apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

any suggestions for the best nursery in the Los Angeles area?

what part of LA are you in?

I live in Los Feliz, but I don't mind driving an hour for the right place. Thanks for any ideas! JulieW

JulieW. There are 2 nurseries worth checking out near you in the Hollywood area: Mickey Hargitay Plants on Fountain (just east of La Brea); and a place on Fairfax/Willoughby that I think is called Xotix Tropical (or something like that). Through the years, I've bought most of my plants from both places, but really like the interesting selection of exotics at the place on Fairfax. They guy who runs the place is real character: he looks a little bit like the gruff screenwriter Joe Eszterhaus and has lots of stories about plant clippings he's gotten from this place or that, very knowledgable.

[Useless factoid about the place on Fairfax: this nursery was used on a location shoot for one episode of Melrose Place's season one (Jake worked there for about a minute before quitting and riding off on his motorcycle). Useless factoid about Mickey Hargitay: I believe he's the son of bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay and screen siren Jayne Mansfield; and brother of Law and Order SVU's Mariska Hargitay...]

Back on topic, also worth checking out: plant vendors at the monthly Rose Bowl Flea Market and weekly Sunday Hollywood Farmer's Market on Cahuenga/Selma. Though a much better selection at the Rose Bowl.

Finally, there's that little place in the Sunset Junction area of Sunset Blvd. 2 doors down from the leather/fetish shop. Small selection of cool succulents. Alec wrote it up a few months ago. Maybe Gregory knows the name of the shop?

thanks Enrique!

I'm a plant enthusiast, and I haven't checked out the places mentioned above even though I'm not that far away in Glendale. I have however, found some amazing nurseries in the Pasadena area which is less than an hour from you:

Burkards Nursery - This is a good place for ideas because it has a great assortment of interesting and hard to find plants, but their prices are sometimes ridiculous. If I find a plant I like but beyond my budget, I take down the name and find it somewhere less expensive. Great selection of perrenials, herbs, succulents and vegetables.
http://www.burkardnurseries.com/

California Cactus Center - If you are into succulents this place is heaven. Low maintenence, easy to grow and so interesting looking- check out the website. These guys supplied the Getty (the one above the 405 - not the villa) with the succulents and their garden and I am a huge fan of the Getty garden.
http://www.cactuscenter.com/

Bellefontaine Nursery - the nursery I go to after seeing something at Burkards and finding it less than half the price! It's a family owned and you will find random things growing in the ground , like artichokes and amaranth, next to the plants for sale. This nursery carries an extensive selection of roses, but is one of my favorites because it carries a lot of california native plants that are new to the eye and drought tolerent. Located on Fair Oaks south of Colorado Blvd.

Oh, and the store in sunset junction mentioned above is named Libby's - the plant selection is not very large but a nice place for finding vintagey garden pots and furniture.

Happy Gardening!

Enrique must be talking about the small but fabulous Libby's in Sunset Junction:
http://la.apartmenttherapy.com/la/sunset-junction/libbys-vintage-home-and-garden-003784

I also find the staff of the local Sunset Nursery (4368 W Sunset Blvd) helpful; they advised me recently about setting up my first terrarium and surprisingly have a decent selection hidden in the back.

And if you're willing to make the short trip inland, there's the highly regarded (and rightfully so) Bellefontaine Nursery in Pasadena...they've got a great selection and helpful staff.

The best nursery depends on what you're looking for. Hands down the absolutely best nursery as far as selection for outdoor plants, roses, perenials etc is Sperling Nursery at the Calabassas offramp on the 101 North. You get off the freeway at Calabassas, go left over the frwy, then right and it's right there on your left. Pricey, but outstanding! Not interesting for house plants though.

Mickey Hargitay is good only for house plants and tropicals and not much else. I

f you want exotic fruit trees, there's a place about 20 minutes inland, you can find it on a google search, called Mimosa Nursery. They're great for guava, jujubee, dragon fruit and especially the BEST SMELLING PLANT EVER, the flowering Michelia Alba tree. DO NOT BUY THIS from the guy on the corner of fairfax and Fountain! He charges $300 for what Mimosa charges $75. Actually, because I paid the $300 and then found the same thing at Mimosa for $75, I kinda despise that guy, I think he's a thief. But anyhoo, I'm a serious garden enthusiast, sperlings and Mimosa are two really exceptional nurseries.

Any suggestions for cool lampshades?

Totally changing the subject here-

Does anyone recall a few weeks back a posting with these decorative standup fireplace logs. They were really funky and came in different colors....I can't seem to find them anywhere?

Thoughts please?

hey katie-
here's a link with the creator:
http://itsknotwood.blogspot.com/2006/06/four-logs.html

and here's a link to his site
http://www.fourlogs.com/

LAMPS: try practical props in north hollywood. lamp shades are surprisingly difficult to find in this city. maybe i'm just not looking in the right places.

http://practicalprops.com/index.html

also, i remember seeing a couple of shades at the dock downtown the last time i was there, mostly ornate and girly. note: there wasn't a huge selection, maybe a dozen or so different styles?

www.thedockdowntown.com

PLANTS:

My mom works as a landscape designer and one of her secrets is Green Arrow nursery in the valley (Nordhoff exit on the 405). The prices are great and they have a nice selection of more off the beaten track plants (in small sizes too). You get to pull a red wagon behind you filled with your plants! They've got a lot of pots at reasonable prices also!

http://www.supergarden.com/north_hills.html

I'm going to ask the LA crowd because I'm in an LA mood... I've promised to build this house as a project that I'm giving away when I'm done, and I just cannot settle on an exterior color scheme. I want to do something PLAYFUL but still like a real house, not like Disney or Barbie. Here's the house:
http://www.corona-concepts.com/dollhouses/9301.htm

It's possible to omit trim, change trim, and change the exterior finishes (siding, stucco, shingles, etc.) but not to change the basic shape of the house (at least, not with my skills).

Ideas?

I'm buying a couch for my new place. I was originally thinking of getting a new sectional, but a friend has a couch/love seat combo he's willing to sell to me for very, very cheap. The trouble is, he's a smoker. Is it possible to get that cigarette stink out, or should I just go with the sectional? If I can just buy his stuff, I'd save over $1500, so I'm willing to put some elbow grease into this.

Thanks!

hey zack-
i've heard that if you vaccum it first, then use something like febreeze, that can help eliminate the smell... haven't tried it, but just a suggestion.

Zack - it really depends on how heavy a smoker he is. I had a rental car not too long ago that must have been used by a heavy smoker. I used an entire bottle of Febreeze in it and it didn't make any difference. I ended up making them trade the car out for another.

You can have furniture dry cleaned. It's very effective, done in your home and the drying time is just a few hours.

Maybe you should have your friend do this for you if he really wants to sell the furniture. You're doing him as much of a favor buying his furniture as he is by selling it cheap. Most people want furniture from a smoke free home.

Hey, Angelenos: Just attended a really cool gallery event at a great vintage furniture shop/gallery on Highland Ave (just south of Sunset Blvd) called Retropolis. Merch in the store included an assortment of vintage phones (Sculpturas, Ericofons, etc.), really great vintage finds (child-sized Bertoia chairs, Nakashima-esque coffee tables, fantastic selection of swag lamps and atomic-age pendant lights), and assorted tchotckes. The gallery opening was quite cool, too: art inspired by the work of Fundamentalist Christian cartoonist Jack Chick (of "Chick Tracts" fame/infamy). Reprints of various Chick Tracts ("Doom Town", "The Little Princess", "Sin City", etc.) were given away; and there was an outdoor slideshow of Chicks's full-color paintings and pastels. Full bar, of course. And the crazy LA hipster indie-art crowd were in full-effect: skinny boys with floppy hair and big eyeglasses accompanied bad-ass chicks in capri-pants or shorty-shorts. What better way to subvert Chick's ideology. http://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlist.asp I'm definitely planning a return trip to the store to check out the goods, all of which seem to be fairly-priced (by LA standards).