get better as the metal patinas over time.

Fill the pots with herb plants for cooking and make them the centerpiece of your kitchen table. Or plant petite succulents in them and place the grouping on a coffee table or credenza top to bring a bit of the outdoors in while you wait for spring to arrive. Once it does, you can move the entire collection out to the patio until the weather turns cold again.

The set is $129 from the Conran Shop.

Cool Stuff: Atomic Bullet Planters

I love these retro-cool fiberglass bullet planters. A small one stocked with yummy succulents would make a great centerpiece for the table, and a trio in graduated sizes would bring a dead corner to life.

Available in a rainbow of colors and from 16 to 30 inches tall, they're $150 to $160 each from Hip Haven.

Green Thumb: Savings on Native and Drought-Tolerant Plants

Unfortunately, I missed this year's free Bay-Friendly Garden Tour (such is the life of a Little League mom). But I was pleased to see a nice discount offer in the tour program, good for draught-tolerant and native plants at great local nurseries like Berkeley Hort, East Bay Nursery, Grand Lake Garden Center, and Evergreen Nursery.

Simply print out the second page of this flyer and present it at one of the participating nurseries to get 10 percent off "Bay-Friendly" plants through the end of the year.


To learn more about low-water and sustainable gardening, click here. And don't forget to mark your calendars for next year's tour on April 27, 2008.

Green Thumb: In Praise of Succulents

I have a bit of a succulent fetish. They're just so ... weird. And otherworldly. And fleshy. And textural. And cool.

And, let's not forget, practically death-proof. It's true: If you leave succulents out in the burning sun and forget to water them for months at a time, they'll be fine. I give a mixed pot of them to my mother (a notorious black thumb) every year, and even she can't kill them.

Bigger succulents can be pricey, but they grow quickly and multiply like mad, so I like to buy the cheap, tiny ones in 2-inch containers at the Easy Bay Nursery in Berkeley or the big Rockridge Longs off Broadway. When I'm a bit more flush, or after some unusual varieties, I hit the Dry Garden in North Oakland. One of these days, I'm going to make it up to Sebastopol's Lone Pine Nursery, the wholesale succulent and cacti grower that stocks most of the nurseries in the Bay Area.

Next time you're shopping for plants, grab a basketful of echeveria, euphorbia, or agave, then group them together in an interesting pot for a weird -- and wonderful -- living arrangement.