Plants. Flowers. Trees.

As with much of California, Santa Cruz’s temperate climate makes it a hotspot of biodiversity and a great community for gardening and certain agricultural crops. Ninety precent of the brussels sprouts in the U.S., for example, are grown in Santa Cruz and two of its neighboring counties, Monterey and San Mateo. I love the tiny cabbages in concept, but not in practice. Some of my best friends are Brussels sprout eaters, though. Santa Cruz county boasts over 2,500 acres of strawberry fields. I do my fair share of purchasing and consuming local strawberries.