If you take the Gold Line train to South Pas, you’ll notice a profusion of greenery and flowers just below and around the side of the platform. It’s worth it to explore the source of all this seemingly incongruous vegetation: Barrister’s Garden Center. I still haven’t figured out how they appear to have arranged an acre’s worth of plants into that tiny space next to the train station, but I don’t want to understand it. The place is magical. When my husband and I first walked through -- winding around the narrow curving pathways, past fountains and topiary and exotic foliage -- we decided it seemed kind of like something out of Dr. Who. (It didn’t hurt that a couple of San Gabriel Valley’s wild parrots were hanging out in a big ficus lyrata.)You can get the reliable impatiens and rose bushes here, but this place is definitely NOT Home Depot. As an amateur gardener, I love to find unusual plants that I have to look up on Google, and Barrister’s hasn't let me down yet. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, too.
14 comments:
Hello !
Ta description donne envie d'aller visiter ce jardin !
Leading us down the garden path in your TARDIS, eh?
I've seen parks that haven't looked this pretty.
I took one look at this path and knew it was your kind of place. Lovely.
Hmmm, pretty.
Fun to find these gems. This is the way garden centers should look like, not those indoor/outdoor wharehouses such as Lowes or Home Depot.
Admit it, Laurie... some of your friends are faeries! You might even be part faerie yourself! How else could your garden photos capture the true essence of a faerie garden... the magic isn't in the flowers... or the shrubs... or even the butterflies. It's in the path. Where does it lead? What will we find if we follow it? My heart is beating with excitement. Surely, this path leads to magical discoveries... just like similar paths led when I was five years old. Thanks for sprinkling your dust!
One of my college roommates had previously had a job in the landscaping department of a TV studio down there. That is to say, they would be responsible for pulling potted plants out of their greenhouses to "landscape" Fantasy Island for filming. I guess they were stuck in holes in the ground, or wrapped in camo, because at the end of the day, the plants went back into the greenhouses. This has a touch of Fantasy Island, I think.
I love this place -- just to gawk, really. Charming shot. And next door there is the best French cheese shop.
Pasadena Adjacent
Just messing with you...Real french cheese? no homogenization? This nursery is a wonderful place. I always shopped at the other nursery further east on El Centro (it went under, dang!)
Hi Laurie,
Haven't had a chance to check in for a few days. Thanks for the tip on this place. We do have a lot of good nurseries in the area, don't we? I'm an amateur gardener, too. Really amateur, as in about half of what I plant doesn't make it. I never blame it on the nursery, though.
Hello all,
Thanks for following me down the garden path. I realized this morning that instead of photographing my favorite nursery, I should have been watering my front flower beds. (Alas... my poor hydrangeas are drooping.)
Dusty, I agree with you. I enjoy Home Depot for the prices... but for the aesthetics? Not so much.
Thank you, Yak Pate! I'm not a fairy... but I tell my daughter all the time that there might just be fairies in the garden. (It's not lying. There just MIGHT be fairies in the garden!)
Elaine, that is really cool! It would be fun to introduce your friend at a party. ("This is my friend, he brought the fantasy to Fantasy Island...")
ALtadena, I just did a post about Nicoles the other day! (Mmmmm, cheese.)
Petrea, see my previous remarks about my hydrangeas. Sigh.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, everyone. I love having all of you here.
Since you mention the Wild Parrots, Laurie, I should mention the wonderful film The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, which is a documentary about San Francisco's wild parrots. For sure you can find it at Video Tech, which is across Mission from Busters.
Barristers Garden - sounds like a place where trial lawyers go to meditate.
Thanks for the suggestion, Mister Earl!
Barrister's Garden certainly is a charming display of nature. Would be nice if the owner reflected her greenery. She has the small town charm of soggy burnt toast on a rainy day. Not the South Pasadena that I know. Beautiful image none the less.
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