Elkhorn Native Plant Nursery

As a botanist, I am an avid California native gardener. The ENPN is the perfect place to find and buy plants. They have an excellent on-​line catalog and it is easy to order by phone or email. I have bought literally truckloads of plants from here and have had exactly zero fatalities. Everything grew and grew well. Coincidentally, I knew the manager from when he ran the Saratoga Horticultural Research Foundation in Morgan Hill. Rob is still as friendly as ever and more than willing to help find that perfect plant. I highly recommend this nursery to anyone within driving distance.

Elkhorn Native Nursery is amazing! The staff is so knowledgeable and extremely helpful. I am amazed at how beautiful our yard is becoming. It is so worth a bit of a drive to get such a deal on beautiful hardy plants. I am really negligent of our yard at times, but honestly nothing has died. It almost seems like they thrive with neglect!

Oh. My. God. Even if you’re not an aficionado of California native plants, you deserve to come visit this nursery. It’s not exactly hard to find, but enough out of the way that «2 miles north of the power plant, across the street from the military surplus store» qualifies as detailed directions. Once you’re there, you may not want to leave, especially on a warm sunny day like I was. Drifts of native plants line the driveway and parking lot, with acres more growing contentedly in hoop-​houses and au naturel. The placid Elkhorn Slough lies below, and kudos to the set dresser who sent that colorful freight train ambling through the scene right on cue. The nursery started as a specialist in grasses, but now they’re so much more, and chances are they’ve got what you want. Agastache, Mimulus, Ceanothus, Eriogonum, Carpenteria, Salvias (oh! the Salvias!), grasses, reeds, rushes, shrubs, trees, it’s really a little obscene how much they grow and what great condition it’s all in. (The nursery manager, Rob, an alumnus of the venerable Saratoga Hort, was kind enough to tell me how their potting mix has been improved with less perlite and more organic matter.) In short, a joy to visit and impossible to leave without buying a few babies at eminently reasonable prices. Open to the public on Fridays, to the trade by appointment. Check their website for a fairly current availability list, or call, or just step away from your computer and make the drive already.