Dry Garden Nursery, Oakland

On a recent trip to the Bay Area I finally made the trip to Dry Garden Nursery in Oakland to check out their selection of drought tolerant and rare plants. What a treat!This isn't your ordinary nursery. And I'm not just saying that because of the vine that is about to swallow the Golden 1 Credit Union billboard that's on the property.

So many nurseries that I go to spend so much time in presentation and staging the plants. It might sound weird, but it was refreshing to go to a nursery that wasn't selling the "unobtainable dream". This guy was selling plants. And not just plants, but plants for SERIOUS plant lovers.
It was also a good lesson for my daughter to be exposed to the "Don't Touch That" lesson. Picture this: "Hey Alex, watch out for that plant". And then she says "Why?", like any toddler would. And I respond with "Because it's covered in three inch spikes that will hurt like needles." And then I swear in her head she must have said "Wow- I highly doubt it, you're crazy" because two minutes later I hear a scream. I could try to transcribe to y'all what she was saying but it was at a frequency that I can't understand. I THINK she was saying "I DON'T KNOW WHY I DON'T LISTEN TO YOU MORE BECAUSE THAT HURT LIKE HECK", but I can't be sure. Lesson learned, the rest of the time we were here she refused to touch anything.

And if you happen to be missing your balls, they have an extra set for you. Or twelve. I know of a few of you that could use these.

All in all, it's worth a trip if you happen to be in the area. If you're not in the area, I'm not sure it is worth the trip. They are expensive, I'm not gonna lie. But it's cool to visit (it's an old gas station!), and they have an excellent selection of rare plants and succulents. I actually did not buy anything here- and for those of you who know me in real life, you'd know that it's nearly impossible for me to visit a nursery and NOT buy something.

Disclaimer: When it comes to succulents, don't listen to me. This is an area that is totally new to me and I know NOTHING about. I bought a bunch of them last year thinking I'd be saving on watering, and then watched most of them turn to mush at the first sign of frost. So, now I'm avoiding succulents. We don't get along. They are high maintenance for me. Well, most of them are. Until I figure out all of the ones that like it here in Sacramento, just ignore me if I talk about succulents. You got that?