Lot size: 10,000 sq. feet
Garden Age: The garden was planted in 2009
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: 16
702 Channing Way, Berkeley (510) 387-9744
View Oaktown’s plant list here.
Hours Thursday through Sunday 10:00-5:00, or by appointment.
Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Special! Shop during the Tour’s Native Plant Sale Extravaganza, when Oaktown will be open from 10:00–5:00 on Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and 3, 2020.
Talks in the Nursery
Saturday May 2, 2020
“Talk coming soon!”
Sunday May 3, 2020
3:00
“Garden design primer” by Todd Gilens
Thinking of digging up a lawn, or redesigning your garden with native plants? This short workshop will cover basic considerations for all gardens, how to apply and adjust these factors to your own situation, and ways of working with measurements and drawings to help you get your project rolling.
Todd Gilens teaches the Ecological Foundations of Design course for the Academy of Art University Landscape Architecture Department, and has been designing, and coaching Bay Area residents in garden design, since 2012.
Philosophy
Oaktown Native Plant Nursery began as a hobby plant propagation club in a friend’s back yard in Oakland in 2001. Oaktown Nursery is currently (ironically) located in Berkeley, and produces custom grown plants for contractors and home gardeners. Oaktown specializes in propagating California natives appropriate to local conditions. Plants are grown from permitted local seed and cutting collections. Oaktown’s resume of custom grow projects covers a wide range, from private native habitat gardens to riparian species for Napa’s Fish Friendly Farming, to intertidal plants for the Lake Merritt Channel restoration. We take pride in growing healthy plants using low tech, least toxic methods for the sake of the environment. Oaktown is open year-round Thursday through Saturday for retail customers.
Standards to Look For
Dutchman’s Pipe Vine – A curious vine with a Dutch meerschaum pipe-shaped flower that must have been admired by Dr. Suess himself. Purple-striped flowers appear in early spring. Dutchman’s pipe vine is the only larval host plant for the beautiful, large black and blue pipevine swallowtail butterfly.
Narrow Leaf Milkweed – This herbaceous perennial is the locally native milkweed that is the larval host plant for the marvelous migratory monarch butterfly.
Woodland Strawberry – For a shady area in need of a ground cover. Woodland strawberry provides the added benefit of producing tiny but tasty wild strawberries.
Fairybells – This whimsical shade lover, with its delicate, white bell-shaped flowers, grows up to three feet and then dies back each year, providing seasonal interest in the shade.
Checkerbloom – Checkerbloom, a perennial sun lover native to grasslands, produces attractive spikes of pink mallow-like blooms.
Soap Plant – Every native plant lover just has to have at least one. White lily flowers open in the afternoon and attract bumblebees. Ask about it’s interesting ethnobotanical uses.
Other Nursery Attractions
• The entry gardens often show off the plants for sale inside.
• Oaktown grows a diverse selection of species from all major native plant communities of the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
Gardening for Wildlife
Most of Oaktown’s plants are grown for their habitat value. Feel free to ask which attract birds, butterflies or other pollinators.
Directions
Oaktown is located on Channing Street in Berkeley, just west of 4th Street. The entrance ramp is on the south side of the Channing, just before you hit the Amtrak railroad tracks.
