Rainforest Flora

Address: 19121 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503

Rainforest Flora: Exotic Nursery & Botanical Garden

Rainforest Flora, Inc. was formed in 1974 by Paul T. Isley III, Jerrold A. Robinson, and William Harris.

Paul Isley was introduced to Tillandsias while a student at UCLA in the 1960’s. He was fascinated by these incredibly unique looking plants that grow with no soil. A few years after he graduated from UCLA with a degree in Economics, he and a friend traveled through Mexico and Guatemala collecting some plants. Paul flew back up to Los Angeles from Guatemala City in the summer of 1974 and a few months later he began gluing them onto pieces of grapewood and offering them at swap meets and arts and crafts fairs.

After two years of doing this he invited his friend Jerry Robinson to join him. He had met Jerry while on a diving expedition in the Caribbean that was searching for Spanish Galleons. Jerry graduated from UCLA with a degree in Geology and had been managing a K-Mart store in Sacramento. He came down for a few weeks and made the commitment to the business and he has been an integral part of the operation ever since. The two have built Rainforest Flora, Inc. into a respected nursery concern.

Operating Hours:

Monday – Saturday: 9:00 – 5:00

Sunday: 11:00 – 4:00