Buying plants is getting more and more difficult.

People often ask me where is the "best" place to buy plants.  Wow!  That is a tough question to answer and here's why:

The Problem: There are only a few nurseries left in the South Bay and most of them sell the exact same plants and products. Sure, Yamagami’s has a reasonable selection of fruit trees and Summerwinds has lots of annuals, but little else is different. There is almost no difference in plant selection since they buy from the same growers, and it is rare to find something really unusual. Also, retail nurseries promote what they carry. If their selection is limited to begin with, you may never know about plants that could work for you.

Another problem is availability. Landscaping goes on almost year-round in this part of CA, yet retail nurseries usually only stock whatever is blooming at the moment. Do you really want to hear: “We won’t have XYZ until next year”?

So what do you do if you want a “palette” that is different from everyone else on the block or need certain plants during the offseason?

Be prepared to drive. The absolute best retail nursery in the Bay Area is Berkeley Horticultural Nursery in Berkeley (berkeleyhort.com). Incredible selection with plants I have never seen anywhere else.

Half Moon Bay has many nurseries close to each other. Half Moon Bay Nursery (hmbnursery.com) on 92 has a truly vast selection of general landscaping plants. Customer service is nothing great and it helps if you know what you want or have a few hours to browse. Yerba Buena Nursery (yerbabuenanursery.com) is close by and it specializes in CA natives – really knowledgable staff and I have shopped there for years. Many other general and specialty nurseries are in the same area.

Shop where the pros shop. Capital Wholesale Nursery (capitolwholesalenursery.com) stays stocked all year with a huge selection of trees and shrubs in many sizes. They happily sell to non-pros, but they also expect you know what you want without a lot of help. The prices are good and the nursery layout makes it easy to find what you are looking for. They can also act as a plant broker and find what you want if they don’t have it.

Take advantage of your landscaper’s knowledge and connections. We have access to nurseries, especially for trees, that only sell to pros. You can even come with us and pick out that one special tree for your yard. You’d be surprised at how affordable even large boxed trees can be.

Buy on the Internet. You can literally get ANYTHING you want online. Need proof?

Check out this pic of a Quercus ‘Kindred Spirit”. I just received it from a nursery in Oklahoma and it will solve a tough problem for a client. Do a search for info on this tree, look at how big it gets, and you’ll see why it is so useful. 

Quercus "Kindred Spirit"

Or, take a look at “Picea pungens ‘Ruby Teardrops’. Imagine having that in your front yard!  Good luck finding plants like these in a local nursery. When you buy online, please be realistic about the size and cost of plants.

Ruby Teardrops (Source: https://www.coniferkingdom.com/picea-pungens-ruby-teardrops/)

Wouldn't you love to have this in your front yard?  I planted this tree years ago for clients in Santa Clara, and it has so many uses:

It is fine with lawn watering, needs almost no maintenance, no pest problems that I know of, doesn't drop any needles, makes a fantastic screen, has wonderfully soft foliage you just want to run your hands through, and look at its winter color!  Can you buy this at a nursery anywhere in the South Bay?  Not a chance.

As a professional, one of the best ways I can help you is to prevent you from making the wrong choices.  That lovely blue miniature hydrangea you found online is simply not going to work against your south-facing wall. I can also help create the conditions your plants need to be happy for many years. Finally, I’ve been doing this work for a long time and I’ve been exposed to many different plants and ways to use them correctly. I can pass this knowledge onto you.

When I am working for you, the price I pay for plants either from a nursery or online is the same price you pay. You get a copy of all receipts and you will never see any mark up above my cost.