I finally made it to DIG Gardens in Santa Cruz! Back in June, I made my maiden voyage to San Francisco’s Flora Grubb, another amazing, amazing nursery. DIG was next on my list of nurseries I wanted to visit in person after getting to know them online.
Because it’s a two- to three-hour drive from Sacramento (when you get lost like I do), I combined this trip with a self-guided UC Santa Cruz tour for my son, who’s looking to transfer there as a junior. He got to see UCSC again… I got to see Dig Gardens… and we had a very nice lunch at Cafe Limelight. Gorgeous weather greeted us and it was a wonderful day in all.
Elliot and I got a little “GPS lost” on our way to lunch, which I don’t mind because it’s usually a chance to explore the unexplored. Our getting lost reward was Santa Cruz City Hall, with its mini Santa Barbara style courtyard.
Santa Cruz City Hall
Elliot standing next to a semi-uprooted palm tree
City Hall courtyard
Succulents, natives and drought-tolerant perennials
I think this is spiral aloe, Aloe polyphylla
Black Aeonium
A spotted aloe
DIG Gardens
DIG Gardens is at 420 Water Street. It’s a bit unassuming from the front, but once you enter the building, you are in garden heaven. The owners, according to Sunset Magazine, are Cara Meyers and her husband Will. Cara also owns Hidden Gardens Nursery and writes “Get Growing” for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. The property has a pleasant balance of indoor and outdoor shopping areas.
Inside the shop…
Dig Gardens entry sign
Dig Gardens storefront
Front counter at Dig
Purple vignette
Treelike mini lights
Ergonomic tools
Metal house numbers and other cool silver/grey items
Colorful vignette of pots, plants and furniture
Houseplants at DIG Gardens include Bromeliads, Tillandsias (aka “air plants”), orchids, and more. Orchids and air plants are about the only houseplants I have the patience for these days. Epiphytes like these tend to make easy-care houseplants because they don’t need daily attention.
Blue chairs
Window terrariums
Books
Canning books
More books
DIG bookstore
Seeds
Seed racks
Wooly Pockets
Wooly Pockets
Gift items
And now we’re going outside…
Shade sails and outdoor plants
Burbling fountain
Wall hanging
2″ succulents for sale
Silver and purple succulents
Love the robin’s egg blue/green wall
succulent/driftwood wall arrangement
Succulent Wooly Pocket
More pots and cool plants
Center arrangement outside
Elliot in front of the vertical garden
Greenhouse
Blue pots and succulents
Rusted metal fountains
Heading back toward the shop
Succulent topiary balls
Vertical garden at Dig
In the greenhouse
Monterey Bay display
Iochroma cyanea
Dig Gardens outdoors
Buddha head
Wall art and plants
Succulent birdbaths
I would love to go back to attend one of their workshops. While we were there, we spotted a whole room full of succulent cuttings, just waiting for a fun workshop. DIG also sells by mail order and does wedding work. This place is a Santa Cruz gem.
What I bought… A pretty ceramic tealight holder and an air plant.
My new ceramic votive/air plant holder from Dig!
West Cliff Lookout
West Cliff, Santa Cruz, CA
Those treelike mini lights are sweet!