We are fortunate to live in an area with many great nurseries. Each has its own personality and specializes in different things. Here is a list of some of my favorites with a description of what they are like. - Larry Korn, Owner, Mu Landscaping
Berkeley Horticultural Nursery
1310 McGee Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94703
(510) 526-4704
www.berkeleyhort.com
I worked at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery for two years in the late 70’s. It is where I first learned about ornamental plants. "Berkeley Hort" was founded by George Budgen in 1922 when most of Berkeley was still pastureland. Mr. Budgen’s grandson, Paul Doty, runs the nursery now. The manager, the wise and witty Victor Yool, writes a gardening column for the San Francisco Chronicle under the title Ask Dr. Hort.
The nursery itself is a pleasure to visit. The staff is knowledgeable and helpful. They carry many unusual plants and specialize in rhododendrons (in season), roses and native plants.
Broadway Terrace Nursery
4340 Clarewood Drive
Oakland, CA 94611
(510) 658-3729
www.broadwayterracenursery.com
This nursery doesn’t have the space to carry a full selection of landscape plants, but what they do have is carefully selected and displayed. It is a perfect nursery for local home owners. They always have lots of color and a surprisingly good selection of perennials. Anything can be special ordered. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable and extremely helpful. Broadway Terrace always has nice orchids on hand for that special gift for a dinner party or house warming.
The Dry Garden
6556 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94549
(510) 547-3564
The name says it. This unusual nursery carries only plants which are suited to our completely-dry-in-the-summer Mediterranean climate. They have many of the standard landscaping plants such as sage, lavender and rosemary, as well as a mind boggling selection of succulents, grasses, New Zealand flax and cacti. I love visiting this quirky nursery partly because I get to see and learn about plants I had never heard of before.
Yabusaki's Dwight Way Nursery
1001 Dwight Way
Berkeley, CA 94702
(510) 845-6261
This nursery, near San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley, is owned and run by the wonderful Yabusaki family. They don’t have enough space to carry many 5 gallon sized plants or have as wide a selection of plants as the larger nurseries, but they have all the standards, bedding plants, vegetables and a good selection of 4” perennials. They always have lots of maple trees and fruit trees. They have a fantastic selection of bonsai plants which they create themselves. I shop at Dwight Way Nursery whenever I can, partly because I enjoy visiting with the Yabusaki’s so much.
East Bay Nursery
2332 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 845-6490
www.eastbaynursery.com
East Bay Nursery has the best selection of plants in stock at any given time and the staff is helpful. If I need to send a client to a nursery to look at plants in a garden design I usually send them to East Bay. Just don’t go there around Christmas time. They sell a lot of Christmas trees and ornaments and have to rearrange the plants from their usual locations. Even the staff thinks their holiday display is obnoxious.
McDonnell Nursery
196 Moraga Way
Orinda, CA 94563
(925) 254-3713
www.mcdonnellnursery.com
Here is the perfect nursery for home owners. It is immaculate and loaded with color. The staff is friendly and professional. The specialty here is bedding plants and plants that resist deer. Whenever I go there I see flat after flat of pansies, violas and snapdragons head out the door.
Moraga Garden Center
1400 Moraga Way
Moraga, CA 94556
(925) 376-1810
This nursery is exactly at the other end of the scale from McDonnell’s. At first glance the nursery seems messy and thrown together. But lo! The wonders that lie within. This is a plant lover’s paradise. The selection of rare and hard-to-find plants is incredible at this relatively small and inexpensive nursery. Sometimes I work with a designer’s list of plants which has many of what people in the trade refer to as “oddball” perennials. These are species which are not usually carried by the average nursery and not normally grown by the growers. When faced with a challenge like this I head straight for the Moraga Garden Center. Actually, I go there as often as I can. They have a great selection of perennials in 4” size.
Orchard Nursery
4010 Mt. Diablo Blvd.
Lafayette, CA 94549
(925) 284-4474
www.orchardnursery.com
Here is a nursery similar to McDonnell’s: neat and classy with loads of color. Orchard Nursery carries many more trees and shrubs in large sizes, like 15 gallon and 24” box, than other nurseries. They have a large selection of garden furniture, bird baths, fountains and the like.
Thornhill Nursery
6250 Thornhill Drive
Oakland, CA 94611
(510) 339-2041
Thornhill Nursery is located in a beautiful setting in Montclair. It is small and charming. Their specialty can be summed up in two words: maple trees. Maples, like roses and orchids, have an almost unlimited number of named varieties. Thornhill Nursery carries more unusual and hard-to-find maples than anyone else in the area.