Sure, you can go to your favorite home improvement store and pick up the plants that everyone grows. But if there’s something special —something unique — you just have to have for your garden, nothing compares to a homegrown nursery, and the Bay Area boasts plenty of them.
While it’s true that big box stores, which often offer plants at discounted prices, have driven several family-owned businesses under, the nurseries that survived did so with clever pivots: They expanded their plant selection and focused on specialty plants, such as herbs, orchids, California natives, Asian plants and palms.
These are some of our favorites.
Bay Area Orchids, Half Moon Bay
Family comes first at Bay Area Orchids, where Juan Manuel Aguillares, his wife, Maria, and their three sons work hard to “cultivate healthy plants and happy minds.”
“It might sound kind of corny,” says Jesus Aguillares. “But we’re all about the love and the family bonds. We put a lot of care into what we do, and you can see it in the plants. They’re raised with love.”
After working for years in the sugarcane fields of his native Mexico, Juan Manuel relocated to the Bay Area in 1997 and was instantly drawn to some of the most elegant and mysterious flowers on the planet — first while employed at Half Moon Bay Orchids and then ePlant World.
When the latter went bankrupt last year, he boldly started a new business at the same location.
“I like the whole process of growing the plants and teaching my sons about orchids,” Juan Manuel says. “I feel happy when the plants start to flower.”
Jesus, 22 — along with siblings Juan Manuel Jr., 17, and Daniel, 14 — are picking up things as they go, while learning from their father that orchid-growing requires an abundance of patience.
“It’s a methodical process, but he’s so dedicated, determined and persistent,” Jesus says. “He’s part of a dying breed — a craftsman who does it all while providing for his family.”
The Aguillares’ nursery specializes in the phalaenopsis (also known as the Moth orchid) and cymbidium species, and they hope to expand their inventory to include more exotic and rare varieties in the near future. Meanwhile, they admit that starting a business in the middle of a pandemic has had its challenges.
“A lot of people questioned it. We had our doubters,” Jesus says. “But the way I see it, if you have to be quarantined and stay inside, it would be nice to have some orchids around you. They’re stress-relievers. They give off a sense of calm.”
Details: Bay Area Orchids is open from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily at 12511 San Mateo Road in Half Moon Bay; www.bayareaorchids.com.
Golden Gate Palms, Point Richmond
It would be accurate to say that Golden Gate Palms, which specializes in palms of all shapes and sizes, as well as avocado and subtropical plants, had its origins in the heart of an 8-year-old boy.
Gary Gragg, who grew up in Lafayette, developed a plant obsession at a young age, filling his room, the yard and then his mother’s entire house, with a stunning assortment of plants. But it was a queen’s palm growing in a Denny’s parking lot in Pleasant Hill that might have sealed the deal.
Gragg was impressed by the queen, a stately, single-trunked palm that earned its name. The sky-scraping tree is topped by a graceful canopy of bright green leaves that have a classic droop. At certain times of the year, bright orange dates fill the tree top.
Gragg was fascinated by the tree. He knew that eventually, it would drop seeds, and with any luck, those seeds would sprout and produce new queen palms. When his dream came true, he rode his bicycle to the parking lot, shovel in hand, dug up a small seedling and rode off with his treasure.
His plant collection followed him to college and then to his first home. Eventually, it morphed into a full-fledged nursery. Armed with a wealth of horticulture and landscape knowledge, Gragg opened Golden Gate Palms in 2002, and the nursery quickly became the go-to place for palms and subtropicals.
Gragg even defied garden logic by cultivating banana and mango trees, which he says can thrive in many Bay Area gardens and yards.
“We sell palms of every possible denomination,” Gragg says. “Huge ones that need cranes, which we have, small ones, extremely rare ones. On top of that, we sell all kinds of subtropical and exotic plants. I just run into really cool stuff, take it and utilize it.”
Although Gragg has several commercial customers — the nursery supplies palms to businesses and institutions throughout the Bay Area — most of his clientele are average gardeners looking for something different for their spaces.
Details: Golden Gate Palms is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at 425 Cutting Blvd. in Point Richmond; https://www.goldengatepalms.com.
Morningsun Herb Farm, Vacaville
In the early 1990s, Rose Loveall was working for the U.S. Forest Service in Placerville, where she managed research greenhouses and was surrounded by “little baby trees.” What she really wanted to do, though, was lose herself in fragrant herbs.
That’s when the concept of Morningsun Herb Farm began to take shape. Knowing there wasn’t anything like it nearby, Loveall started a specialty nursery on the three-acre plot of land where she was raised and where her parents had lived since 1956.
“It was their idea,” Loveall recalls. “They said, ‘Why not do it here?’ The land was flat and had water and electricity and was free! I thought: This is something I can do.”
Things got off to a humble start with one small greenhouse, just 60 varieties of herbs and weekend-only business hours. Looking back, Loveall remembers how would-be customers often drove past her unassuming place in the country “many times” before pinpointing its location.
Fast-forward to the present, when the demand for fresh herbs is skyrocketing. Morningsun now grows more than 700 varieties and business is thriving.
“We can make as much money in a single day as we used to make over a whole year,” she says, proudly.
Loveall insists that she and her customers love herbs because they’re “interactive plants.”
“You can cook with them. You can make medicine. They smell good. They repel insects,” she says. “They’re really functional. They’re not just there to look at.”
Her biggest seller? “Basil. Basil. Basil,” she says. “From mid-March to July, it’s an obsession.”
At Morningsun, the plants share the spotlight with a trio of furry creatures — two donkeys and an overgrown goat named Goose.
“He has no value. He’s really old, and you can’t breed him,” Loveall says. “But he’s so sweet and super friendly. Our customers adore him.”
Details: Morningsun Herb Farm is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday at 6137 Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville; https://morningsunherbfarm.com.
Yamagami’s Garden Center, Cupertino
The cedar tree that stands on the grounds of Yamagami’s Garden Center began life in a small container seven decades ago. It’s more than 50 feet tall now.
“It’s firmly rooted in the place,” says Brittany Sheade, “much like our family.”
Indeed, that towering evergreen is an apt metaphor for a company that prides itself on a rich history and familial continuity. After launching the business in 1948 as a fruit stand amid sprawling orchards, original owner Taro Yamagami sold the nursery in 1963 to Mas Oka, who had worked under him for 10 years.
Mas and his wife, Betty, retired in 1983, handing the operation to their son, Preston, who eventually turned things over to his daughter, Brittany, and her husband, Michael. Through it all, the original name remained.
“Many of our customers remember coming here as kids. Now they’re bringing their kids,” says Sheade, whose first job in high school was at the nursery. After leaving for college, she decided to return because she didn’t like her major — city planning.
She attributes Yamagami’s long-running success to a steadfast desire to maintain a “family feel.”
“We’re an independent little business. We’re not corporate,” Sheade says. “And some of our core staff have been with us for over 20 years. I hope that means we’re doing something right.”
As for the nursery’s offerings, she is particularly proud of its edible selections — vegetables, herbs and citrus trees — and boasts that Yamagami’s delivers to more than 60 ZIP codes across the Bay Area.
She also points to the nursery’s more than 100 selections of bonsai — ranging from three-inch starters to one-gallon size, as well as finished bonsai options suitable for indoor and outdoor. In addition, Yamagami’s carries tools and instructional books for growing and caring for bonsai.
“Bonsai is a niche market most places, but for us, it’s pretty front-and-center,” Sheade says. “Being a Japanese nursery, it’s an important piece.”
Details: Yamagami’s Garden Center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 1361 S. De Anza Blvd. in Cupertino; www.yamagamis.com.
East Bay Nursery, Berkeley
One of the oldest in the East Bay, this nursery first opened in a single small building in 1926. It’s been family owned since 1942. Today, the East Bay Nursery covers most of an entire Berkeley city block and is one of the go-to places for California natives, as well as houseplants.
General manager Dominic Gamache says the nursery built its reputation on having something for everyone, whether it’s a master gardener, a landscape designer, a garden newbie or, increasingly, people working on a plant oasis for their apartments.
East Bay has long considered itself a landscape nursery, Gamache says, offering larger plants in bigger gallon pots. But they’ve found that many of their more recent clients have smaller yards or none at all. So while they still offer larger plants, they also stock plants better suited to postage-stamp gardens and balconies.
“We try to have not just what’s blooming at the moment,” Gamache says, “but plants to help the homeowner and the balcony owner build their landscape for the future.”
California native plants take up a large portion of the nursery’s stock. Although the popularity of drought-resistant plants can wane a bit at times, it’s always strong.
“It’s always evolving and changing,” Gamache says. “We’ll hit a little waddle when we get some rain, but (interest) always comes back.”
To keep pace with trends and the renewed interest in gardening both indoors and out, Gamache says the nursery has increased its focus on houseplants, succulents and fruit trees, many of which can be grown in containers. They’ve also adapted their pot and container selections, keeping redwood planters in stock and adding a variety of decorative pots for houseplants — perfect for that apartment oasis.
Details: The nursery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 2332 San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley; www.eastbaynursery.com.
