Green thumb resources

We've been doing a little planting this spring, and I'm very excited about one plant in particular that I found tucked deep into the folds of a nursery in Half Moon Bay. It's called Gunnera, and it looks like dinosaur food: huge green leaves on tall stalks. On a recent trip to the de Young, Jacob and I discovered that their landscape designer had a crush on this plant, too. It is a main theme around the modern building.

My plant research has taken me in and out of many local nurseries. You don't even have to own a plot of land to enjoy browsing the digs of local plant purveyors. You get to see all kinds of varieties of plants, with the names attached right there. Here's a quick review of some of my favorite local nurseries.

We'll start with Bongard's, right on Highway 92 in Half Moon Bay. This is where I found the Gunnera, and it just might be my favorite nursery. They have a lot of trees in particular. You can easily spend an hour wandering around through there, and find the most interesting specimens tucked way back, hidden in maze-like rows, shrouded by other plants. That's how I found the Gunnera, in fact. First, I found some mature plants that blew my mind with their over-sized, prehistoric looking foliage, then down the row a bit, I found the young plants and knew that they were destined to come home with me. The people at Bongard's are really nice, too, and will chat with you about what the plants need.

Then there's the more popular Half Moon Bay Nursery down the the road a little ways. I like this nursery a lot, too, and spend a long time browsing the Japanese maple and bamboo selections. But as Jacob pointed out to me one day, you don't ever feel like you're gonna chat with the owner there. Most of the employees are busy running around, catering to the crowds of people who show up on any given day. I don't mean to put the place down. I still enjoy going there, and the fact is that I find some plants there that Bongard's doesn't have (like wild ginger, on a recent trip). This is one of the things about plant hunting that's so exciting. There are certain predictable plants (can you say petunias?), but then there are the surprise plants that elicit a little intake of breath at their beauty. And these plants are likely to be anywhere.

A delightful, very out-of-the-way native plant nursery is located off Skyline Blvd south of the the Four Corners (the intersection of 84 with Skyline, where Alice's Restaurant is located). It's called Yerba Buena, and the long dusty road that takes you there is located just across the street from the Fogarty vineyard. Yerba Buena's charm is partly that it deals in native plants. But it also has a 50-year-old test garden that exhibits mature specimens of many plants, so you can see what these trees and bushes will look like years down the road. Wandering around the test garden is great, because you can recognize many plants you see hiking around Skyline and actually look at a sign that tells you what they are. But this is no discount plant store. I've found the prices to be significantly higher than other nurseries.

I know that Sloat (located on Sloat in SF) has opened a Millbrae outpost, but I haven't had the chance to check it out yet. Maybe later this summer I'll get around to blogging about it. Which reminds me, Bay Area Traveler will be taking a break for the end of May and most of June. I'm going to be a European Traveler for a while. Happy plant hunting while I'm away.