Another plant he's had in his NFS for about 10yrs.

When did you visit the nursery?

A friend of mine just picked up one of these from another nursery. They are around, but only found with some hunting.

Just curious if people could mention some of the other nurseries worth going to in the Oakland/Berkeley area when visiting the Dry Garden. Do I remember correctly that they are only a block or so away from Berkeley?

Sorry to depart from the thread a bit--just wanted to stress that the Dry Garden is worth seeing for visitors and people elsewhere in the Bay Area. My impression is that this part of the Bay Area is in general the best for all sorts of plant looking/buying. I'm new/returning to the area and not completely aware what's out there. Berkeley/Oakland is a 50 mile drive for me--what else should I do after spending all that money on gas?

Perhaps there have been threads about this in the past...

Longs and Ace Hardware in Oakland, I've picked up small Brighamia at both as well as other succulents. Ace you can find some treasures, last year they got in about a dozen Pachypodium, a few baronii v. baronii, succulentum and bispinosum in 1 gal pots for $9.99. I bought them all!!

In Berkeley you could try Cactus Jungle, Berkeley Horticulture, East Bay Nursery, Westbrae Nursery, Magic Gardens, and for bonsai pottery try Dwight Way Nursery.

Most of these places get there C&S from Lone Pine in Sebastopol, so if you up for a road trip head up there. Lots of common stuff, but if you check the corners and out of the way areas you can find some rarities.

This is what ya do Mark. Start at the Dry Garden on Shattuck,loop over to Longs Drugs on Broadway(a must visit)...drive over to San Pablo in Berkeley to Eastbay Nursery and or Berkeley Horticultural Nursery. Never been to another Berkeley nursery that deals in C&S..they are on the web when you Google cacti in bay area..don't remember the name
Finally-and another must visit is the Berkeley Botanical Garden's nursery. Maybe the best of all?..someday's its all that Martha Stewart flower and perennial stuff. Good for nothing-lol. Other days? -a goldmine. RARE C&S and other types of plants I wont go into..Cheap prices mostly. They aren't perfect-some things are overpriced. But then again,it's always cheaper than mailorder.I think more than half of what i have that are real collector's plants-I got from U.C.B...The Dry Garden and Longs next.But UCB's little nursery area on the right day will cause you to whip out that credit card so fast..

As Keith says, I think that Brighamia would be considered a reasonably common plant....surely not rare by any stretch of the imagination.....I keep wanting to buy one, but it seems everyone wants to sell them in fall which is not an opportune time for me obviously. A different question though.....is 'Kirsten' an unusual variant that is far more spectacular than the standard form??

Thanks for sharing the pics on each of your threads :o) Dan

This is long and goes a bit off-topic, so skip if that's a problem.

stanhof, sounds like a great plan. I've been to Berkeley Hort, but a number of years ago and I'm sure I must have been to the Berkeley Botanical Garden Nursery (unless they have limited hours)--I don't remember. I didn't look it up, but I think the other place you are thinking of is called the Magic Garden. I was thinking of going there and some friends in Berkeley suggested the Dry Garden instead.

My biggest surprise up there has been Annie's Annuals and Perennials in Richmond. I can't think of a better name for the sort of "Martha Stewart" place that you talk of. And they do have a lot of that. However, as I mentioned on one of the other Dry Garden threads, they have three types of Cussonias on stock and one other that presumably will be available in the future. They have more plants for sale at the nursery than their online catalog indicates.

A couple other random genera (I don't know much about them but I assume this is a decent selection):

Aeonium: Currently Available: canariense, goochiae, nobile, palmense, rubrolineatum, saundersii. Available in the future: balsamiferum, calderense, canariensis subplanum, ciliatum, davidbramwellii 'Fuencaliente Form', decorum, escobarii, glandulosum, hierrense, mascaense, percanum, pseudourbicum, simsii, tabuliforme and undulatum.

Greenovia (Aeonium): Currently Available: aizoon, aurea 'Gran Canaria Form' and diplocycla var. gigantea. Available in the future: dodrentalis.

I'll add Dudleya since those look superficially like Aloes to me: Currently Available: farinosa and hybridum 'Son of Frank Renault' Available in the future: pulverulenta and traskiae.

All of these are in 4 inch pots on big tables in groups of several dozen--you get to choose a nice plant. The big surprise--everything is about half the price of their online catalog.

Not much in the way of cacti.

So why so much in the Berkeley area, and so little in the rest of the Bay Area, especially the South Bay and Peninsula?

I'm apparently having troubles this morning... Above: Dudleyas look superficially like Aeoniums to me, not Aloes.

The reason has social tomes to it. The big botanical gardens in the bay area are situated in the most heat deprived areas. Golden Gate park and the S.F. botanical garden is a stone's throw from the cold Pacific. The Berkeley B.G. is in a canyon where conifers grow wild.
But that's where the wealthy donors to botanical garden historicaly have lived-old money. Hence the big emphasis on plants that cant take much frost-or much warmth.
Now,the much warmer southbay-almost another country in summer-compared to frigid north bayside..is of a relative new history. Subdivisions are new,Schools are new and so is the money of Fremont too of course,Silicon Valley. THEY are led to believe by the north bay hort mafia that warm subtropicals wont grow, flower,fruit, etc in the South Bay.They believe the propaganda-lol.
IF THE OLD botanical gardens had been established in the southbay and IF the southbay had both the global and huge urban warming it NOW has a century ago..you would see a shift in what's seen there.You would see tree Aloe's, tree Euphorbia's, giant Nolina's,Flowering tropical tree's much more exotic palms and cycads...Nurserys in the southbay with a more subtropical plant educated clientele, would look altogether different. A much more soucal plant pallete.
Right now,the waters off of southern S.F. bay are in the low 70's.Something you might find below Pt.Conception. About 10 degrees warmer than under the Golden Gate.

Been to Annie's a couple of time, love the CA natives! So many that you can't find anywhere else. Picked some Aloes also that where from Silverhill seed in SA.

There used to a couple of places over in the peninsula, but closed down. Probably rent is too high.

Brighamia are rare in the wild not cultivation, still not common at most nurseries though. Picked up 2 in 5gal pots, was actually a better deal to buy the big ones than the 1gal size. B.rockii is much harder to find locally, I have 2 from a botanical garden sale a couple of years ago.

Rent maybe for new nurserys-old ones owned their land and sold.Then moved to wealthy suburban areas around the bay.
Rent is high in soucal. Nurserys there sell more than Junipers. More to it as i say...

I should have said rare cutivar. btw, The Dry Garden had the regular Brighamia (nfs)..the large leafs and thicker crown of leaves of 'Kirsten' really showed by comparison.
Actually my last visit in May they had a few one gallon Brighamia's for sale.

Caudex1--I missed your post at 9:13. Thanks! I've seen Long's drugs on lists before. What's the deal there? A particularly enlightened employee or owner? Given the Longs near where I live it's unbelievable. They sell Sluggo and Miracle Grow but that's about as far as I'd go. Maybe a pansy or two? I'm not even sure about that.

I know this is unlikely, but you don't happen to know the name of the employee at Annie's who buys from Silverhill, do you? I bought something I was able to trace back to Silverhill (their descriptions were essentially the same). However the person who responded to my emails wasn't exactly knowledgeable about the plant. This was Coccinia quinqueloba and I had a thread about it here: Annie's didn't know, Silverhill didn't respond to my email and finally I contacted Kirstenbosch, who got back to me in hours. I suspect it would have been a lot simpler if my email had been forwarded to the correct person at Annie's.

Off on another tangent: Does ordering from Silverhill entail any additional charges these days?

I agree with the East Bay nurseries--the ones I like to hit in a visit. Longs has a good buyer. They actually have a full-fledged nursery, Mark. Exotics along with regular nursery fare, including drought tolerant plants and even some of Annie's plants. You can get more of her plants at Grand Lake Ace Hardware in Piedmont, which has a selection of succulents.

On the peninsula/south bay, there aren't too many I'd recommend. I have found some good plants at the Summerwinds nurseries--sometimes the unusual. Golden Nursery in San Mateo will have nice plants, although this year their succulents section was moved and nothing new has come in there since the Spring.

Even better is to head south for a few days and hit the nurseries there. Nothing compares!

philofan, a run-of-the-mill drug store like Longs (I assume it's the same chain...) with a full-fledged nursery still doesn't make sense for some reason. A hardware store I can see, of course. I'll have to check it out.

My favorite nursery in Southern California wasn't really a nursery--it was the Huntington, which was just down the street from where I lived (California near Lake, for those who know the area). Given all their sales and shows, it might be worth coordinating a visit to coincide with one. And if you're visiting the Huntington, skip the art, spend as much time with the plants and go to the Norton Simon for art instead. It's night and day.

Mark,I understand. When i was first told of that place..same reaction-- LONGS????! The DRUG store????!
Then you get there and see it's clientele near Rockridge /Montclaire/Piedmont are educated,well off people(so, why do i go there..?). They want more than pansys-although those are nice too..lol.
Yeah,they really do get things that are of great quality for a fair price. It's where I got my Asplenium "musifolium", Tequila agave-and the ultra blue variety at that,Big Tillandsia's,Epidendron orchids,hard to find types of Maidenhair ferns..more stuff.Check it out.

I like the Dry Garden. I too agree you can get some nice plants at the UC Berkeley Botanical. That's where I get my rhodies. The selection of succulents is pretty good sometimes too. Sages & ferns also.
Speaking of Long's, in the south bay there is one on Prospect (Cupertino, San Jose area) that usually has a good selection of C & S. I got a fockea there recently.

There's a Long's on Prospect in Cupertino with interesting plants? That's so funny, because the Longs that makes me think of Longs as an odd place to buy plants is either in Cupertino or Sunnyvale--it's on the border of the two (Homestead and Hollenbeck). I just checked out a prescription bottle literally within reach--it's on the Sunnyvale side. Is that the only bad one? I'll have to check that Cupertino one out--I'm going to be out in that direction tomorrow anyway.

I stopped by the Long's on Prospect today--I'm definitely impressed. The C & S area makes up a very large fraction of their total plant area. A nice variety of plants--in addtion to a large variety of cacti of all sorts, lots of Kalanchoes, Aloes, Agaves, etc. Possibly the nicest collection of C & S I've seen for sale in the South Bay (but that doesn't seem right--does someone know of a better place?). I don't think any of the better nurseries--Yamagami's (Cupertino), Roger Reynold's (Menlo Park), Summer Winds (several) and certainly not the hardware stores have as much variety. Am I wrong? Long's???

I had no idea about the Long's on Prospect, and it's right in my 'backyard'. I didn't know about the Oakland store until some plant people I know turned me on to it. I was pleasantly surprised. But I would never have guessed had no one told me. I was just talking to the lady that runs it, and told her how much people rave about it, which she was happy to hear. That Long's is also known for being open 24/7.

For the more unusual plants, you should visit the seasonal plant sales put on by the local sellers/growers. Sometimes you'll find some really nice, rare plants right out of the growers' private collections.

This weekend, the San Jose C&S Society will be putting on their Fall sale. Worth a visit.

Here is a link that might be useful: San Jose C&S

philofan,

Thanks for the info--I'll try to make it to the sale and I've also passed the info along to my sister, who is starting a succulent (but not cactus) collection with my nephew.

I'm curious--do you live in the South Bay? I didn't realize there was zone 10 around here--except maybe right near the Bay, where nobody really lives...Actually, I just now checked the Sunset zone map and was surprised to see that a large bit of zone 17 (which I think is usually USDA zone 10 in the Bay area) dips into some of the residential areas.

I live close to Sunset, and the bay. I even grow papaya and heliconia, but freezes do happen here on occasion, but less frost than up the hill.