Balboa Park should be first on your list of places to see, and the San Diego Zoo which is in Balboa Park also serves as a botanic garden of sorts. If you do have a rental car, you could drive up the coast aways to Encinitas and visit the Quail Botanic Garden. All of San Diego will seem like one big exotic garden coming from Sweden.

I am not sure what to recommend as to garden stores for shopping, you may not be able to bring things back into Europe without a phytosanitary permit, which makes things fairly expensive. You will also probably find that at least when it comes to bulbs and ordinary plants such as Daylilies, you will have as good a selection of plants from wholesalers in Holland as here in California, and the crossing of borders with plants is much easier within Europe.

Now if you were more interested in shopping for tender bulbs or succulents or tropicals, then nurseries in San Diego will have tons of things that are not common back in Europe. You might find it entertaining to look at the web site for Kartuz Gardens in Vista, which does mail order as well, and has tons of fun and interesting things that could be grown as houseplants back in Sweden.

You will find a SEARCH feature near the top of the page. If you type in San Diego, you will find a lot of good information about places to see. Enjoy your trip!

Dear Bahia thanks for the information about the gardens to see.
Regarding bringing back plants to Europe I am aware of the limitations but is still interested in visit a store to get the feeling of what is out there in the USA.
We also have a place in Portugal so the climat is the same so seeds would do well if it is native.
Regarding Daylillies: I have got the impression that they as well as iris are bigger and "better" in the states.
We have a quarinteene station 20 miles from where we live so it is possible to get them to Europe if we really want to do it.
I was planning to give some to a friend we have here as a prsent for showing us around where we are not able to get to alone. I do not think he knows where the interesting plant shops are even if he would be happy for a nice plant.
Thanks for the advice about the search Lilydude. I had 4400 replys on San Diego and found some interesting among them, but not about plant stores in the Bay area

So if anyone knows of "plant stores" in the bay area or close to Balboa park I would be happy if they would share.
Kind regards
Joakim

Joakim,
When you say "bay area", it isn't altogether clear whether you are referring still to San Diego, or will also be visiting the San Francisco Bay Area, or the Monterey Bay Area, which are both rich in plant places to visit. If you are coming to the San Francisco Bay Area, be sure to visit San Francisco's Botanic Garden which is in Golden Gate Park. You should also try to visit the Berkeley Botanic Garden at UC Berkeley, up in the hills above town. They have a nursery at the entrance where you can buy rare plants. Also in Berkeley/Oakland, there is The Dry Garden Nursery on Shattuck Ave, right on the Berkeley/Oakland border, which will have lots of unusual plants, but no daylilies. There are several large daylily growers in San Diego County, and if Buena Creek Gardens Nursery is still open, (I heard rumors they are closing?), this is located in north San Diego County in the town of San Marcos. If Tom Piergrossi's nursery is also still open in November, (can any local San Diegans tell us more?), he has been having a going out of business sale and is also located in north county San Diego.

The Santa Cruz Botanic Garden at UC Santa Cruz is also well worth a visit, and is likely to have lots of Australian and South African Proteas, Leucospermums, Leucadendrons, Grevilleas, Hakeas, Callistemons, etc in bloom in November, and will show you lots of possibilities to grow in Portugal, but availability of these types of plants is much more limited over there. If you are also interested in seeds, these may also be an option at any of the botanic gardens, as well you should look up www.seedhunt.com for seed of lots of mediterranean/South African/Californian plants.

One last nursery if you are down in the Santa Cruz/Watsonville/Monterey area is Sierra Azul Nursery in Watsonville. They have a great range of less common plants, and would also be likely to stock many of the things you may see at UC Santa Cruz Botanic Garden.

If you would like to specifically see our California natives in a garden setting, then also include the native section at UC Berkeley, and the nearby Tilden Park Botanic Garden. If you will be in the Santa Barbara area at all, there is also the great Santa Barbara Botanic Garden which is located up in the hills behind the mission.

November is still a little early for most California natives to be blooming, but some of the stars this season would include the early blooming Ribes sanguineum, and the beautiful berries on our California Toyon. A few of the earliest blooming Manzanitas and Ceanothus shrubs are also just starting. If your visit coincides with the Ruth Bancroft Garden being open, it is also well worth a visit to Walnut Creek to see this garden. Their winter hours are abit more restricted, but you can visit their web site to see when they're open.

A trip out to Point Reyes National Seashore would also bring the possibilities of seeing some early coastal California wildflowers, or a hike ontop of Mount Tamalpais. Carmel is also well worth a visit, and the drive just down the coast from Carmel to see abit of the Big Sur coast line is always spectacular.

To really see California at its most colorful in bloom, it is probably better to visit in mid March to mid May, when our natives are at their peak, but in ornamental gardens and the botanic gardens, there need never be a day without flowers or color here in coastal California.

Another great nursery to visit would include Annie's Annuals in Richmond, Ca. This is just 10 minutes north of Berkeley in the East Bay. She also has a great website with lots of pictures of plants for our mediterranean climate, see www.annniesannuals.com to get an idea.

Because of the recent devasting wildfires in and around the San Diego area, I would call first on any places to visit just to make sure they are open and have things available. It is possible they were destroyed or damaged or maybe even road closures if it is raining that day.

Once again thanks Bahia (that is bay in Portuguese as well as a city in Brazil :) )
I was actually thinking of the bay area of the sity of San Diego. I realize that most of the nurseries are outside the main city but hoped/thought that there is a shop inside that carries a bit of everying regarding nice plants. I will definately see if I will be able to visit any of the abov mentioned nurseries. Thay sound fantastic.

Thanks to gobluedjm for telling me that I still need to contact the places before I go there. I thought that most of the trouble after the fires were fixed (unless they were burnt down completely.)
Kind regards
Joakim

Here are the four nurseries I can think of that are closest to the San Diego Bay. None of these were close to the fires so they should all be okay:

The following three are very nice, independently owned:

http://www.walterandersen.com/ptloma.html

http://www.missionhillsnursery.com/

http://cityfarmersnursery.com/

Here is a link for a big chain of nurseries, the one on Morena Boulevard is closest to the bay, it has a lot of stuff (unless you get too near Xmas, then they just have Xmas decorations):
http://www.armstronggarden.com/locations.html

There are many more nurseries in San Diego County, but some are much further away. Here is a link to a site that lists a lot of them.
http://www.sdhg.net/resource_olg7576.html

Ruth Jones

Buena Creek Gardens is still open - they're having a big sale on Nov. 16-18. Visit their website www.buenacreekgardens.com.

I believe Tom Piergrossi is pretty well sold out of plants and, in any case, not open to the public.

BOTH of these nurseries are for sale - anyone interested?

Here is a link that might be useful: San Diego Horticultural Society