The Dry Garden

I’m giving 4 stars for the number of selections. Service-​wise, this place is a bit too laid back but if you ask questions staffs are definitely willing to help. The place is a good-​sized nursery and I enjoy visiting there once in a while to find out what kind of neat plants they carry. They have surprising amount of succulents collections and more. If you’re picking up one of those multi plants in a pot thingy, you might wanna be a bit careful. Again, this place has great variety of plants and numbers, but TLC to each pots might not be their thing. I’ve seen dying looking (or burnt, over watered) things mixed in a planter. Otherwise, it does the job.

I have recently become addicted to succulent gardening and I went to try this place out and was pretty disappointed. There seemed to be. A lack of knowledge with the workers. One worker was explaining something to me and completely stopped mid-​convo and said «I’m leaving. My ride is here.»
But if you know what you’re looking for and don’t really need to speak to anyone you may actually like this place. A few reasons I will stop by here every once in a while:
-$ 2 bucket of rockets (not a crazy amount of options but can’t beat the price)
-$ 2.50 succulents (that’s basically as good as it gets)
–pretty good variety. You just have to make sure you go all the way to the back
Please note their ceramic items are a little more pricey than other shops.

Quiet locations, tons of plants, reasonable prices, and friendly staff. I needed a very specific type of plant and the man helping me have loads of options and then great car directions for each plant in different seasons. I also like Flora Grubb in Bayview, but the prices here are better and I like that their mission is to stock drought-​resistant plants (whereas FB’s stock seems to gravitate towards whatever is hip at the moment).

I like this place a lot. The prices are reasonable; and, you have a very good chance of finding a new and interesting specimen to add to your collection. If you can’t afford a big succulent you can usually find a smaller version. The library in the owner’s office testifies to his love of plants.

Lets face it, the drought really sucks! Luckily there is The Dry Garden in Berkeley/​Oakland if you’re looking for drought resistant plants. I came here with my husband and got some really great ideas for redoing our backyard. I’m not sure if it was the owner that helped us or just an employee of The Dry Garden, but he was very knowledgeable and even told me how many times each plant that I bought needed to be watered. I’m the type of person that can kill just about any plant, I was not born with a green thumb.
There are a lot of unique looking cacti here and for the succulent obsessed, you’ll love this place. I only bought a couple of small things, but I plan on coming back for some air plants and succulents soon.

One of my favorite places. Great plants at a very reasonable price. Friendly and knowledgable staff. I take all my friends here when they need plants. Great succulent selection. I love this place!

Great place for a variety of succulents, cactus, basic air plants, bromelaids and many perennials located on a small lot.
My friend is starting to appreciate air plants and channeling his creativity with putting together a hanging aerium/​terarrium with air plant, gravel and spanish moss… simple, low-​maintenance plant to add some pizzazz to your home or confined cubicle at the office.
People friendly, owner very informative on the care and assembly of this diy terrarium with reasonable prices.

They have a huge selection of unique cactus and succulents. The cat is cool and always follows you around :) We bought a couple of plants here at a good price! Make sure you see the entire nursery it seems to never end! One of the plants we had didnt have a name tag on it so the man kindly made one for us.

Awesome urban nursery right in the Oakland/​Berkeley boarder. I’ve passed this place a number of times and finally decided to stop by. They have a great selection of cactuses and drought resistant plants. The staff is really friendly and the prices are reasonable. Ended up getting a few small cactuses, but we will be back!

Cool place to check out if you’re looking for quality & sexy succulents. Most are reasonably priced & the owner was pretty helpful. Lots of variety and plants of different sizes.

I love the assortment plants here however whenever I ask one of the owners about a particular plant I am told «all the info is on the blue tag». Well, I can indeed read (and usually do read those blue tags) but I’m asking because I want the insider scoop on the plant– from the plant experts! I keep going back to this place because I can always find something unusual and pretty but the truth is, these guys are not very friendly or helpful and are actually downright rude at times. The cat that lives on the premises is a sweetheart though…

this has now become my go-​to place for all things drought tolerant yet vibrant & strangely beautiful. I can seldom go in and not walk out with less than a flat full of new & interesting items to plant in my yard which used to be grass… I didn’t water it for 2 years and then finally made the decision to till it up, let it lay fallow and then plant a whole new drought tolerant creation. It’s now the rave of the neighborhood! People always stop by to admire the transformation and check out how everything is doing. suffice it to say, if you’re looking for something that doesn’t need a lot of water and can make do with either full sun or shade, this is the place. I especially like that they have a fair amount of stuff to choose from that likes partial shade or full shade as I have a rear yard area with lots of tree cover while the front yard is full on sun (such as it’s been this year so far!) from sun up until about 2 hours before sundown. best selection of any nursery in the bay area in my opinion. better yet, out of the several dozen plants I’ve purchased from here, I’ve only lost 2 to god knows what. whereas I’ve bought plants from other local nurseries and have lost half or most of the little guys. could be how the plants were stored. not sure. whatever the environment is at the dry garden, it must be sufficiently similar to my area that the plants continue to thrive… I live a couple blocks off lake merit near 18^th street.

You know those plant whisperers who possess green thumbs and have the ability to grow beautiful healthy plants?
That’s not me.
I kill things. With sun and water.
I thought I was doing this plant my Mom gave me a favor by putting it outside where it could get sunlight and rain. I went on a trip for 2 weeks and by the time I came back, it’s leaves were no longer thick and green, shining with vibrancy and life. Whatever leaves were left on the poor plant had curled up and lost its color. (In my defense, I asked my Mom what the plant was called when she first gave it to me. so I could Google some care tips, of course. She didn’t know what it was called, and only said that she gave me this specific plant because it was impossible to kill. HA!)
So… I brought it here. I don’t know what I was expecting… short of, well, a miracle.
As I waited for the proprietor of Dry Garden to become available, I cautiously admired the beautiful assortment of healthy plants available for sale… plants that should forever be spared my touch.
And of course, after the nice man finally talked to me and examined my plant, he looked at me the way a superhero might the antithesis of his being… and I knew I probably shouldn’t ever allow anyone to gift me another live plant… except maybe a cactus. And you know what? He didn’t offer a replacement, either. Smart guy.

I’d give this place five stars if the man working there was nicer. I’ve been wanting to go to this place for a long time but have somehow always managed to drive by when it’s closed. Finally when I was out running errands I saw that it was open and decided to stop in. The place is beautiful with SO many succulents and all types of plants. Everything is reasonably priced as well. I ended up leaving with a jasmine plant and a small fern for my kitchen that I am very happy with. On the down side, I’m a beginner with gardening and every time I asked the man (owner?) who worked there a question about plant care, he replied with an extremely dry and condescending answer. I guess next time I’ll just buy the plants and go home and google how to care for them because I didn’t enjoy leaving this place feeling like an idiot.

I’ve always loved it here. Such a literal oasis in nestled in the hustle of the Oak/​Berk border. Have been a loyal customer for years, and wouldn’t dream of buying a succulent from anywhere else.
My most recent purchase for my drought-​garden-​loving, somewhat granola hubby was by far one of the loveliest additions to our garden and made him super happy!

There are definitely lots of great succulents and cacti here. The problem… the person that was there almost hiding from me. I had to run around to look for help. It’s not like this place was busy at all; I was the only person there. To top it off, the guy’s attitude and people skills were as dry as the garden.
Thankfully I found a cactus place in Berkeley that actually wanted my business. I’m guessing this guy’s attitude towards providing great service can be classified as «cacti horribletitis».

The staff is very knowledgeable but not pushy and the prices are great. We purchased materials to build several terrariums for less than one hundred dollars. I would recommend this place for all of your gardening needs.

What an amazing place. This nursery has the best selection of interesting and unusual plants that I’ve seen anywhere in the whole Bay Area. As the name suggests, they specialize in plants that have low water requirements (succulents, ephiphytes, Mediterranean shrubs), but they have a lot of other plants too.
The proprietor, Richard, is highly knowledgeable and willing to answer questions. I was on a quest for an Australian shrub called a woollybush, and when I called the Dry Nursery, expecting yet another answer of «You want a what?», I was thrilled when Richard answered, «Oh, we have three different species of woollybush; which one are you looking for?»
I went to pick up my woollybush and couldn’t resist exploring the whole nursery with all its nooks and crannies. I also ended up impulse-​buying some beautiful and very reasonably priced small Tillandsias and Echeveria. I wish I had a bigger house and a bigger garden — I’d be back every week to pick up something new and delightful!

SUCCULENTS!!!
What a fabulous alternative to the CA drought we currently reside in! My friends and I wanted to explore this «dry» garden in the Berkeley/​Oakland area. We found parking in a residential street and walked to the garden from there. Wowza, they have some diverse plant options ranging from $ 1 easy-​peasy-​care-​for succulents to about $ 45 exotic-​as-​the-​dessert succulents!
My favorite part of this secret little garden is the green room towards the back. It is BEAUTIFUL, and I think very few people will have been exposed to such variety of succulent plants! The lighting in that room was superb — artsy people, you’d love it here! The room, however, is drop-​dead humid, even for Berk/​Oak weather because the plants thrive in the humidity.
I am very fond of visiting this AWESOME garden, and I would definitely recommend it even if you don’t like plants! I have a couple of succulents sitting on my window-​sill, and they are easy to care for (especially when you forget to water them).
PRO-​TIP: Ask the employees for care instructions! They’re all very sweet and knowledgeable.

The Dry Garden is a nice little place to purchase various different plants.
Has a wide selection of different type of plants. I took plenty of pictures, all of which are posted here on Unilocal.
Parking: Doesn’t have a parking lot, so you’ll have to find parking on the street.
Great little shop to browse around and possibly buy a plant. Service was fine, nothing really special.