Far Out Flora

Gardening in the Outerlands of San Francisco

Utilitarian Franchise Garden

May 13, 2011 by Megan | 21 Comments

Sweet new pillows.

Our Sweet new pillows.

You never know where the garden world is going to take you.  We were out and about looking at some cool indie crafts down in Hayes Valley (SF), and these awesome octopus pillows caught our eye.  That’s were we met Tin of Utiltarian Franchise.  Turns out that not only does Tin design the coolest pillows ever, he also is an avid gardener.

Staghorn Ferns with Succulent Wall

Staghorn Fern Grotto with Succulent Wall

A week later, we headed over to check it out.  OMGosh, hands down…Tin’s garden is incredible.  For the past two years, he has been filling every nook up and down with tons of succulents, bros and epiphytes.

Bros and succulents

Bros and succulents

Tin plays a lot with color and texture.  Also without the ability to chop up the concrete, he uses a bunch of containers and vertical wall panels.

Succulent Wall.

Succulent Wall.

Such as these sweet panels he made including the frames.  So what does Tin do with his old serography screens when they are past their prime?  He makes them into vertical walls.  Man, I really wish I would have come up with that…it’s brilliant.

San Francisco in succulents.

San Francisco in succulents.

Oh, and love the stags too.  Also, <3 those hanging letters.  He has collected enough letters to almost spell out San Francisco too…sans the F.

Sweet succulent containers.

Succulent containers.

BTW as always, there are more pics of Tin’s work on our Flickr.

Big, bad A succulent panel

Big, bad A succulent panel Bromeliad Tree.

Geez, I want this succulent wall.

Bromeliad Tree.

Bromeliad Tree.

Okay, so there’s a lot to take in at Tin’s garden…and can’t wait to head back.  Wanting more info on Utilitarian Franchise designs, check out this SF Gate article.  Hey Tin, we love the pillows and thanks for the tour.

Far Our Flora

January 20, 2011
by Megan
6 Comments

Tillandsia Paradise

Our road trip last Dec/Jan took us to LA, and  Rainforest Flora was on our short list of must see nurseries down there.  Located in Torrance, their Tillandsia oasis was cooler than we could imagine.  Yeah, we’re Air Plant junkies … Continue reading

July 20, 2010
by Matti
6 Comments

DIY Staghorn Fern Mounting

I did a search for ‘Staghorn’ on our blog, and 12 posts popped up. Ummm, we really like these cool epiphytes. Staghorn Ferns (Platycerium) like to grow on other plants and things, but they don’t suck the life out of … Continue reading

June 29, 2010
by Megan
9 Comments

California Carnivores

On Saturday Matti and I got out of the city (Outer Sunset fog) for a little plant day trip to sunny Sebastopol in Sonoma. First stop, California Carnivores the home of the largest collection of carnivorous plants in the world!  … Continue reading