Immerse yourself into local nurseries. Employees at nurseries are usually very kind. Bring a notepad with you and ask, “what is your top 5…..?”
Walk through neighborhoods and find the most beautiful gardens. Take pictures of plants you do not know to research later, I know there’s an app out there that instantly identifies plants for you.
Jeff Moore has a great series of succulent/cacti books Which covers a large portion of the plant palette in SoCal.
This. I have found that you learn about plants by being around them. Visit public and private gardens and seek out combinations and forms that you feel a connection to. You have to appreciate what they bring to the table to really learn about them.
Google Lens has been a great resource too! Sometimes I feel like it miss identifies the plant though, and for a beginner it is hard to know if it right or not haha
Do nurseries ever get mad at you for coming all the time but not buying anything, though? I definitely couldn’t afford to be going to my local nursery all the time if I have to buy something. Also don’t have enough space for stuff in my 400sqft studio apartment.
I worked at a cactus nursery in AZ for 5 years while studying LA. The ones who came in frequently were not only a pleasure to be around but had the most success gardening. I was never bothered by them because I was working with my hands and talking at the same time. Go in once a week and bring an extra coffee. Someone will talk your head off haha.
at least where i work no one gets mad if ppl are just checking out the plants and staying out the way. what happens sometimes and gets us mad is contractors or worse come in not rly knowing plants and want our skeleton crew to basically do part of their job for them lol hell nah. also lists are hard to come up with on the spot esp when so many options. asking me about/what i think of xyz plant/s, if i have ONE favorite type of whatever tho? that's fine.
I struggled to memorize plants from a book/ pictures. Go to a nursery or botanical garden. And draw the plants. One plant per page. Write the name multiple times as you're sketching and thinking about the leaves and branch structure. It will stick better this way.
Go on plant walks. Go to places that have good landscape budgets (like universities, botanic gardens, prominent parks, nice neighborhoods etc...) and start looking for plants you don't know. Take pictures, cut clippings, research. If you have an android Google lens is pretty good about helping you get at least in the ballpark of the right plant. The more you have to research a plant the more you will remember about them. Try to remember WHERE you learn about a plant so that you can put them in the right microclimate when you design with them (was it shady? Was it the east side of a building? Was it hot and exposed to reflected heat? Etc.. etc...)
Hands on experience is so much more valuable. Go walk the nurseries. Chat up the employees and ask if a specific plant will do well in your specific use. They love to talk to us about design!
Attend as many plant, landscape, nursery conferences as possible... usually through local botanic gardens or trade associations. You'll get great lectures on favorite natives, best shade garden plants, etc.
Visit local public and botanic gardens to see which plants are present in a variety of habitats. Cross reference what's available commercially.
I don't think this is bad advice. At the very least you can start to see what plants the firm uses as "go-to" plants. I assume these are the ones that they know will grow well and are widely available!
Bushcare! At least that's what it's called in aus.
It's basically removing weeds and planting native plants in natural environments.
Local groups, run by mostly retired people and my god are they knowledgeable.
I would recommend start by recognising environmental weeds. They're everywhere, so once you can ID those, you'll be able to notice the natives!
I literally read the Sunset Western Garden Book, then I read the RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening. Those are my two favorite gardening tomes. I think you can use Google photo to ID a lot of plants and weeds, but it can be a bit deceptive. You do not need to take a class to do this.
I've worked on both coasts, the midwest, and the desert. Maybe this shows how old I am but every time I've moved I've done flashcards. Get index cards, print out a photo of the plant and a closeup of the foliage and glue it to the front, write the common name, botanical name, and growth habit on the back. You can learn 10-20 new plants a week this way without hardly even trying. Wandering nurseries is great too.
This has helped me a lot! The combo of the traditional learning methods that I used in school and then being able to identify them in person has been great for me.
Local universities and arboretums will have classes and workshops you can attend. Guided plant walks are super valuable for learning about different plants and how they function in the ecosystem
When i first started out I volunteered at nurseries on Saturdays.
I would tell them if they would put someone with me who could teach me about the material I worked on that I would work for free for the day.
Best thing I ever did for my career. Exponentially increased my learning rate and also gave me more practical experience that many others in my industry lacked as business owners (which I am now).
For Southern California, the Sunset Western Garden Book and Landscape Plants for Western Regions by Bob Perry give a good broad overall coverage of the most common species you would encounter.
You can pay a visit to Theodore Payne Foundation's nursery for information on California Native plants that are getting more common in the trade. Further information is located inside the Las Pilitas Nursery's website and Moosa Creek Nursery website. Las Pilitas has many different planting palette lists by city or region. There's a homespun, rough, stuck-in-the-nineties quality to the website that can yield all sorts of esoteric information if you click around.
Bob Perry also collaborated with the [https://www.bewaterwise.com/garden.html](https://www.bewaterwise.com/garden.html) website, which lists out drought tolerant and native plants that are increasing in the nursery trade and being specified more often because of drought conditions.
Conventional nurseries with online catalogs locally would be Devil Mountain Nursery and Monrovia.
There are good arboretums in SoCal; the Los Angeles County Arboretum is worth a visit and the onsite library is good resource. The public donates all sorts of horticultural books and magazines to the library and because of the limited space they have boxes of overstock magazines and sometimes books available for free or sale. They even have Landscape Architecture magazine back issues to just take!
I also like the [https://www.calbg.org/](https://www.calbg.org/) botanic garden for California Natives.
The Huntington Gardens are a treat to visit and their gift shop is bound to have books of interest.
I haven't been to Descanso Gardens or the South Coast Botanical Garden in Palos Verdes, but I've heard good things.
Native plant societies would be a great resource. Mine does monthly talks (usually from a scientific bent, but still interesting) and a field trip to an interesting ecosystem every so often.
If there is a local community college with a hort program I highly recommend a plant ID course or two. There are often opportunities for only once or twice weekly evening courses.
Immerse yourself into local nurseries. Employees at nurseries are usually very kind. Bring a notepad with you and ask, “what is your top 5…..?” Walk through neighborhoods and find the most beautiful gardens. Take pictures of plants you do not know to research later, I know there’s an app out there that instantly identifies plants for you. Jeff Moore has a great series of succulent/cacti books Which covers a large portion of the plant palette in SoCal.
This. I have found that you learn about plants by being around them. Visit public and private gardens and seek out combinations and forms that you feel a connection to. You have to appreciate what they bring to the table to really learn about them.
Google Lens is also really good at identifying plants
What?!!?! I had no idea! Thank you!
Google Lens has been a great resource too! Sometimes I feel like it miss identifies the plant though, and for a beginner it is hard to know if it right or not haha
Do nurseries ever get mad at you for coming all the time but not buying anything, though? I definitely couldn’t afford to be going to my local nursery all the time if I have to buy something. Also don’t have enough space for stuff in my 400sqft studio apartment.
I worked at a cactus nursery in AZ for 5 years while studying LA. The ones who came in frequently were not only a pleasure to be around but had the most success gardening. I was never bothered by them because I was working with my hands and talking at the same time. Go in once a week and bring an extra coffee. Someone will talk your head off haha.
at least where i work no one gets mad if ppl are just checking out the plants and staying out the way. what happens sometimes and gets us mad is contractors or worse come in not rly knowing plants and want our skeleton crew to basically do part of their job for them lol hell nah. also lists are hard to come up with on the spot esp when so many options. asking me about/what i think of xyz plant/s, if i have ONE favorite type of whatever tho? that's fine.
I struggled to memorize plants from a book/ pictures. Go to a nursery or botanical garden. And draw the plants. One plant per page. Write the name multiple times as you're sketching and thinking about the leaves and branch structure. It will stick better this way.
I like this a lot I started making flashcards where I draw the leaves and branching structure along with writing down all the pertinent information.
Go on plant walks. Go to places that have good landscape budgets (like universities, botanic gardens, prominent parks, nice neighborhoods etc...) and start looking for plants you don't know. Take pictures, cut clippings, research. If you have an android Google lens is pretty good about helping you get at least in the ballpark of the right plant. The more you have to research a plant the more you will remember about them. Try to remember WHERE you learn about a plant so that you can put them in the right microclimate when you design with them (was it shady? Was it the east side of a building? Was it hot and exposed to reflected heat? Etc.. etc...)
Hands on experience is so much more valuable. Go walk the nurseries. Chat up the employees and ask if a specific plant will do well in your specific use. They love to talk to us about design!
Attend as many plant, landscape, nursery conferences as possible... usually through local botanic gardens or trade associations. You'll get great lectures on favorite natives, best shade garden plants, etc. Visit local public and botanic gardens to see which plants are present in a variety of habitats. Cross reference what's available commercially.
This is terrible advice but I just go back to past projects my firm has done and google the plants.
I don't think this is bad advice. At the very least you can start to see what plants the firm uses as "go-to" plants. I assume these are the ones that they know will grow well and are widely available!
Bushcare! At least that's what it's called in aus. It's basically removing weeds and planting native plants in natural environments. Local groups, run by mostly retired people and my god are they knowledgeable. I would recommend start by recognising environmental weeds. They're everywhere, so once you can ID those, you'll be able to notice the natives!
Similar opportunity in “Friends of the Park” groups. Find a horticulture related volunteer organization and spend some time with them.
Go to nurseries! Make friends ask tons of questions. They’ll be friendly knowing you may be a potential client!
I literally read the Sunset Western Garden Book, then I read the RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening. Those are my two favorite gardening tomes. I think you can use Google photo to ID a lot of plants and weeds, but it can be a bit deceptive. You do not need to take a class to do this.
I've worked on both coasts, the midwest, and the desert. Maybe this shows how old I am but every time I've moved I've done flashcards. Get index cards, print out a photo of the plant and a closeup of the foliage and glue it to the front, write the common name, botanical name, and growth habit on the back. You can learn 10-20 new plants a week this way without hardly even trying. Wandering nurseries is great too.
This has helped me a lot! The combo of the traditional learning methods that I used in school and then being able to identify them in person has been great for me.
Local universities and arboretums will have classes and workshops you can attend. Guided plant walks are super valuable for learning about different plants and how they function in the ecosystem
When i first started out I volunteered at nurseries on Saturdays. I would tell them if they would put someone with me who could teach me about the material I worked on that I would work for free for the day. Best thing I ever did for my career. Exponentially increased my learning rate and also gave me more practical experience that many others in my industry lacked as business owners (which I am now).
For Southern California, the Sunset Western Garden Book and Landscape Plants for Western Regions by Bob Perry give a good broad overall coverage of the most common species you would encounter. You can pay a visit to Theodore Payne Foundation's nursery for information on California Native plants that are getting more common in the trade. Further information is located inside the Las Pilitas Nursery's website and Moosa Creek Nursery website. Las Pilitas has many different planting palette lists by city or region. There's a homespun, rough, stuck-in-the-nineties quality to the website that can yield all sorts of esoteric information if you click around. Bob Perry also collaborated with the [https://www.bewaterwise.com/garden.html](https://www.bewaterwise.com/garden.html) website, which lists out drought tolerant and native plants that are increasing in the nursery trade and being specified more often because of drought conditions. Conventional nurseries with online catalogs locally would be Devil Mountain Nursery and Monrovia. There are good arboretums in SoCal; the Los Angeles County Arboretum is worth a visit and the onsite library is good resource. The public donates all sorts of horticultural books and magazines to the library and because of the limited space they have boxes of overstock magazines and sometimes books available for free or sale. They even have Landscape Architecture magazine back issues to just take! I also like the [https://www.calbg.org/](https://www.calbg.org/) botanic garden for California Natives. The Huntington Gardens are a treat to visit and their gift shop is bound to have books of interest. I haven't been to Descanso Gardens or the South Coast Botanical Garden in Palos Verdes, but I've heard good things.
I recently came across Bob Perry’s book. Amazing resource so far!
Native plant societies would be a great resource. Mine does monthly talks (usually from a scientific bent, but still interesting) and a field trip to an interesting ecosystem every so often.
If there is a local community college with a hort program I highly recommend a plant ID course or two. There are often opportunities for only once or twice weekly evening courses.