Hello, Sue, these two for sure:

Elizabeth Gamble Garden
http://www.gamblegarden.org/

Filoli Center
http://www.filoli.org/

Thank you for the FAQs!
Rain

Gardens

San Francisco Botanical Garden
www.strybing.org

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden
botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

Ruth Bancroft Garden
www.ruthbancroftgarden.org

Nurseries

SummerWinds
www.summerwindsca.com

Roger Reynolds (Menlo Park)
www.rogerreynoldsnursery.com/

Carlmont Nursery
2029 Ralston Ave
Belmont, CA

Golden Nursery
1122 2nd Ave
San Mateo, CA

Wegman's Nursery
492 Woodside Rd
Redwood City, CA

Yerba Buena Nursery
http://www.yerbabuenanursery.com/ (CA native plants)

These are just the ones I go to regularly on the Peninsula. There are more in the East Bay and up north in the Sebastopol area.

Best East Bay Gardens:

U.C. Berkeley Botanical Garden rocks!

Also lovely is the botanical garden at Tilden regional park Tilden botanic garden

My favorite nurseries in the East Bay are

Berkeley Nurseries:

East Bay Nursery, Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, The Dry Garden, Magic Gardens,

Richmond:

Annie's Annuals (a wonderland of plants!)

Oakland:

Grand Lake Ace Hardware store (really)

Orinda:

McDonnell Nursery

Western Hills Nursery is ALWAYS a must several times a year. But after June 1 it will be open by appointment only as it is going on the market for sale. Maggie has decided to make a change.

http://www.sonic.net/~weasel/western_hills.html

The Dry Garden in Berkeley

Half Moon Bay Nursery in Half Moon Bay

Payless Nursery in San Jose

Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore

The Garden Company in Santa Cruz

Antonelli Brothers in Capitola

Regan's Nursery in Fremont

Almaden Valley Nursery in Almaden

El Dorado Nursery, Shingle Springs

Capital Nursery, Citrus Heights

Bushnells, Granite Bay

The Front Yard, Placerville

Morningsun Herb Farm

Oakland - Longs Drugs @ Broadway & 51st - really, it's quite a find. Grand Lake Ace Hardware @ Grand Avenue & Wildwood, another find.

Berkeley - East Bay Nursery, San Pablo @ Bancroft

Lafayette - Orchards Nursery

Three Palms Nursery, 26990 Rd. 95-A, Davis

They're in their 17th year, and they have a GREAT selection, as well as a beautiful private garden around their home next door.

Brenda

All of the above suggestions are great. Another garden to visit in Santa Cruz is the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum

UCSC Arboretum

And thank you for the FAQs!

linda (Santa Cruz expat)

If you are in the Placerville area - Tomary's on Pleasant Valley Rd.(Summer only) and Sleepy Hollow Nursery off Hwy. 50 & Placerville Dr. For Grasses - Lotus Nursery in Lotus off Hwy. 49.

Emerisa Gardens in Santa Rosa has a nice selection of 4" perennials, grasses, and other plants: http://emerisagardens.com/

Glad Western Hills was mentioned -- a great nursery.

Bob

Two great specialty nurseries are Sierra Azul Nursery & Garden in Watsonville, which specializes in plants for a Mediterranean climate, and Elkhorn Slough Native Plant Nursery in Moss Landing. In addition to an interesting plant selection, both nurseries have nice demonstration gardens. Elkhorn is only open on Fridays and, during Spring/Summer, on the first Saturday of every month. Elkhorn recently opened a second location in Soquel that is open Monday - Friday, but I haven't been to it.

Forgot one: McAllister Water Gardens, on Highway 29 in St. Helena, has the best selection of water garden plants and pond features. There's also a nice demonstration garden.

I predominately purchase my plants through wholesale nurseries but on frequent ocassion I have to run into a retail nursery to pick up one of this or two of that.

I also work primarily in the Marin area so I have come to know all the various retail nurseries in this area and many in the East Bay and Sonoma counties.

For shear horticultural variety and volume of their grounds , Magic Gardens and Berkeley Hort are my long term favorites.

The Dry Garden comes in second, only because he does not have the space that Magic or Berk Hort has ., but Richard ( Dry Garden ) does have a knack for ordering the rare horticultural gem that no one else has the talent or knowledge to pick plants off a wholesalers availability list.

Marin is somewhat barren when it comes to super great nurseries, We have Sloats , that depending on the individual management , it can be Ok to pretty good, but it is never great. And we have the new kid on the block, Armstrong, which is also just OK.
Sunnyside does a very good job , as does Bayside in Tiburon , but still the horticultural aptitude of the Marin buyers is just not here as it is in the East Bay.
I will mention Green Jeans, but only because they have the absolute worst customer service and piss poor attitude in all of the Western United States and their prices are stupidly high .

In Sonoma I think the crown jewel of beautifully styled nurseries is Cottage Garden Growers in Petaluma.
They have a nice selection of plants that are extremely well groomed . They order in some unusual plants , but again, they don't have the horticultural prowess that the East Bay Nurseries do.

Emerissa is excellent for 4 inch size perennials. They rein supreme in that realm.

Western Hort is wonderful, but it is not a fully stocked nursery , but certainly you can find the rarest of the rare , but only in limited amounts and at certain times of year when they can order it in from the wholesalers or if they have propagated it themselves.

With gasoline being so expensive, I would economize and drive over to the East Bay and visit Berkeley Hort, The Dry Garden and Magic Gardens to get the biggest bang for my horticultural spending dollar.

For Placer County area:

Eisley's Nursery in Auburn (tomatoes!)
Lake's Nursery in Newcastle (Maples!)
High Hand Nursery in Loomis (Unusual decor)
Tahoe Tree Nursery in Tahoe City (yummy deli inside)

In Redding, Ca. the McConnell arboretum Gardens will open on May 10. 13 Different gardens are featured, plus Art works, the Medicinal Garden is 10 acreas representing different parts of the body. This is all located at Turtle Bay, but they have a stiff entry fee of $9 for seniors & 11 for other adults. This is where the famous Sundial Bridge is located too.
Wyntour Gardens Nursery is my favority place to buy plants. Its located abouta miles south of the Redding Airport.

Sacramento City:

Talini's Nursery
5601 Folsom Blvd across the street from Albertson's Excellent nursery for the urban gardener. They carry a lot of perennials from Morning Sun Herb Farm.

Emigh Hardware
3555 El Camino Ave, Sacramento, CA
Fair selection of perennials.

West Sacramento:

Hollywood Hardware
1551 Merkley Ave just north of the Jefferson offramp on US50.
In the spring they have a good selection of perennials suitable for hot climates. They are one of the first in the area to order summer bloomers like Gaillardia and Yarrow. Prices aren't that bad either. Not much of a selection off-season though.

Davis:
Redwood Barn Nursery
1607 5th Street, Davis, CA

Chico:
Floral Native Nursery
2511 Floral Ave, Chico, CA

Oh and I forgot - Vintage Gardens in Sebastopol with, I believe, the largest selection of antique and old roses in the US.

Next door to Vintage Gardens and definitely worth a look is California Carnivores, which I believe has one of the largest public collection of carnivorous plants in the world. If your experience with carnivorous plants is limited to the tiny Venus fly trap, you should definitely have a look! With unusual colors and fantastical shapes, carnivores are truly distinctive flora.

All fantastic suggestions! Some of them I didn't know existed (yay, new nurseries to visit!!)
But, my personal favorite is the Native Here! nursery in Tilden Park, Berkeley. They sell native plants from Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Helping to preserve the local gene pool.
http://www.ebcnps.org/NativeHereHome.htm
They are only open Saturdays from 10 to 1, but for the backyard restorationist, it's the best local resource around.
Of course, I have to recommend Annie's Annuals in Richmond. Everytime I go, I'm there at least 3 hours. It's an event! So many rare and unusual plants, it's a wonder I don't have a credit line there.
Scott

Here is the link for Orchard Nursery in Lafayette:

http://www.orchardnursery.com/

and a link for Chalk Hill Clematis in Healdsberg:

http://stores.yahoo.com/chalkhillclematis/order.html

With the Ruth Bancroft Garden, I'd be sure to mention it's a dry garden.

There's also Markham arboreteum (I wouldn't go out of my way, but if you're already in the area and looking for a stroll - they do have good sales):

http://home.earthlink.net/%7Emarkhamarboretum/

And St Bonaventure in Concord has a beautiful large meditation garden for walking or sitting that IS worth a visit (and no one will come over and try to convert you, I am not a member yet can visit the garden in peace, website does't mention garden, more church oriented but has directions)
http://www.stbonaventure.net/directions.shtml

And if anyone is into Carnivorous plants...

California carnivores in Sebastapol.
http://www.californiacarnivores.com/index.html

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery in Sebastapol specializes in azaleas and rhododendrons but has an extensive selection of plants and is very interesting to visit. Here's a link to their web site: Sonoma Horticultural Nursery/

My first stop is always Lemurias in Dixon. They are a bare bones operation - nothing fancy, no demonstration gardens, just healthy plants at a better price than you will likely find elsewhere. They are family owned, well informed and helpful. They have a wide range of plants to select from. Thier hostas are especially nice.

Betty; where is Lemurias? Has it gone by other nomes? Perhaps under different owners? I'd like to cast another vote for Morningsun, and mention Van Windens in Napa.

Lemuria Nursery
7820 Serpa Lane
Dixon (off of Dixon Ave on the north side of I80)
707-678-4481

Nursery touring is my hobby and I think I have been to at least 80% of all the nurseries in the Bay Area. The following are the ones I really like.

Big (some very expensive) nurseries with a little bit of everything:

1) Berkeley Hort in Berkeley (expensive, lots of rare plants)
2) East Bay Nursery in Berkeley(A little cheaper)
3) Orchard Nursery in Lafayette(very organized, very expensive)
4) Regan Nursery in Fremont (Specialize in roses)
5) Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore (Huge site)
6) Yamagami's Nursery in Cupertino (Super expensive)
7) Roger Reynolds Nursery in Menlo Park (expensive with great tree selection)
8) Half moon bay nursery in Half Moon Bay (Bargain among this bunch)

A little bit smaller but still has quite a selection:

1) Summerwinds (South Bay)
2) Navlets (East Bay)(very good price)
3) Armstrongs (A chain from Southern CA, one store in San Ramon)
4) Wegman's in Redwood City
5) Orchid Ranch in Livermore (three nurseries with different orchid offerings)
6) Adachi's in El Sobrante (Some japanese plants)
7) Almaden Nursery in San Jose
8) Payless Nursery in San Jose
9) Magic Gardens in Berkeley

Specialty Nurseries

1) Sonoma Hort (Rhododendrons, beautiful demo garden)
2) Western Hill (rare stuff, the demo garden is great)
3) Bamboo Sorcery (all kinds of bamboo)
4) Miniature Plant Kingdom (all in sebastopol)
5) Bamboo Giant in Soquel(timber bamboo)
6) Yerba Buena in Woodside (Natives, expensive)
7) Annie's Annuals in Richmond(Great selection. Scary neighborhood)
8) The Dry Garden in Berkeley(Drought tolerant plant galore)

Wholesale Nurseries: If you buy a lot, you have to go check out the wholesale nurseries. Their price is fantastic and the selection is quite good. Two good ones are:

1) Suncrest Nursery
2) Monterey Bay Nursery (both in Watsonville Area with suncrest being more general purpose and monterey bay being more focused on tropical & sub-tropical plants)

Hi Sue.

I am surprised no one mentioned a very impressive nursery in Paradise, CA called Mendon's Nursery. I visited for the first time yesterday and was really quite stunned by the selection of really everything.

Two warnings however having said that. First, the staff is detached and not knowledgeable, even sarcastic which in 95 degree weather I was not really in the mood for. I asked for help in finding several trees and was told I might look here, or might look there or they might not have it, really no one could give you a definitive answer. Second, while the prices and selection on trees were excellent, virtually all the rest of the plants (I was looking at perennials) were high. Or maybe I just need to get out more. They do also deliver to surrounding areas but only when they have a huge order and there is of course a delivery fee.

So, the place is great but wear comfortable shoes and your best happy attitude.

www.mendonsnursery.com

Enjoy.

Kate

Oh, thanks for bumping this up, I've been busy and havent remembered to post this as a faq. Sue

My current favorite nursery in the Sacramento area: Talini's Nursery (mentioned above). I like it better than Capitol Nursery because they have more unusual stuff. I was very impressed with the Capitol Nursery on Madison, though, because it's a very well-run operation and it shows.

I've been told by my godmother that the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek (or was it Concord?) is wonderful.

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.

I've searched their website and too bad for me, Mendon Nursery doesn't have any info on the major fruit trees. Perhaps they don't sell any fruit trees? Only ornamentals?

JoeReal

Most of the fruit trees I have seen there were during bare root season. We bought a few different varieties of pluots and pears and cherries and....on and on. The web site they have doesn't do the nursery justice.

If you are interested in unusual plants, there is a new nursery called Plantopia in Danville. One of the owners, Lawrence Lee always has a booth at the S.F. Garden Show and he consistently has the best and most hard to find plants. His nursery is small, but I guarantee you will not leave empty handed. His address is: 1435 San Ramon Valley Blvd,, Danville.
Phone#: 925-324-0318
Wed-Sat 9-6
Sun 10-4

Did anyone mention the demonstration garden at Yerba Buena Nursery in Woodside? Several acres, over 30 years old, with superb mature specimens of native ceanothus, manzanita, and other native plants. I saw it in spring and was smitten.

Here is a link that might be useful: Yerba Buena Nursery

Does bohemian bamboo still exist?
Near Santa Cruz some where.

You might be thinking of Bamboo Giant in Aptos. I was just there last month, they're still in business. sue

I don't think anyone mentioned UC Santa Cruz Botanical Gardens. It's a great place to walk around, esp. if you are into Proteas. They also have a heather garden, native plant area and a succulent area.
There's a small nursery and gift store as well where you can pick up some of the treasures you just viewed.

Just bumping this VERY useful forum and adding a couple of retail Native plants sources that might have been missed:

Cornflower Farms, Elk Grove
http://www.cornflowerfarms.com/

East Bay Wilds, Oakland
http://www.eastbaywilds.com/

Oaktown Native Plant Nursery, Berkeley
http://www.oaktownnativenursery.info/contact.html