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California Gardening

Visiting S.F. best nurseries and gardens, please

15 years ago

I will be visiting the San Francisco area for the last 2 weeks of January. I have downloaded the very excellent list of nurseries and gardens that is in the FAQ. (thank you to the person who did so much work, putting it together!)

I would like to know if there is anything particularly extraordinary that I should see. I am very much a generalist (I have a tropical garden, a succulent garden, a wildlife and water garden, a rose garden, fruit trees and vegetable garden) And I am fascinated by anything unusual. I am so excited about my trip to California! Thanks in advance.

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Comments (4)

Central_Cali369
15 years ago
Here's a link of places of interest

Here is a link that might be useful: places of interest (palms and cycads)
User
15 years ago
OK, my recommendations:

Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park is easy to get to and a lot of fun to explore in. They've got plants from all over the world. While you're in the park, make sure to visit the "living roof" and the indoor rainforest of the Academy of Sciences, the Japanese Tea Garden, and the Conservatory of Flowers. All are within at most a fifteen-minute walk of one another.

Muir Woods in Marin County just over the Golden Gate Bridge. There's nothing like redwoods anywhere in the world, and these are the most accessible old-growth redwoods in the world. Advice: get there extremely early as the parking lots fill up by 9:30 or 10:00.
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Wellrounded, Early on you asked about Noisettes. FWIW my experiences in a zone6-7 growing environment is that the simpler noisettes (as opposed to the tea noisettes) are stronger through winter than HTs. I grow Chinas and Rosa moschata. The chinas have little winter damage; R. moschata likes the warmer area (up by the house) and tolerates with slow growth the bottom of the hill which I've measured as five to seven degrees colder in difficult winters. The smaller blooming single and semidouble and double noisettes put on good size in my gardens. They keep their older canes through winter although they will loose canes put out in late fall. In a warmer area downstream, down the river in Knoxville, with some kind of heat island from the city plus many, many cars going by each day, a tea noisette (Duch. de Auerstadt) had great growth and bloom. Mine from the same source struggles. If you grow Chinas easily, it's worth trying the simpler noisettes as well as R. moschata (for its fragrance and elegance). If you're in an area with great heat (for your zone) and most of your HT canes make it through almostall winters, try a tea noisette or two. Much luck, they are worth the effort.
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I was just going to add Mendon's Nursery in Paradise on the list but then I saw that Kate had beat me to it. I live in Paradise and most of the plants I have planted have come from Mendons. I am very sorry Kate's first impression wasn't a very good one. There are many many people who work there and most are quite knowledgable. Maybe it was just the heat of the day. By the way, they have a great sale every October with all plants being 40% off. That is how I am able to afford all my landscaping.
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bahia
15 years ago
After looking at the FAQ list, I notice that one newer nursery in San Francisco is not listed, and I'd highly recommend it: Flora Grubb Nursery in the Bayview District. It combines superb mix of plants, including palms and indoor plants, a book shop with a good selection, as well as a coffee shop, and is so popular that it has become a destination for people who come just to see what's new. I would second the recommendation for the San Francisco Botanic Garden(formerly known as Strybing), and would also recommend getting down to visit the University of California at Santa Cruz Botanic Garden, as the winter blooming South African and Australian sections will be in peak bloom. The UC Berkeley Botanic Garden is also well worth a visit.

For smaller sized plants that will be easier to lug home with you, do make a visit to Annie's Annuals Nursery out in Richmond, she has an amazing inventory of all kinds of plants, mostly 4 inch size. The Dry Garden Nursery here in Oakland is also always worth a visit, as an example of another nursery that has one of a kind plants from all over.

If you are into California native plants, be sure to check out the Tilden Botanic Garden here in the Berkeley Hills, along with the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden, which also has an on-site gift store and small nursery.
butterfly15_ca
15 years ago
I second bahia's suggestion of the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. At 37 acres, there are plenty of things to see, including a South African garden, a tropical greenhouse, and one of the most amazing collections of succulents I have ever seen. It's definitely worth a visit!

As bahia also said, Annie's Annuals is an awesome place. I have never seen so many different plants for sale in one spot. Plus, they have amazing demonstration gardens that will probably be filled with blooming flowers.

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