Native Plant Extravaganzas 2025 (rain or shine!)

Don’t Miss the Last Extravaganza of the Year!

Shop in-person on Saturday, November 15, or shop online at participating businesses on November 15 or 16 and a percentage of your purchases will go to support the Tour.

Details are below. 

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Be sure to include our own, local keystone plants in your garden; they are the best for wildlife, and include:

Best plants for sunny areas: Oak, holly leaf cherry, California lilac, lupine, manzanitas, sages, sunflower, native strawberry, buckwheat, aster, coyote brush, and penstemon.

Best plants for shady areas: currant, huckleberry, wild rose, thimbleberry, ocean spray, woodland strawberry, goldenrod, aster, honeysuckle.

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Shop in-person

Saturday November 15, 10:00-4:00 (rain or shine!)

Free Events and Talks in the Nurseries 

Native-Plant Themed Market, held at the Paradise Community Garden, 20097 Mission Blvd, Hayward

• 10:00-4:00 Join the fun at this native plant-themed market at Paradise Community Garden in Hayward!  Down by the Bay will be selling local native plants. They will be joined by Coyote Brush Studios, California Native Seeds, Botanist/Ceramicist Laura Falk Breidenthal, facepaint/henna artist J Mills Designs, the California Native Plant Pros Guild—a collective of native plant-related professionals including designers, growers, seed sellers, native plant garden consultants.  Talented cook Sonia will be selling tacos (with handmade tortillas!!!), so come hungry and ready to shop for your friends and families for the upcoming holidays.

• 11:00 and 1:00 “The non-functional turf irrigation ban is coming to you!  Come learn about Assembly Bill 1572  the bill that will fundamentally change the way California looks: Let’s use this bill to create habitat for wildlife!” by Kathy Kramer

The non-functional turf irrigation ban is coming to your school, library, city-owned landscaped areas, HOA, and more. Come learn how you can use this opportunity to support birds, bees, and butterflies by creating wildlife habitat!

AB 1572, which will be phased in, starting on January 1, 2027, will make it illegal to water non-functional turf (meaning, lawn that is just decorative, not used for any real purpose). This does not affect single family homes, but it does affect public and private schools and universities, religious institutions, businesses, HOAs, and all city, county, and state-owned land, including the landscaping in front of city offices, libraries, fire and police stations, health centers, and more. This bill provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create native plant gardens that will provide habitat for wildlife.  Join me to find out more about this great opportunity!

• 11:00-2:00—Stop by my table to say hello and enter a free drawing to win a home-cooked lunch for two in my San Pablo garden with me and my husband, Mike.

• 2:00 Mike and Will from the Radioactives – the talented duo who created I Like Flowers and I’m Your Heat Pump – will be performing a (roughly) 1 hour set featuring crowd-pleasing favorites and some special eco-themed songs.