I trekked up to San Francisco yesterday to make a pilgramage to Borderland Books. And along the same street (Valencia) is a garden store I’ve been wanting to visit for ages: Paxton Gate. Inside is a unique mix of well curated taxidermy oddities and gardening odds and ends, as well as a large number of plants. I picked up a few more tillandsia, as well as some sea urchins to display them in. A friend came home with a glass goose egg.
Paxton Gate has a humid room dedicated to carnivorous plants. I waited patiently to see a fly to get swallowed by a pitcher plant, but he escaped at the last minute. The garden out back had broken colored ceramic chips as gravel, and neatly grouped plants, as well as hanging gardens. They are especially fond of bromeliads, it seems.
After your visit, you can have an all-natural-Niman-Ranch-vegetarian-fed-cow burger at The Burger Joint across the street. And a root beer float.