Growing outdoors

Gardening.

The Guild's outdoor growing collection — California natives, urban container vegetables, the pests and beneficial insects you'll meet in the yard, the pollinators that close the loop, and the tools that earn their place on the bench. Bay Area-first, growing each season.

California chaparral and oak-woodland landscape — golden grasslands with coast live oaks, California fuchsia in coral bloom, and California buckwheat in the foreground, hazy ridges in distance

Regional plant lore

California Natives

Bay Area-first native plant pillar. Hybrid voice — editorial plant lore plus practical sourcing and timing guidance for ethical native gardening.

7 entries · live Weekly Saturdays · seasonal
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Bright-window interior scene — weathered wooden window box planted with basil, parsley, chives, trailing nasturtium and cherry tomato vine on a sunny urban apartment windowsill

Urban growing

The Window Box

Urban growing in apartments, balconies, kitchens, and small spaces. Practical entries on container vegetables, herbs in small footprints, and balcony microclimates.

4 guides Foundation set
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Scientific specimen study — five glass petri dishes containing plant-diagnosis specimens beside a brass magnifying lens and a leather field notebook on kraft paper

Diagnostic procedures

The Field Manual

Mug-shot cards for the pests, damage, and disease you'll diagnose at the bench. Each dossier self-contained: ID, lifecycle, prevention, treatment, when to escalate.

5 dossiers · live Biweekly Thursdays
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Specimen-tray of six substrate ingredients — perlite, pumice, pine bark fines, charcoal, coco coir, and calcined clay — in wooden trays on kraft paper

Growing media

The Substrate Library

The science of growing media, written for an actual potting session — or a raised bed. Reference entries, citable, with mix recipes for indoor collections and garden soil alike.

11 guides · live Monthly
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Five Bay Area pollinators — hover fly, honey bee, bumble bee, anise swallowtail, and Anna's hummingbird — illustrated in vintage natural history register on cream paper

Pollinator reference

The Pollinator Library

The creatures that close the loop. Twelve Bay Area pollinators paired with the flowers their bodies fit, from short-tongued hover fly to Anna's hummingbird.

12 plates · opens Late 2026 Biweekly Fridays
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Specimen-tray of six gardening hand tools — bypass pruner, brass hand lens, pump sprayer, moisture meter, folding pruning saw, and pH meter probe — on kraft paper

Tool tests

The Workshop

America's Test Kitchen methodology applied to gardening tools. Four to eight weeks of real use per product category. Ranked Winner / Best Buy / Also Recommended.

Opens Jul 1 Monthly first Wednesday
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