best nursery in Orange County

I have a friend who will be 50 this month and want to give her a gift certificate to a good nursery. She lives in Tustin in Orange County. Anybody out there want to recommend a good nursery-someplace that has cool garden art, pots, etc. in addition to good quality perennials? I seem to remember Rogers Gardens in Corona del Mar is good, but I don't know what else is out there.
Thanks,
Mendo

Hi Mendo,

Yes, Rogers Gardens is a nice nursery with all the things you mentioned....but there are a few others I can recommend also.

Laguna Hills Nursery in Lake Forest on Jeronimo
Plant Depot in San Jaun Capistrano - wonderful place http://www.plantdepotnews.com/news/6/38/
Blue Hills Nursery, but it's in Whittier. - wonderful also. http://www.bluehills.com/news/6/39

I live in Huntington Beach, which is only about 10 miles from Tustin, and I go to these other nurseries all the time.

What a nice gift for a dear friend.
Donna

I was going to say Plant Depot too. When I lived in Laguna Beach I at first had several nurseries that I'd frequent but in th end I dropped the rest and only went to Plant Depot.

SoCal and Stellapathic,
Thanks so much for the recommendation. It looks like Plant Depot is the place to go. I grew up in Santa Ana, and now live in Ukiah about 2 hours north of San Francisco. We used to go to Huntington Beach when we were kids-also San Clemente and Doheney State beaches for summer vacation and lots of great body surfing. Geez, life was a lot simpler back then!
Hey, Cambria is not too far from where we are meeting my friend who will be turning 50. We're meeting in Cayucos, a small beach town. We are all going to have dinner, drink some wine, and probably complain about getting old. I know she will enjoy a trip to San Juan Cap, as she and the hubby like to take trips there to chill out on the weekend.
Thanks again to both of you, and I hope you have a great Fall season.
Mendo

Cayucos is the next town south of Cambria. That's where I stop to watch the surfers, something I could do sitting at the computer in Laguna and I miss. If you haven't decided where for dinner yet I highly recommend Robin's in Cambria. Great food and the patio is particularly nice for ambience. Oh, and if you're in SJC and ready for brunch/lunch, don't miss Cafe Ramos, definitely wonderful! I miss being able to go there. And the Plant Depot, of course. Rogers Gardens - you know, I think I only ever bought one actual thing in that place. They are ridiculously expensive and "gucci." However, you don't want to miss the place at Christmas, they do a bang-up job of decorating and I always get great ideas.

And Ukiah, oh Ukiah. From 1978 through most of 1986, before I moved back down to So Cal because I was always in 'survival mode' from lack of any decent paying jobs in Sonoma County, I lived in, first, Guerneville, then West Sebastopol/Freestone, Occidental (my favorite) and then in Sebastopol itself. Most of my friends were musicians and at some point in their careers most of them played The Palace Hotel. There was a group called Fast Friends who were hired there fairly regularly and we'd get rooms for the weekend and play in Ukiah. I miss those days a lot. Ukiah was always a wonderful place to me, because I was there only for fun, never for business or even "vacation." Just plain fun. I do remember meeting Bonnie Raitt there, at The Palace. She sat down at the table I had secured, up by the stage but to the side. It seems like I remember she had some connection to Ukiah. Is she from there? Don't remember. Just remember being pretty impressed that I was sitting and talking with her, even though I seem to remember she was in a particularly bad phase of her life with alcohol/drugs? Don't remember the details but do know that she turned it around and became a superstar and I admire her for it.

Have a great time with your friend. 50 won't kill her, I know from experience.

Cottage Gardens Nursery in Westminster is also a very good nursery....they have lots of good perennials and annuals.....many of the "old fashioned" and hard to find varieties.

Green Thumb on El Toro Rd. (Mission Viejo????? ) ( What city is it in Donna??? LOL ) is also a good one....I wish they had one in Long Beach.....

JD

JasperDale,
Is Cottage Gardens the new name of what used to be Mary Lou's? Heards Country Gardens?
Sherry

Sherry, yes it is. After being closed for over a year, one of the girls that used to work there, Jamie, started it up again. She did some work the the nursery, but it is still very similar. Jamie runs it, but her sister and mother help out also. I have not felt the warmness of the place when I go there and sometimes they are not very helpful and cold. Their plants are pretty pricey too.

It's NOT the same place. :-(

Donna

Hi, Donna,
That was my take on it, too. Went there once since Mary Lou died and thought they still had some of the more hard to find items, but not as much and no, not the same as it was before. Didn't know that's what they were calling it now. I like Brita's in Seal Beach. Not a large place, but I like it anyway and usually end up somewhere on PCH heading north on weekends, so I stop by there when I'm in the area.
Sherry