Retail businesses come and go but no store closure ever bothers me as much as the loss of a good independent plant nursery. I still mourn the closure of the
Begonia Farms Nursery in 1997 every time I drive by the spot it occupied. Now the closure of Sperling Nursery in Calabasas, long one of my favorite nurseries and the subject of
several posts since I started this blog in December 2012, is imminent. The nursery hasn't publicly announced its closure date. Rumor had it that it would be open until September or October but, after announcing a 20% off sale in June, it already looks like this (photos taken by a friend on July 4th):
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| The nursery elected not to refresh its stock during its final months |
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| Purchases are now 30% off but there's not a lot left |
It was a vibrant place to visit whether on a busy weekend or a quiet weekday afternoon. I spent a lot of time in the area from late 2010 until early 2013 attending to the needs of my stepfather and, subsequently, my mother. After really bad days I'd often drop by Sperling before getting on the freeway for the long slog home through commuter traffic. Those visits helped me put things in perspective.
It's hard to see the place as it now looks in my friend's photos. I like to remember it like this:
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| Photo taken in March 2014 |
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| Photo taken in March of this year |
For the number of times I've been there, I've remarkably few photos. Upon arrival, my focus on plant selection was generally so intense I rarely wasted time with picture-taking. However, I'm not sure I ever left the place without plants in hand. Here, in collage format, are a few of the photos I managed to take between 2013 and my last visit in March of this year:
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| Sperling had a wonderful selection of plants, ranging from drought tolerant Australian natives, to roses, to succulents |
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| While the nursery didn't have demonstration gardens, they arranged pots of seasonal selections near the front entrance to give buyers ideas of what they could do in their own gardens |
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| They always had a wide selection of garden ornaments |
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| And a nice assortment of pots |
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| And lots and lots of succulents |
When Sperling closes, the 11-acre space will be occupied by a car dealership, making Calabasas a much less attractive place to visit in my opinion. Erin of Hope Gardens wrote a more eloquent homage to the nursery (with better photos), which you can find
here.
All material
© 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
