12 CapitalPress.com
August 18, 2017
Nursery finds niche
in urban setting
Julia Hollister/For the Capital Press
Andrew Alvarado manages
Sloat Garden Center in the
bustling Marina District of
San Francisco. His clients’
gardens range in size from
sweeping lawns down to
window boxes.
By JULIA HOLLISTER
For the Capital Press
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SAN FRANCISCO —
Nestled between a popular
neighborhood bar and crowd-
ed restaurant is Sloat Garden
Center, a plant “boutique” in
San Francisco’s Marina Dis-
trict.
Andrew Alvarado has been
manager for three years and
caters to different customers’
needs.
“We’re part of the neigh-
borhood and our plant selec-
tion reflects that,” he said. “Ev-
ery customer has unique needs
but the most common question
has to be: ‘What do you have
that’s impossible to kill?’ I try
to reassure people that even
the hardiest plants take a lit-
tle know-how but that we’re
always available for advice,
knowledge and guidance.”
Sloat Gardens has three lo-
cations in San Francisco and
several others in Marin County
and the East Bay. Each has a
different clientele. Some have
customers with large expanses
of lawn and gardens while the
Marina location has customers
with window boxes. Most of
the plants are locally grown by
wholesale nurseries in the Bay
Area.
“We know the story behind
every 2-inch succulent and
15-gallon Japanese maple that
enters our doors,” he said.
“All the plants are geared to
San Francisco weather.”
The outside area is a daz-
zling array of colorful flow-
ering plants and herbs. In
addition to growing plants,
Sloat’s sells high-quality
garden tools, soils, planters
and offers garden design and
delivery. From planting and
pruning to weeding, the nurs-
ery offers customers a month-
ly garden to-do list.
“It’s not just San Francis-
co weather in general but the
particular and unique micro-
climate that is the marina,” he
said. “Most of our customers
live down the street from us
so we have to think of their
yards when selecting our
plants.”
Alvarado answers ques-
tions daily about which plants
are the most popular and
which are the hardest to grow.
Right now, the ficus lyrata
is most popular. It’s featured
in all the design and lifestyle
blogs and is in high demand,
he said.
“Thankfully, they’re not
too difficult to take care of,”
he said.
As far as the most difficult
plant to grow, “in my expe-
rience, maidenhair ferns are
probably the toughest,” he
said. “Demanding in light,
water and humidity, they
don’t forgive you if it isn’t
just right.”
He says many challenges
face the nursery industry, but
one stands out.
“In my opinion, the big-
gest challenge facing the
California nursery indus-
try is effectively educating
the public,” he said. “We
may be officially out of the
drought but we still need to
keep water-wise practices
and drought-tolerant plants
at the forefront of everyone’s
minds. We have to be proac-
tive instead of reactive; you
never know when the next
drought may occur.”
Alvarado said he can an-
swer most customers’ ques-
tions, but one day he was
stumped.
“One time I had a custom-
er come in wondering why
her ming aralia (a tall fern)
was smelling like maple syr-
up,” he said. “I couldn’t fig-
ure out why initially, but we
later got one in the shop and
soon enough it started smell-
ing like maple syrup, too.
I figured out we had been
overwatering it and when
the roots rot they emit that
smell.”