Guy at the front was friendly but exhausting. Gave me a deadpan monotone overview of the nursery. Did not indicate there was somewhere I couldn't go. Then, all the way in the rear of the nursery, a woman enforcer of public entry treated me like a criminal stealing nuclear secrets and did all but put me in cuffs, escorting me bodily to the "public area." I may have passed a sign that said as much but I didn't see one. I passed at least 6 other people on my way in who didn't seem to notice me going into a restricted area of the base. They have nice plants, but challenging service. read more

Really helped me out in a pinch. Got some goods here for my green thumb friend and everyone was so kind and helpful in finding the perfect gift. The consideration alone was worth the trip out here! read more

Amazing. Very helpful staff too. I added photos of the awesome things I bought We came for the pipeline swallowtail plants and oh my bought much more. read more

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This has hands down become my favorite nursery for natives. I discovered Watershed a few years ago when I first started raising monarch butterflies. I had run out of milkweed in my garden, and could not find a nursery that sold it without pesticide! I started to panic, but then I came across Watershed Nursery. They had all the milkweed that I needed for my caterpillar babies, and even helped to educate me on taking better care of the plants. Watershed has now become my "milkweed plug" and helped to introduce me to other native plants to put in our garden. Every one of the workers has been wonderful, but I'd like to give a shout-out to Aaron as he has been extremely helpful. Looking forward to returning soon! read more

The Watershed Nursery - Oodles of milkweed! - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Richmond, California

Hands down the best CA native nursery in the East Bay. Plants are well tended, with excellent, strong root systems and no signs of disease. None of my plants were root bound. The staff was friendly, helpful and engaging. Prices are very reasonable, especially considering the quality of their plants. My only request for them is that they provide more Arctostaphylos and Phacelias. read more

What a fantastic selection of healthy native plants, well-organized by sun & water needs, and with detailed info cards. The staff is knowledgeable and helpful. The rows are well spaced with lots of room to walk and ponder your purchases. It's just a pleasure to walk around this nursery. Prices range from about $2-$10 for most plants. It's conveniently located close to the freeway and parking is plentiful with a small cramped lot adjacent to it but lots of spaces nearby. The problem here isn't what to get... it's what not to get. It's hard to walk away without a dozen new native plants! read more

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I like this spot a lot for their selection - I bought two Matilija poppies here - they were sooo hard to find and one is doing amazing the other not so much (but my fault clearly where I planted it). I loved this place but... I showed up I was in old sweats (I was working on my house) and I got scolded as I was entering for not wiping my shoes (which were clean) and it felt really odd, I felt like they were accusing me of having dirty shoes because I was in sweats and it was embarrassing. the plants but it was embarrassing - I thought they were thinking I was going to steal plants or something - makes me less likely to return but I thought they had a good selection - they need to be a bit more focused on customer service. read more

Wonderful place for California natives. I love how everything is divided by environment, versus plant type. I've had great success with plants here - including milkweed. The staff is extremely friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. Great nursery. read more

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Hands down one of the best ALL natives plant nursery. I go here 2-3 times per year. They will reuse/repurpose the old pots too. Expert service and knowledgeable staff. The prices are great too read more

Knowledgeable people. They carry a nice variety of native plants at reasonable prices.

Super friendly and knowledgeable staff with a great variety of native plants to chose from! I came here for some milkweed and left with multiple other plants as well as guides with extra information. The prices are fair especially for what you're getting! It's a beautiful nursery I'd probably visit at least once a week if I lived closer. If you're thinking about stopping by DO IT you won't regret it. read more

I really wanted to like this place. Heard so many great things about it. They don't respond back to phone calls and emails which I think is very key to being successful. read more

I really enjoyed walking around this native plant nursery on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I had driven past Annie's Annuals and saw a HUGE line to get in, so I decided to come here instead. It felt like I had the whole place to myself! Really dig the vibe - Love the pictures and signs that go with each native plant, and how they organize it - Prices are clearly marked, unlike Oaktown Natives (still don't know how they price their plants) - A couple of the plants are too young to transplant, which are marked. Overall a lot of the plants skew young/small because more people have been buying natives. That means you'll have to wait for them to grow a bit, but thats okay because those tend to be stronger plants! - Some plants are on sale for really cheap - $1-2! I got about 5 native plants for less than $20 total. They take card here. The grounds of the place are absolutely beautiful. You can smell the ocean breeze and they surround the area with natives they plant themselves. It's a short drive from the Miller/Knox regional shoreline. read more

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Our first visit to this nursery and I am super impressed. Plant material was very healthy. Wide variety of natives. Clearly marked with plant name and price. Helpful staff. For those folks making an effort to go native in the garden, this is a wonderful resource. Probably easier to plant in fall, to help establish during winter rains, but that's another subject. Sadly we got there five minutes before closing since our hike ran long, and I didn't get to shop as long as I would have liked, which means we just have to come back! In the short time we were there we picked up the Aristolochia california that was the obsessive focus of our visit. read more

Our home garden plants were supplied almost exclusively by Watershed Nursery. Butterfly- and bee-friendly plants abound here. Staff are friendly and highly knowledgable. We performed a sheet-mulch replacement of our tiny lawn into a beautiful flower garden with their plant recommendations. read more

Great selection of California native plants. Good prices. Very helpful and knowledgeable employees

What a fantastic place! Such friendly and helpful staff and we've gotten 3 sets of plants over the past few weeks (yay rain WATER!) that look healthy and happy in our garden. Started by women, this is a gem of a nursery. We also learn a lot about California natives when we visit. read more

I was looking for a specific native plant (Malva (a.k.a. Lavatera) assurgentiflora) for my backyard, and Calscape's nursery list said this was a place that might stock it. I went to their website to see if I could find more information before driving all the way up here from Hayward, and was happy to find that they had a detailed page with their plant availability updated at the beginning of the month. It said they had plenty of them so I came up to see. They definitely did have the plant. Plenty of them! Nice big healthy-looking specimens, too, for a reasonable price. (I stopped by Annie's afterwards since I was in the area, and they happened to have this plant too, but only really tiny ones for not much cheaper.) The whole nursery was well organized, with plants grouped in clear sections with large informational signs next to each plant. I didn't have to hunt for what I was looking for at all. I took pictures of a bunch of the signs to study for later so I can learn more natives. Overall, even though this is a bit of a drive from where I live, it was very easy to get to from the freeway, and looked like it had a great selection of healthy plants. I'll definitely be back here, even if it's just a field trip to learn more plants! read more

I moved to Richmond three years ago but just discovered this wonderful native plant nursery last year. We have been planting all natives since then and I am attaching a couple of photos of plants that were just put in in late winter: an evening primrose - Oenothera elata. ( I think) and a wonderful Lupine - Lupinus arboreus (I think). THEY 'VE EXPLODED - ARE HUGE AND FULL OF FANTASTIC YELLOW FLOWERS! Thank you Watershed. With the drought we all need to plant more natives. read more

The Watershed Nursery - Oenothera elata - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Richmond, California

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These guys are great. They really know their stuff. There also customer oriented very personable and have a lot of heart. Prices are good.

This place is a treasure on many levels! This is a business with a purpose, with amazing people doing important work, and a lovely experience when you visit. Also! Every plant I've ever purchased here- even free ones I've grabbed from their free plant area!- has lived long and thrived in my garden. Please please support this Bay Area treasure of a business! read more

Only open on the weekends?? Bizarre experience trying to find this place, across from the railroad tracks, just a block or so south of the biomed business park. Look for a small sandwich board sign at curb level, turn right and proceed on the dirt path until a green fence is spotted.. Drive THRU that gate (yep) and there's a gravel 'parking lot' and one will see the limited inventory that is sold here.."only on the weekends". Small operation, as is evident. There's a small trailer parked on the premises, and not an exactly welcoming experience once i arrived. more like watershed ghost town. Course I haven't had a chance to examine what sort of native horticulture abounds, but I certainly, from quick glance, gathered this nursery sells eclectic inventory. This is not the place to come looking for general type nursery inventory; believe you me, it aint' here. read more

This is my favorite place in the Bay area for native plants. They have a huge selection. All the plants are nearly organized by section water/sun requirements. Everything is labeled neatly with descriptions. The plants look really healthy. And they have lots of plants for a reasonable price: $5, $2, on sale and even free! I bought 4 times as many plants as in the previous nursery I went to for half the price. I also like that most of the plants are really local, not too many species from Northern California or Southern California, but they have the lovely island variations of some plants. Moreover the people working there are involved in restoration work, they really know what they are talking about. read more

Native plant sanctuary... great owner, great, great, great selection... easy to understand and learn. Just hard to find and hours are limited. When you see the sign, go to the right and then to the right again. Aim towards the fence covered in screening...not the business yard. Tomorrow I am planting some of my new darlings and looking forward to more! By the way, I had already search the Berkeley Horti, the Magic Garden much less the big chain stores... I like this one for Natives. read more

The Watershed Nursery - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Richmond, California

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This is a great place to purchase plants that are native to the area. We were looking to start a garden in our backyard but we didn't really know where to start. The folks at Watershed listened to our description of our backyard and gave great advice on plants. We will definitely be going back! read more

Today was my first visit to the Watershed Nursery and I was really impressed with the natives available. The plants were all in great shape too despite some debilitating sun and heat last week. It was a slow day so I had the place to myself and Jessica was super friendly and helpful. I was shopping light and picked up a toyon and some grasses. Prices are very reasonable and they have larger shrub and tree sizes you will not find at places like Annie's (although they are great for natives too). I will definitely be back! read more

I've been going to Watershed for years (went today, in fact). Large selection, several knowledgable folks and occasional sales. It's my first choice for native plants, which I purchase often. read more

I love this nursery and the staff! I live about 45 minutes to an hour away (depending on traffic) from here, so I wasn't able to get to the nursery until recently when I had a gap in my schedule. Due to traffic and other unforeseen events, I arrived about 10 minutes before closing time, but the staff made sure I found what I needed. There were a couple of dogs wandering around, and my boys and I loved giving them pets. In addition to the plants I came there to purchase, I also bought an envelope of wildflower seeds, and the woman who checked us out wrote planting instructions on the wildflower envelope, which I really appreciated. She even gave me free containers so I could take my plants home without making an absolute mess in the back of my car. The nursery also had several free items available - stickers, pamphlets, and even plants. This is a wonderful nursery! I will definitely carve out time in the future to visit this great place again. They have been operating for twenty years and for good reason. Please support this awesome business! read more

The Watershed Nursery - We got some Toyon plants and some free Mugwort plants! Great nursery! - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Richmond, California

I want to landscape with California native plants so I jumped on a Groupon for the Watershed Nursery. Glad I did! The staff is very knowledgeable, patient and helpful. Andy helped me come up with a layout plan for my space and offered a nice selection of native flowering plants starting at two bucks. It's a bit tricky to find but they have a street sign now and are open 6 days a week. You can find all the native plants you want. Very cool! Parking is easy in their lot. read more

I come here as often as possible because the Watershed Nursery has a great selection of California native plants! The folks that work here are especially knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and kind. I have personally spoken to Ken and Laura, and Laura is one of the owners and is fantastic. Laura and I talked a bit about propagation techniques for plants that are difficult to get started. Ken helped me with some particular species of plants I was looking for and showed me the stock from their propagation area that were just about to be placed in the retail side of the store! I got to pick them out and bring them up front, it was a great experience. All the plants I have gotten here are still alive and well. Thank you so much. I will definitely continue to come here. read more

I worked in habitat restoration and landscaping for 3 years with a degree in biology. This is where you should be buying your plants. The stock is top tier. The nursery is not only clearly up to best management practices, but also elegant. They even have a free plant area. Supporting this business supports a healthier bay and a better world. Go here! read more

If you have complained about the weekend only hours you can retract that now. Watershed is now open Tuesday through Sunday from 10-4. This place was easy to get to, easy to find, (detailed directions on their website) and I could not believe the diverse selection of plants. The woman who helped me was friendly, kind, patient, and knowledgeable. She explained how the plants are arranged according to how much sun they will tolerate. Friendly, sweet dog came to greet me, too. I took the native gardens tour last May, and saw a lot of the same stuff throughout, but Watershed has varieties of plants I didn't see on the tour, which was exciting. The tree selection was very limited, but there were so many choices for flowering plants, more than I expected. Everything is pretty clearly labeled with photos, descriptions and scientific names. There are seedlings as well as plants in 5-gallon containers. There are some rarer plants there, too. This is not a beautiful nursery, there is no shade, and the ground is covered with gravel, and plants are all arranged neatly in rows. I was expecting to find a lot of weedy looking plants, of which there are plenty, but I was surprised at the selection of really striking, beautiful plants as well. A lot of loving care is evident here, and there are some nice display gardens along the perimeters to check out, so you can see how the plants fill in once they're out of their "shoes" and in the ground. I highly recommend this place, and I will be going back for sure. You should go here! read more

This Nursery is fantastic for securing true-to-place CA natives for creek restorations, etc. Prices are good and selection is outstanding. Plants are also very healthy! Easy to get to, a little tricky to find, but what good place isn't? Staff is very helpful as well, with suggesting good plants for difficult areas. read more

What I liked: This is the place to get natives really cheap - including small ones for about $5. Wow! And the staff were very accessible. What I didn't like: All of the plants were kept in full hot sun, and the more shade-loving plants looked stressed. Most of them recovered when planted, but a couple of them never did. Also, it's right next to a sewage treatment plant or something, & on a hot day it smells nasty. Bring a scented bandana? ;) read more

Negative reviews of this place are bizarre at best. Their are their hours and their location is what it is. Morever, they don't have stuff other nurseries have because they only sell natives. Their business description is accurate. My daughter and I came her looking to populate our front yard. The woman helping us was friendly and very interested in doing us good. After an hourse of conversing we got a cart full of cool stuff at good price. If it's not your scene go somewhere else but don't bash it. read more

I'm trying to restore my property with all California native plants. It is hard to find some varieties. On a recent first trip to Watershed Nursery I happen to find some plants that are normally difficult to locate at the other Bay Area nurseries. I was surprised at the vast inventory, selection, and inexpensive prices. I was particularly impressed with how all the plants were so robust and healthy. The staff is genuinely friendly and eager to answer plant questions. Although this is a long drive for me, I most definitely will return for more native stock. read more

LOVE this place. Nice selection of healthy native plants and the staff is friendly and knowledgable. Buying a lot of plants gets expensive - but that's the case no matter where you buy. I highly recommend the Watershed Nursery for your landscaping needs. The only downside is that it's right next to the sewer treatment plant and depending on the weather conditions the odor can be nasty. read more

Off the beaten track, this nursery is worth finding as the selection of rare and unusual, but easy to grow California Native Plants is fantastic! The plants are healthy, the staff will help you find what will work on your site, and the prices very reasonable. They have a small native garden that I found inspiring. read more

Amazing NATIVE PLANT nursery. 'Watershed' means the drainage basin of one particular river or creek. For this nursery, it means all their plants are LOCAL, grown from seeds collected right here. The appropriate genome, subspecies, perfectly adapted to our climate. Plants are arranged by microclimate, (sun, chaparral, riparian). If you are passionate about native plants of the Bay Area, this is the place to go. I visit this nursery twice a year, during their sales, and fill my car. Their plants are among the most vigorous I have ever seen. They don't look like much at the nursery, but the little tufts of green, in their 'testubes' of dirt, are poised, ready to take off and grow with joy when they are planted. The austere conditions they are grown in creates tough little plants. Just what you need if you are interested in restoration. Or want to add a few tough native beauties to a more traditional landscape. read more

This place is a God send. They make it so easy and affordable to do the right thing by planting plants that are native to California, thus mostly able to go without water for long periods of time. I was able to plant responsibly without killing my budget. The people who work here are super knowledgable, and the variety of plants is excellent. Honestly, the prices are so good! And it's in a super cool area in Richmond, not too far from the Richmond Bridge. I strongly recommend this place to anyone who needs to plant a hill or new garden/yard who cares about their water bill and the environment. This place rocks! read more