Reviews
They had exactly what I was after. They have a great supply of native, drought resistant plants both trees and shrubs. Their prices beat Lowe's, Home Depot and the nurseries. If you're after a street tree, they will even do the permitting for you. Free.
Absolutely brilliant. The only place to go in San Jose for your shrubs and trees. They have by far the best selection and largest section that I've seen in the area. All of them carefully selected to be appropriate for the current and future climate in the Bay Area. The fact that they are a non profit community organisation is an added bonus. You can come along to volunteer. All prices are suggested donation levels. When you get a tree you have to sign a 'stewardship' form. They even offer planting support services for an extra fee. Just excellent. Come here. Buy some plants and trees.
Lovely people and plants. Looking forward to coming back again for more native plant options in my garden.
Our City Forest is a great source of native and drought-tolerant plants, complete with recommendations about how big they get, how much sun and water they need, and which plants are good for attracting pollinators. The wait-list is long, but they also have a "lawn-buster" program. If you're interested in replacing your lawn with drought tolerant plants, you can either get advice and do the job yourself, or get on the list for their service. This is one of those wonderful places where your purchase also supports the organization. The whole operation runs on recycled soil and mulch, recycled water, recycled plant pots they brush out and sterilize them; bring back your empties, with donated plants often overstock from nurseries, volunteers and Americorps staff. The organization has a goal of one million trees for one million people. If you look, you may see trees they've planted all around Santa Clara County.
We had a great experience volunteering today at Our City Forest! My babysitter fell through last minute and I was stuck bringing my almost-4-year-old along with me and my 7-year-old Cub Scout. It all worked out though and even my little one got to help out! One of my students met us there and together we all pulled weeds, moved plants, cleaned empty planters, and tied trees to their stakes. Fantastic family volunteering opportunity, especially during Covid times, since it's outdoors and easy to stay distanced. We'll definitely be back.
First visit. Longish lines, short hours, but they seem dedicated to native and adapted low water species. I'll definitely go back and would recommend to others.
Helpful and knowledgeable staff, great selection of plants, especially but not only California natives
Wide variety of california native plants were available and we got all the ones we wanted. The volunteers are especially helpful and knowledgable.
People were fine. Very expensive place given their overall purpose as a non profit promoting native plants. Equal or greater than average nursery prices.
Beautiful growing grounds, friendly staff, and healthy looking plants! They even keep their own honey bees. Thanks OCF!