{"id":1205,"date":"2026-08-03T14:05:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1205"},"modified":"2026-08-03T14:05:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:05:54","slug":"eric-wareheim-plant-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1205","title":{"rendered":"Eric Wareheim, Plant Dad"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris<\/em>) is not something you would typically find in the chaparral of Southern California. The cartoonishly stout tree would be right at home in a Dr. Seuss book, but it is native to the shrublands of Australia. Even so, one recent morning, a flatbed trailer cruised down the I-5 freeway, with two massive bottle trees secured in its truck bed, and pulled up to Serpentine\u2014a plant-design studio (that is, a high-end nursery) in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, owned by the comedian and filmmaker Eric Wareheim.<\/p>\n

Read more Robb Moss Is Still Going with the Flow<\/a><\/p>\n

Wareheim, who stands well over six feet tall and wears a trim beard and square-framed glasses, raced outside to meet the delivery. \u201cOh, wow!\u201d he yelled, seeing the trees, each more than twenty feet tall, with bulbous trunks nearly nine feet in diameter. \u201cThis is the absolute holy grail for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Wareheim\u2019s botanical obsession began as a hobby after his divorce, in 2024. \u201cGardening is just so therapeutic,\u201d he said. Somewhere between his day job of making movies and TV (\u201cTim and Eric\u2019s Billion Dollar Movie,\u201d \u201cMaster of None\u201d) and a side hustle blending wine under a label called Las Jaras, he began collecting plants. Soon, they overwhelmed his house.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started having to sell plants because I had no room,\u201d he said. So, with a studio manager, Alexis Florio, he rented a loft, and they began potting desert plants in vintage vessels they sourced from around the world. They also shaped the plants into dramatic forms\u2014sometimes by pruning, other times by leaning a plant away from the sun and letting it twist back toward the light.<\/p>\n

Eventually, they outgrew the space, and they moved their wares into the loft\u2019s parking lot\u2014a wispy fifteen-foot dragon tree ($8,500) that evoked a ballerina mid-jump, a floss-silk tree ($7,500) with five trunks rising from a Willy Guhl saucer like a giant zombie hand coming up through the earth. Word of the oddball plants spread, and commissions rolled in\u2014Martha Stewart, Kelly Wearstler, Flamingo Estate. \u201cBuyers see them as art pieces, not just some green,\u201d Wareheim said.<\/p>\n

The bottle trees on the flatbed were to be the centerpieces of a celebration of Serpentine\u2019s success. Gazing up at them, Wareheim said, \u201cThey put them in museums, stadiums, and zoos\u2014that\u2019s it.\u201d Asked how much each one would go for, he answered, \u201cI don\u2019t know. What does it cost for me to spend two years befriending someone?\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Extra! Extra! Read All About It\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. Again<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s how long it took him to find the two trees, scouring nurseries all over San Diego County. \u201cThe whole game is to find that shape,\u201d he said. He discovered this pair growing in the driveway of Hula Tropicals, a plumeria nursery in Bonsall. But the owner didn\u2019t want to sell. Like Hollywood, the plant world is about relationships, so Wareheim spent months returning, buying increasingly larger plants, and gaining the owner\u2019s trust. Finally, a deal was struck, and the bottle trees were dug up.<\/p>\n

During the unloading at Serpentine, there was a hiccup: Wareheim had wanted to display the Brachychitons in a couple of huge limestone saucers that turned out to be too shallow. Plan B was two cement bowls, but they were too narrow. \u201cSo Plan C is the box, right?\u201d Wareheim asked his team, pointing to a container made of what looked like Lincoln Logs. \u201cWe cut the box down a little bit to make it look nice for tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

A forklift crane rattled to life and hoisted one of the two-ton Brachychitons. \u201cThis is the greatest thing I\u2019ve ever seen!\u201d Wareheim said, watching the tree glide through the air like Fellini\u2019s Jesus over Rome. \u201cLook at that thing!\u201d He stepped closer to the crane operator and said, \u201cI\u2019ll drive.\u201d The operator cracked a smile. \u201cThe guys hate me,\u201d Wareheim said. \u201cMy humor is so dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The crane maneuvered the tree into position. As it was lowered, team members quickly trimmed its roots so that it would fit inside the container. If they overdid it, they risked shocking\u2014or even killing\u2014the tree. \u201cI can\u2019t watch,\u201d Wareheim said. It took almost an hour to get the first tree in its box.<\/p>\n

By the time guests arrived (Nathan Fielder, Tim Heidecker), the bottle trees were tucked in discreetly among the nursery\u2019s dozens of other weirdo plants. \u201cThe prevailing theory is, you have to show off your big thing right when you come in. But actually the classy way is to not do that,\u201d Wareheim said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to work to find these. That\u2019s the cool way to do it.\u201d He priced the trees at fifty thousand dollars apiece.\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n

Read more What Does It Even Mean to Be a Moderate?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u201cMaster of None\u201d actor and half of the duo Tim and Eric turned his post-divorce hobby\u2014collecting Dr. Seussian trees and shrubs\u2014into a hipster business, with Martha Stewart and Kelly Wearstler as clients. Oren Peleg reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-l-a-postcard"],"yoast_head":"\nEric Wareheim, Plant Dad - City Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1205\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eric Wareheim, Plant Dad - City Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The \u201cMaster of None\u201d actor and half of the duo Tim and Eric turned his post-divorce hobby\u2014collecting Dr. Seussian trees and shrubs\u2014into a hipster business, with Martha Stewart and Kelly Wearstler as clients. 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