Favorite Local East Bay Nurseries
Native plants and sculptures mix together at East Bay Wilds nursery in Oakland, California
Plant shopping might be one of my favorite things (and my garden always seems to have space for more plant friends). When I first started gardening, I mostly gravitated towards plants I liked the look of, or ones I had heard of before. As I’ve been in plant school at Merritt College learning more about ecological gardening and falling in love with California native plants, I definitely gravitate more towards plants that are ecologically relevant to my north Oakland area (with occasional exceptions - I am absolutely not a purist!)
If you are looking to add some plants to your garden, or even just looking for some great native plant inspiration, I highly recommend heading to a local nursery. Not only are these places locally-owned (ie: a great alternative to big box stores like Home Depot), I find that many of them are also competitively priced. And nothing can beat the friendly and knowledgeable staff at all of these nurseries. It’s hard to come up with a plant or gardening question that they won’t be able to answer!
Here are some of my favorite local nurseries for sourcing native plants:
Oaktown Nursery
West Berkeley | Open Wed-Sun, 10am-5pm
They have their inventory + pricing on their website!
Watershed Nursery
Richmond | Open Tues-Sun, 10am-4pm
They also have inventory + pricing on their website
East Bay Wilds
Oakland (Fruitvale) | Only open Fridays 9:30-4pm, only take checks, cash, or PayPal
Inventory + pricing on their website
Native Here Nursery
Berkeley Hills (Tilden) | Open Saturdays 10am-2pm
You can also shop online + schedule pickup
Tilden Botanic Garden
Berkeley Hills (Tilden) | Open Daily 8:30am-5:30pm
Not open for regular shopping but their fall plant sale this year is on Saturday, October 7th! Also a great spot to walk around and get native plant inspiration - free to the public!
East Bay Nursery
West Berkeley | Open Tues-Sat 8:30am-5pm
More of a conventional nursery but they do have some natives!
Berkeley Horticulture
North Berkeley | Open Fri-Wed 8:30am-4:30pm
Same as above - not a native-specific nursery but they have a huge selection.
Flowerland
Albany | Open Mon-Sat 10am-5:30pm
Their plants tend to be a little pricier but I love to go here for inspiration! It is such a nice place to walk around, they have a fantastic gift shop filled with beautifully curated things, and they have an airstream coffee shop! They even have a decent (and growing) California natives section. What more could you want out of a local nursery?
The inspiring setting of Flowerland Nursery in Albany, California
Plant inspiration at East Bay Nursery in Berkeley, California
It really is incredible that we have such a huge range of options when it comes to native plant shopping in the East Bay! How lucky are we?
If you have a specific California native plant you are looking for, a great resource before heading to the nursery is CalScape. You can search for the specific plant, and the plant info page will show you not only the number of nurseries who carry the plant, but also which specific ones do, with a map! It doesn’t always mean they currently have it in stock, but it’s a great place to start when trying to figure out which nursery might be good to start with.
I hope a visit to some or all of these nurseries brings you lots of plant inspiration, and maybe even a few new plant friends! I will continue to add to this list if I find other great plantspiration spots in the East Bay.