Nursery Plants

Earth Stone Rock is a California plant nursery growing drought tolerant plants for landscape work. Shop succulents for sale by the container: agave, aloe, echeveria and yucca plants, alongside cycads, palms, bromeliads and tropical foliage, in sizes from 6 inch pots up to 48 inch boxed specimens. Outdoor succulents like these hold a bed on almost no summer water, which is why they anchor so much modern and desert planting in Southern California.

Shop by category: Succulents, Palms, Cycads and Tropical Plants. Within the succulents, browse Agave, Aloe and Yucca & Dasylirion on their own pages.

Succulents pair naturally with stone. Set them among boulders for structure, then top dress with decomposed granite or landscape rock to hold moisture and keep weeds down. For layout ideas read xeriscaping with landscape rock and landscaping with boulders. Sizes and availability change with the season, so if you need agave plants for sale as a matched set for an install, or a specimen larger than what is listed, contact us for a quote.

Grown in Southern California Succulents, palms, cycads and tropicals 6 inch pots to 48 inch box
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Need help choosing? See common uses, what pairs with planting, or read the buying guide.

Common Uses for Nursery Plants

From xeriscape beds and poolside planting to single specimen focal points, see where architectural plants do the most work in a landscape.

Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Agave, aloe and yucca hold their form on almost no summer water, which makes them the backbone of a low water yard once the beds are mulched with rock.

Poolside and Patio Planting

Poolside and Patio Planting

Palms and clumping foliage soften hardscape without dropping heavy litter into the water, and they take reflected heat off paving better than most shrubs.

Desert and Modern Gardens

Desert and Modern Gardens

Hard edged rosettes read as architecture. A few well spaced agaves in gravel do more for a contemporary elevation than a dense mixed border.

Specimen Focal Points

Specimen Focal Points

One mature tree aloe or dragon tree can anchor an entire front yard. Buy the size you want to see, because these grow slowly enough that waiting is measured in years.

Entries and Large Containers

Entries and Large Containers

Boxed and larger container stock is sized to stand on its own beside a door or gate, where a plant is read up close and shape matters more than mass.

Slopes and Erosion Planting

Slopes and Erosion Planting

Aloes and clumping succulents knit into a bank and hold soil between rock, which is useful on a grade that is awkward to irrigate or mow.

Materials That Pair Well With Nursery Plants

Finish the bed with the boulders, ground cover and soil that go in alongside a planting.

Boulders

Boulders

Set stone first, then plant to it. Boulders give a bed structure and scale that planting alone cannot.

Decomposed Granite

Decomposed Granite

The standard finish around desert planting. Holds moisture, keeps weeds down, and reads clean against a rosette.

Landscape Rock

Landscape Rock

Decorative rock top dressing in every color family, sized for beds around specimen plants.

Garden Soil and Mulch

Garden Soil and Mulch

Amended soil for backfill and bark mulch for the tropical and foliage side of the catalog.

Nursery Plant Buying Guide

Pick the right plant for your light and water, understand container sizes, and learn what to check before a specimen is delivered.

Nursery plants are sold by container size rather than by weight or coverage, so the number on the listing is the pot or box the plant is growing in, not the plant itself. A 3 gallon agave and a 24 inch boxed agave can be the same species at very different ages, and the price gap between them is mostly time.

Browse the full nursery plant collection, or read on for how the sizes compare and what to check before a large specimen goes in the ground.

Plant Types at a Glance

Plant TypeBest ForWater NeedSunGrowth
Agave Focal points, xeriscape beds, modern gardens Very low Full sun Slow, 2 to 6 ft
Aloe Slopes, winter flower, tree form specimens Very low Sun to part shade Slow, 1 to 15 ft
Cycads Formal beds, shade planting, collector specimens Low to moderate Part shade Very slow, 3 to 8 ft
Palms Poolside, entries, screening, tropical beds Moderate Sun to part shade Moderate, 8 to 30 ft
Bromeliads Color under trees, containers, shaded beds Moderate Shade to part sun Fast, 1 to 4 ft
Sizes above are typical mature dimensions in ground. Container plants take several seasons to reach them. For anything larger than what is listed, request a quote.

What Contractors Know

  • Buy the size you want to look at. Agaves and cycads grow slowly enough that a 3 gallon plant will not read like a 24 inch box specimen for several years. If the design needs presence on day one, budget for the box.
  • Plant high, not deep. Succulents and cycads rot at the crown. Set the root ball slightly proud of finished grade and let the top dressing feather up to it rather than burying the base.
  • Drainage beats watering schedule. Most losses on agave and aloe are from heavy soil holding water at the root, not from underwatering. On clay, plant on a mound or amend wide rather than deep.
  • Mind the spines on access routes. Agave terminal spines are genuinely hazardous beside a walkway or a pool deck. Keep armed species back from traffic or choose a soft tipped variety.
  • Check the gate before the truck. A 36 or 48 inch box needs machine access and real clearance. Measure gate width and look for overhead lines and low branches before delivery day.
  • Acclimate nursery grown stock. Plants finished under shade cloth can scorch in full desert exposure. Give them a season of partial shade or plant in autumn rather than midsummer.

FAQ

Container size is the pot or box, not the plant. A 3 gallon is a young plant that establishes quickly and costs least. A 10 to 15 gallon reads as a real plant in a bed. A 24 inch box and up is a specimen with immediate presence, and needs equipment to place.
Agave, aloe and yucca are the lowest water plants here and generally need deep, infrequent irrigation only through their first summer or two. Palms and bromeliads want more consistent moisture. In every case the risk is overwatering in heavy soil, not underwatering.
It depends on the species rather than the category. Many agaves and aloes take light frost without damage, while tropical foliage and some palms do not. Check the individual product page, and site tender plants under an eave or canopy where cold settles less.
Yes, and it is the normal finish for desert planting. Plant into native soil, then top dress around the plant with decomposed granite or landscape rock. Keep the top dressing just off the crown rather than piled against the stem.
Often. Sizes and availability change with the season, and specimen material is not always listed online. Tell us the species, the size range and the site access and we will quote what is currently available. Request a quote.
Fewer than most people expect. Architectural plants are spaced so each one is read on its own, typically at roughly their mature width apart, with rock or gravel between. Massing them like shrubs hides the form you are paying for.

Find the Right Plant for Your Project

Browse agave, aloe, cycads, palms and bromeliads in container sizes from 6 inch pots to 48 inch boxed specimens. Larger specimens quoted on request.

Shop Nursery Plants

Nursery plants for sale by the container, from 6 inch pots to boxed specimens

Every plant above is sold by container size, which is the pot or box the plant is growing in rather than the plant itself. Small container stock establishes fastest and costs least. Boxed specimens are years further along and go in where a design needs presence immediately. Pick a size on any product page and it shows the current price for that exact container.

The catalog runs across agave, aloe, echeveria and other succulents, cycads, palms, bromeliads, yucca and tropical foliage. Most of it is chosen for low water use in Southern California conditions, which is why so much of it reads as architecture rather than as bedding.

Succulents, cycads and palms are not interchangeable

Succulents such as agave, aloe and echeveria want sharp drainage, full sun and very little summer water once established. Cycads are slower, prefer part shade, and hold a formal shuttlecock form that suits entries and courtyards. Palms take more water than either and are the right call for poolside and screening. Bromeliads bring colour into shade where succulents will stretch and lose their shape.

Getting this wrong is the usual cause of failure. An agave in heavy irrigated soil rots at the crown, and a bromeliad in full desert sun bleaches out. Match the plant to the exposure first, then to the look.

Planting into rock and gravel

Desert planting is normally finished with stone rather than bark. Set your boulders first so the bed has structure, plant to them, then top dress with decomposed granite or landscape rock to hold moisture and suppress weeds. Keep the top dressing just clear of each crown rather than piled against the stem.

For the tropical and foliage side of the catalog, amended soil and bark do more good than rock. Those are in bark, mulch and topsoil and garden soils and amendments.

Where to buy succulents and nursery plants near you

Anyone searching for a plant nursery near me, or for succulents near me, usually wants two answers: who actually stocks the species and size they want, and whether it can get to them. Earth Stone Rock grows and sells nursery plants in Southern California, so the stock listed here is acclimated to the heat, sun and water conditions of the region rather than shipped in from a wetter climate and left to struggle.

Wholesale plant nursery near me is the harder version of the same search, because order size changes the answer. A few container plants travel easily. A run of boxed specimens for a commercial install is a freight and access question as much as an availability one, which is why larger orders are quoted rather than carted. Tell us the species, sizes and the site and we will price it properly.

Agave, aloe and yucca plants

Agave is the workhorse of the catalog. An agave plant asks for sun, sharp drainage and almost nothing else, and the species range here runs from compact rosettes to Agave americana at full landscape scale. Agave plant care is mostly restraint: plant high, water deeply but rarely, and leave it alone.

Yucca plants and red yucca do similar work with a finer texture, holding a vertical accent where an agave would read as a mass. Aloes carry the winter flower that succulent beds otherwise lack, from low clumping forms up to tree aloes several feet across. All three are true outdoor succulents in this climate rather than patio plants brought in for the season.

Drought tolerant plants and ground cover

Succulent plants are only half of a water wise bed. Drought tolerant plants set into gravel still leave open ground between them, and that ground is what decides whether the bed looks finished or unfinished. Drought tolerant ground cover can be planted, but on most Southern California installs the space between specimens is closed with rock rather than with more planting, because it needs no water at all.

If you are choosing between the two, drought tolerant shrubs and grasses give movement and soften a hard edge, while decomposed granite and landscape rock give a clean, permanent surface. Most designs here use both.

Shop plants by growing condition

The whole nursery is filterable in the sidebar, but these are the groupings people ask for most often, each one built from the same researched attributes: full sun plants for beds that take six or more hours of direct light, shade plants for a north side or under a canopy, cold hardy plants rated for high desert winters, xeriscape plants for low water beds, plants for pots and containers, erosion control plants for slopes and hillsides, ground cover succulents, privacy and screening plants, and hummingbird plants that bloom through winter. Sun exposure, water needs, mature size and USDA zone are listed on every product page.

Project guides

Start with plants by USDA zone if you are not sure what your winter will support. Read xeriscaping with landscape rock for water wise bed layout, and landscaping with boulders for placing stone that planting is designed around. If you are working out top dressing quantities, the coverage calculator sizes rock and gravel by area and depth.

Specimen plants and larger sizes

Availability moves with the season and specimen material is not always listed online. If you need a matched set for an install, a particular size for a focal point, or something larger than what appears above, send the species, the size range and a note on site access and we will quote what is currently available. Request a quote.

Delivery & Pickup

Nursery Plants Delivery Across California & the Southwest

Order nursery plants for pickup at our Central Valley or Antelope Valley yards, or bulk delivery throughout California — plus Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado. Tell us your ZIP and project and we will quote a delivered price.

Central Valley

Visalia · Fresno · Bakersfield · Tulare · Clovis · Hanford

Antelope Valley & High Desert

Lancaster · Palmdale · Santa Clarita · Victorville · Tehachapi

Southern California

Los Angeles · Riverside · San Bernardino · San Diego

Nevada, Arizona & Colorado

Las Vegas · Phoenix · Tucson · Denver