{"id":11439,"date":"2021-05-28T15:54:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T22:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=11439"},"modified":"2021-05-28T15:54:25","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T22:54:25","slug":"exploring-the-ambriz-kingdom-of-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=11439","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the Ambriz Kingdom of Plants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Exploring the Ambriz Kingdom of Plants, photos by Erick Madrid. Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on May 20, 2021.<\/p><\/div>\n

There\u2019s no signage outside his unassuming\u00a0digs, but an urban rainforest\u2019s\u00a0worth of living treasures is tucked into\u00a0Joe Ambriz<\/a>\u2019s Carpinteria greenhouses.\u00a0Everything from orchids (he specializes\u00a0in Laelia anceps and Cattleya) to air plants, as well as\u00a0a tempting variety of succulents, flowering cacti, and\u00a0caudiciforms lines the aisles of Ambriz Kingdom of<\/a>
\nPlants, many of which have been raised from seed\u00a0by the man himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a love that spreads across the whole plant\u00a0world,\u201d says Ambriz, showing off a tableful of exotic\u00a0pot arrangements, some of which he\u2019s been cultivating\u00a0for almost a decade. \u201cI try to do as much as I can\u00a0from seed because a lot of the oddball, rare stuff isn\u2019t\u00a0easy to find in abundance, so by seed I\u2019m able to create\u00a0a whole bunch of rare plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ambriz got his start with orchids \u2014 a friend\u00a0gifted him with a cymbidium, and when it died a\u00a0year later, he was determined to learn how to keep it\u00a0alive. That sent him into a deep dive into the world\u00a0of horticulture: first as a hobbyist \u2014 at the time he\u00a0was working as the percussion director for Santa\u00a0Barbara High<\/a>, his alma mater \u2014 and then working\u00a0for 7 Day Nursery,<\/a> with a small area for cultivation\u00a0at Island View Nursery<\/a>. When that property sold,
\nhis current spot became available, and he leaped at\u00a0the opportunity for a kingdom of his own about five\u00a0years ago.<\/p>\n

Until the pandemic\u00a0hit, Ambriz made\u00a0the bulk of his\u00a0sales exhibiting\u00a0at orchid shows,\u00a0including the\u00a0Santa Barbara\u00a0International\u00a0Orchid Show<\/a>,\u00a0which was shut\u00a0down for the past
\ntwo years. Since\u00a0then, he\u2019s pivoted\u00a0his efforts toward retail\u00a0sales, and that loss is a gain\u00a0for local plant lovers. While there\u00a0are certainly plenty of colorful orchids on hand,\u00a0the oddball assortment of agaves, aloes, bromeliads,\u00a0tillandsia, and multitudes more are all equally
\nexciting.<\/p>\n

4998 Foothill Rd., Carpinteria, open by appointment,\u00a0(805) 570-5792<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent<\/a> on May 20, 2021. To see the story as it originally appeared, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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