I second Bay Laurel Nursery, Another further North is Hometown Nursery in Paso Robles on Spring St, then there is Treeman in Templeton, If you're into herbs, on 46 west there is Sycamore Farms in Paso Robles, I don't know what they have, their barn burned down a couple years ago. On 1 there is Grow Nursery, on the north end of Cambria. Which if you took 1 down to 46 across, you could hit all the nurseries in Paso Robles, Templeton, then Atascadero, Santa Margarita, and sweep down to SLO and further south. Over the Grade there is Ron's Nursery In Arroyo Grande, it's got the quality of plants you'd find in a floral shop. It's on thirteenth street. There is also Oceano Nursery, which is more interesting, it has lots of stuff to look at, but it is more junk yard retro, than upscale.

Padma: I had a Valencia orange tree at my last house that had oranges on it most of the year. We juiced a good bit of them and they tasted pretty good. I have a mature navel orange at my current place that has been putting out big navel oranges for the last 3-4 months. If those are your favorite varieties then go with them as most stuff will grow here in San Diego. If you haven't tried them hit up a local farmers market like the one in Hillcrest on Sundays and try some locally grown ones.

It is very lovely where we are, we are surrounded by commercial nurseries because we have such great growing conditions right where we are. We feel very, very blessed We do spend huge amounts of time outside, here. I have an entire outdoor kitchen, in fact (both of us being of Italian extraction, we must have an awesome kitchen, lol!) We are all doing well, I am recovering from a shingles outbreak, which I'm kind of young for and had not gotten the vaccine, yet. I would not wish that on my worst enemy. So, I would admonish anyone who had chicken pox as a kid, to talk to your doctor about the wisdom of getting a shingles vaccination. I'm hoping I don't end up with permanent nerve damage from that outbreak, ugh. All the family is well, and we're gearing up for our annual July 4th shindig! Jades are doing great! One is big, one is still small, and I might have a little something for you, hint, hint :-) Patty S.

You couldn't have chosen a better place to relocate! We live in San Luis Obispo, and love Cambria. We will be building a home in the hills outside Arroyo Grande in the the near future. As for weather - it doesn't get much better than the Central Coast. Cambria can get cool (the price you pay for being on the coast), but it will seem like a tropical island after Philly! I would encourage you to be picky about both your architect and your builder. There are many great ones to choose from in this area. However, I would talk with more than two. Before meeting with architects, have a clear picture about what you are looking for and be prepared to ask lots of questions. The county here can be picky and it is helpful to have an architect and builder who are very familiar with the building codes and have good relationships with the county. Also, if you have views (as many lots do in this area), make sure your architect is talented at exploiting them. We have seen homes with amazing views that had a huge fireplace blocking the view - so sad! Best of luck to you!