SF Bay Area Places, Nurseries, Gardens, Services
Bay Area Gardens
Bay Area Nurseries/Services
Bay Area garden events: flower shows, plant sales, lectures.

Mediterranean Plants (of a similar climate to coastal California)
Australian
South African
Mediterranean
Cloud Forest gardening

Bay Area societies & clubs

Botanical Gardens & Arboreta
California
U.S.A.
Elsewhere

Plant Photos
Australian plants
Virtual Garden

Horticultural Info: “How to” sites, reference, information
Species descriptions
General Reference
General Gardening Sites
Newsgroups
Germination and propagation
Diseases, pests (insects, deer, gophers)
Helpful critters: worms, ducks

“Wild” Plants & Places
CA Natives
Parks

Plant Societies by type of Plant

Mail Order Nurseries and Supplies
Seeds
Plants
Supplies

Ephemera
Habitats
Desert
Hawaii
Weeds
Wildflowers

Links to Links:

SF Bay Area Places, Nurseries, Gardens

Bay Area Gardens

• Edgehill Mountain Park a “Natural Area” in San Francisco. Story and wildflower photos by Paul Furman
• Strybing Arboretum/San Francisco Botanical Garden
• Tilden Park Botanic Garden
• UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley
• Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek - cactus and succulents
• Quarryhill Botanical Garden. Visits only by appointment, but worth an inquiry.
• Filoli - great estate garden to visit in Woodside, California
• The Gardens at Heather Farms - five acre garden in Walnut Creek dedicated to horticulture
• Momiji Nursery - great selection of japanese maples

Bay Area Nurseries/Services

Unfortunately, many great nurseries don’t have websites. Here are some that do:

• Annie’s Annuals - now open most weekends
• Mostly Natives Nursery
• Monterey Bay Nursery
• Sloat Garden Centers - great selection of high quality plants
• Tree Shapers, LLC - Renowned tree care in the SF Bay Area

Bay Area garden events: flower shows, plant sales, lectures

Be sure to check is the Calendar in the latest issue of the Bulletin of the California Horticultural Society which is in PDF format.

• Pacific Horticulture magazine's Calendar of Events. One of the best places to go for California horticultural events and tours.
• Contra Costa Times Home & Garden Calendar. Published on Saturdays. One has to find and click on the button “Calendar” in the column on the left side of the page.
• San Jose Mercury Home & Garden Calendar. Published on Fridays. Click on the “Events” entry in the middle of the page. Don’t be surprised if the events entry has nothing to do with gardening - have faith and click anyway.
  
• GardenWeb’s Calendar of events. A national calendar, sorted by state, but has some SF Bay area events. Sometimes events are also listed as items in GardenWeb’s “forums.”
• The SF Chronicle’s site (sfgate.com). Also check the calendar features in the print versions of the paper (Wednesday for the Chronicle).

Mediterranean Plants (of a similar climate to coastal California)

Australian

• Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants contains tons of info on growing australian plants with lots of photos.
• Australian National Botanic Garden - a mother lode of information on Australian plants
• ANBG’s links to many other sites devoted to Australian plants

South African

• PlantZAfrica - Photos of some of the 22,000 native species
• National Botanical Institute, SA; info on South Africa’s 8 botanic gardens
• The Botanical Society of South Africa
  

Mediterranean

• The Mediterranean Garden Society - Filled with great cultural info and has a very active forum.

Cloud Forest gardening

• The Cloudforest Gardener - devoted to gardening in cloudforest climates, similar to much of our California coast
• Chris Callard’s comprehensive site on Vireyas, the tropical Rhododendrons which can be grown in coastal California
• The Cool Tropics -info on growing palms cycads and other tropical plants in cool areas.
  

Bay Area societies & clubs

• The Bay Area Gardener - Not updated for several years, this site still has a fairly good list of horticultural societies, nurseries, and public gardens in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• San Francisco Rose Society
• The Marin Rose Society - dedicated to roses
• Western Horticultural Society - Based on the peninsula

Botanical Gardens & Arboreta

California

• Descanso Gardens
• Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
• Quail Botanical Gardens Encinitas (San Diego)
• Leaning Pine Arboretum San Luis Obispo

U.S.A.

• Botanique. List of most U.S. and Canadian botanic gardens, by state
• American Association of Botanic Gardens. Searchable list.

Elsewhere

• Chelsea Physic Garden, London. Medicinal plants; open April-October; founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothecaries
  

Plant Photos

• CalPhotos - 34,000+ photos of California plants
• CalFlora database: Very extensive database and photo gallery of California plants (7,600+ natives plus many introduced, native and alien). Now back online after a long hiatus. Now charges $10.00 membership fee. First 30 days is free.
• Hawaiian plants, native and introduced – 600 species; 3000 images
• Western US Wildflowers - 1000+ photos by Reny Parker – search by botanical name/common name/plant family/location/color
• Michael Charters’ photos of southern Calif. wildflowers
• California butterfly plant hosts
  
• Flowershots - Photographer Ron Parson's site filled with beautiful images, specifically orchids and other flowers.

Australian plants

• South African plants
• The Plant Kaleidoscope - 700 photos of plants grown in europe
• Fa. C. Esveld - hundreds of photos of commonly grown horticultural plants; hundreds more can be ordered (free; fee for commercial use)
• University of Basel: photos of over 900 species of horticultural plants
• Digital Flora of Texas - hundreds of photos of plants found in Texas
• Floridata - photos and profiles of plants that are native to or grown in Florida
• Kurt Stüber’s images - 4000 images of Kurt’s favorite plants
• University of Durham Botanic Garden - images of plants grown there

Virtual Garden

The Gary Matson Virtual Garden. Beautiful garden photos, some with commentary, published in memory of Gary Matson, a California gardener and horticulturist, and of his partner Winfield Mowder.

Horticultural Info: How to sites, reference, information

Species descriptions

• CalFlora database: The most extensive searchable database and photo gallery of California plants (7,600+ natives plus many introduced, native and alien) is back online after a long hiatus. Now charges $10.00 membership fee. First 30 days is free.
• Jepson Online Index: Consists of more than 12,000 names in current and/or recent use. Links to photos.
• Dave's Garden’s Plant database
• Plants For A Future - data base of rare and unusual plants
• Desert Tropicals (not a nursery): information on growing tropical and desert plants
• Plants of Southern Africa

General Reference

• Dictionary of Botanical terms
• Prof. Arthur Gibson’s mini course on various botanical subjects, such as: types of roots; all about bark; types of plant armature (i.e., spines and thorns)
• World Database of Legumes - most not accessible without subscription, but there is access to an index to scientific writings on legume species, classified by tribe.
• Botanical Glossary - A fully hypertexed 'dictionary' explaining the latin in plant names. Find out what a fugacious leaf is!
• Botany.com - dictionary of botanical terms and an encyclopedia searchable by common or botanical names
• Common/Latin name dictionary Know only the English common name of a plant? This site will give you the Latin name for about 20,000 common English names.

General Gardening Sites

• GardenWeb Forums The Garden Web has “forums” on which one can ask questions which will hopefully be answered by others
• Gardening for Kids - tips on gardening with children, including kid friendly plants
• Gardening Basics for Kids -- a compilation of gardening information, tasks, and projects especially for kids -- suggested by Whitney at Cleary Mountain Middle School in Virginia.
• GardensAlive! - an organic commercial site with many useful articles on organic gardening.
• Dave’s garden: plant database, gardening discussion forums, seed trading, and what he calls journals: individual gardeners’ lists of what plants they are growing, and how they have done
• National Gardening Association - great all-around resource with articles, Q & A, regional reports, kids gardening etc.
• Cornell University Dept of Horticulture. One of the best university sites for general horticultural and gardening info.
• See also, non-website info sources available at internet “newsgroups.” One “subscribes” to a newsgroup on Netscape by clicking on Subscribe in the File menu of the Newsgroup menu in the Communicator Menu, or by using a newsreader program. The following newsgroups are recommended:

rec.gardens
uk.rec.gardening
fr.rec.jardinage (in french)
You can “post” a message on the group, and someone will usually reply. You should be careful never to allow your real email address to appear in a posting, or you will thereafter be deluged with spam.

Germination and propagation

• Seed Germination Database (from old Thompson & Morgan data)
• Tom Clothier’s Seed Germination Database – one of the most comprehensive on the Web - Plus Tom’s Tips & Tricks on lots of gardening subjects
• Plant Propagation Forum: Garden Web's most recent Q's & A's on propagation
• Rooting Database - by David W. Burger - U.C. Davis
• 1996 article on principles of seed gemination by Brent Walston (for Bonsai, but principles generally applicable)
• Instructions for germinating japanese maples.
  

Diseases, pests (insects, deer, gophers)

• Thrip control - everything you wanted to know about the lovely critters
• Thrip photos
• “Sticky cards” for trapping whiteflies and thrips
• Pocket gophers - U.C. Davis info and pest management guidelines
• Snail & slugs - U.C. Davis info and pest management guidelines

Helpful critters: worms, ducks

• Worm World - info on worms and composting
• Buglogical - source for beneficial nematodes

Wild Plants & Places

CA Natives

• California Native Plant Society - dedicated to California native plants
• Arizona Native Plant Society

Parks

Plant Societies by type of Plant

• American Bamboo Society - all you need to know about bamboo. Message boards and species list.
• American Iris Society - Full of information (including photos) on many different types of iris - not just tall bearded iris. (The Bay Area is in Region 14)
• American Rhododendron Society
• International Bulb Society
• North American Rock Garden Society
• California Rare Fruit Growers - information on growing semitropical fruits and uncommon fruits and vegetables
  

Mail Order Nurseries and Supplies

As with any Internet or Mail order source for goods and services, caveat emptor. A listing on this website does not represent the endorsement by the California Horticultural Society of any vendor. One should always exercise judgment when ordering anything on the Internet. Although we are not aware of any service yet that lists recommendations of mail order plant sources (like some which exist for photographic equipment, or example), it is suggested that if you are not aware of a firm’s reputation, that you inquire in newsgroups (such as rec.gardens, the Gardenweb forums, or relevant groups at Yahoogroups.com), what has been the experience of others who have ordered from that firm. We have not listed any site that people have reported serious problems with. If you have any problems with a site we have listed, please let us know.

• The Garden Watchdog: Consumer ratings and comments on over 900 plant/seed/bulb mail order companies. Forbes rated this site Best of the Web for 2003. You decide.
  

Seeds

• Larners Seeds: California native plants, trees, shrubs;
  Check for tree seed in the fall – they are only listed when the seed is fresh
• Virtual Seeds and Flags: Various tree seeds, including some tropicals
• Seedman.com Various seeds, including exotic and tropical plants
• Angelgrove Seed Company. Various tree seeds, including Japanese maples
• Japanesemaple.com. What else, but Japanese maple seeds.
• The Mediterranean Garden Society’s source page for seeds and plants
• Seedhunt - loads of cool things.
• J.L. Hudson Seeds - many rare and hard to find seeds. Since 1911.
  

Plants

• Pacific Islands Nursery - Run by Sherla & Richard Marques, one of the only sources of Vireyas (tropical rhododendrons) in the U.S.A.
• Mellingers (Ohio) is also the source for milled sphagnum moss
• Wallace Woodstock - deciduous tree seedlings
• Yuccado Nursery - Texas and Mexican perennials suitable for the SF bay area climate.
• Momiji Nursery - great selection of japanese maples

Supplies

• Bob Tanem’s “sticky cards” for traping pesky whiteflies and thrips
• Rosemania - source of “Aliette”, the wonder drug for phytopthera; used by rose fanciers for downy mildew as well
• Gardener's Supply Company - a commercial site with good articles, how-to, and a garden question service.
• Gardens Alive! - a commercial site with good articles, many organic supplies. Also has small-scale custom blended fertilizers using the Albrecht method.

Ephemera

• Wollemi Pine. Be the first on your block to grow the “living fossil” Wollemi Pine; to be for sale in 2005 (Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens)
• The Museum of Garden History - museum located in London, dedicated to the history of gardening
• Bonsai – Everything you wanted to know + links
• Bonsai - articles
• Center for Plant Conservation - Endangered and threatened plant species – tons of info – photos of most
• Hawaiian plants: distribution maps for non-native plants on Maui – in case you want to know where to find that interesting tropical plant on non-beach days
• California butterflies and their hosts - descriptions an photos
• Fungi - Calphotos’ 1600 images of fungi
• West Country Exotics - Photos of exotic plantings in southwest England gardens
• Le Jardin Ombrge -Photos and tons of information on gingers and other tropical plants in the order zingiberales
• How to grow a mango from seed.
• U.C. Berkeley’s site on Sudden Oak Death - the new disease wiping out California
  native oaks.
  

Habitats

Desert

• Exploring the Sonoran Desert - Photos of Sonoran Desert flora and fauna
  

Hawaii

• Hawaii’s Vanishing Flora (Robert Gustafson, LA County Museum)
  

Weeds

• A Global Compendium of Weeds - Info on thousands of world-wide weed species, listed by family or genus
• Pacific States Weeds - the worst weeds in the western U.S.

Wildflowers

• California Wildflower Hotsheet
• Desert wildflower hotline alerts - California and Arizona
• Calender of USA wildflower “Events” Check before traveling.
• Reny's Wildflowers - wildflowers of the western United States
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - dedicated to native North American plants
  

Links to Links:

• Internet Directory for Botany - You think our site has lots of links? Go here and find hundreds more.
• Calgary Horticultural Society - great gardening links