Come Visit Us over Thanksgiving Weekend

Hello Friends –

Every year we host a Thanksgiving Open House where we get a chance to spend a bit more time with you, customers and friends. At this year's open house we will have many lovely new treasures to share with you and several fun workshops to inspire you. We'll be closed on Thanksgiving Day. We are open 9am to 5pm Monday through Saturday; 10am to 5pm on Sundays.

New! Succulent Ornament

A live holiday jewel

A brand-new way to share the beauty of the garden: The living succulent cuttings used for these ornaments don't mind hanging around indoors for the holidays. When the season is over, the cuttings can be planted in a pot for the gardener to enjoy forever. Each year, take new cuttings and hang the ornament again!

Aren't they lovely? We have lots in the store and we're shipping them all over the U.S. from our Web Shop. We came up with the idea for these ornaments when we noticed that succulent cuttings remain vibrant for months here at the store. We experimented with various succulents to find the types that didn't mind being handled, poked, and packed in a dark box (for shipping).

What's a Thigmotrope?

Making a vertical garden with air plants

When architect (and my good friend) Seth Boor and I were pondering how to create a vertical garden in the lobby of the Bardessono Hotel in the Napa Valley, we came up with the idea of using air plants – tillandsias – to create a magical design of these star-like plants that would require minimal care and water.

We called this vertical air-plant garden a "thigmotrope." Growth in response to touch is known in science as "thigmotropism." Think of the tendrils of a vine reaching, touching and curling onto nearby twigs or trellises as they climb upward. Stephen Orr at The New York Times and many other writers and bloggers brought a lot of attention to the design, and we were deluged with requests for information on how to create something similar at home. As beautiful as the first Thigmotrope was, it was not easily recreated as a DIY project.

A new tool for creating vertical gardens

Now we've created a tool for making thigmotropes at home – "Thigmotrope Satellite."

It's a three-prong home for air plants, hand crafted just across the Bay by Hirschfeld Fabrications. Seth and I designed it in steel with a threaded base so that it can be screwed into a wall, allowing anyone to create a design of their own. It gently holds the tillandsia air plants, allowing easy removal for watering and grooming.

Thigmotrope Satellite is for sale here in our store and in our Web Shop.

Aerium Ornament

We're thrilled to offer a new way to bring the Aerium into holiday décor. Two shapes are available, Cocoon and Teardrop. They're available through our Web Shop and here in the store.

Into these lovely vessels we've gathered tillandsia air plants, tiny lichens, mosses, and other natural trimmings to live happily together. An open portal allows the live elements to thrive. When the season is over, you can hang your Aerium in a window and enjoy watching the tiny landscape grow and change.

Thankgiving Open House: Tons of Events!

Throw on a sweater and come on down to say hi and take in one of our weekend events, rain or shine. To keep you warm we'll be pouring hot cider. Ritual will be serving their legendary coffees, and our friend Ray from La Laguna Taqueria will be selling delicious taquitos to fill you up from 11am to 2pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

All of this year's Open House events are free.

Fun with Tillandsias

Friday, November 25, 11am – 12pm
Saturday, November 26, at 1pm – 2pm

Join Flora Grubb Gardens' expert in tillandsia air plants, Zenaida Sengo, for a demonstration of all the cool things you can do with these exotic beauties. Because they need no soil, they can live in places (and on objects) few other plants can. Zenaida will show you how to create great gifts for the holidays including living sculpture, vertical gardens, and miniature living worlds. You'll also gain confidence in caring for these durable jungle dwellers.

Please RSVP and tell us how many in your party.

Succulent Craft

Sunday, November 27, at 11am - 12 pm

Come for a demonstration of the many ways to use succulents in decoration – from gifts like dish gardens and everlasting bouquets, to otherworldly forest sculptures, terrariums and centerpieces. Your guide will be Flora Grubb Gardens' own Patrick Lannan – one of our garden-design specialists. He'll discuss the nuts and bolts of using succulents in craft and the basics of care for these charming "forever flowers."

Please RSVP and tell us how many in your party.

Meet the Makers

A discussion with the local folks who created Flora Grubb Gardens' newest products

Saturday, November 26, at 11am

Come join Flora for a talk with architect and designer Seth Boor, product designer Sascha Retailleau, and jeweler Julia Turner.

We are launching not one but two new Bay Area-made products this season. Flora and her collaborators will be discussing the creative process and local sourcing. Bringing something from an idea to a thing that you can hold in your hand is a fascinating story. We're divorced from so much of the making process, it sometimes doesn't occur to us to ask, who made this thing I am touching? How did it come to be? Was it made by a machine or by human hands?

Flora would love for you to meet the team that helped us bring these ideas to life.

Please RSVP and tell us how many in your party.

Come Celebrate Rebecca Burgess's Harvesting Color
One of our Favorite Books of 2011!

Sunday, December 4, 2011, 11am

One of the best books of the year for crafty gardeners is Rebecca Burgess's Harvesting Color. We'd love for you to come meet Rebecca and hear about her groundbreaking work making beautiful clothing with local dyes and fabrics - including growing, harvesting and processing her own dye ingredients. Her last visit drew a big crowd, and many people have asked for an encore. It's also a great opportunity to purchase a signed copy of the book as a gift. Rebecca's concept of the "fibershed" is similar to a watershed or foodshed. It is the area in your region that provides fibers and dye colors needed for textiles and clothing. Rebecca's work helps to bring the colors of our California fibershed into our daily lives. Please RSVP and tell us how many in your party.

Join Us on Facebook and Twitter

It's just like neighbors chatting about their gardens over the fence, but digitally. Please join us on Facebook and Twitter.

Come and see us.

– Flora and everyone at Flora Grubb Gardens