Ploughshares Nursery

I know every time I go here I can find a unique plant to bring home. Bonnie does beautiful arrangements and is happy to help give you ideas for your own. Plus, you get to feel good about supporting a wonderful non-​profit!

This is my favorite nursery in the East Bay.
They only carry drought-​tolerant and California native species, the staff is super friendly and knowledgeable, the prices are very reasonable, and they often have piles of mulch on hand for free or a small fee. Not only that, but I found out not long ago that it’s also a nonprofit, with 100% of the sales helping the formerly homeless in our community get back on their feet. Great work you guys!

GoogleMaps brought me a roundabout way to get to a residential culdesack, where the tiny parking lot for Ploughshares is located, yet I am so happy I got to this small gem of a nursery.
Very knowledgeable and friendly staff helped me select the right kind of plants and soil for my brand-​new 4X4 raised bed. They even helped me carry and load the heavy soil in my car!
I need to check out their weekend workshops because I hear from other gardener friends that they are fantastic! So happy to support a local, collaborative business like Ploughshares!

Jeff is my favorite gardener on the island. Unlike the other nursery on the island, I feel like Ploughshares appreciates my business and the variety is awesome.

This is a fantastic nursery with an impressive selection of plants. Their staff is extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Whether you are wanting to plant a few veggies or are doing a major planting project, I would highly suggest starting at Ploughshares Nursery.

They have a pretty decent selection of edible plants but they are kind of expensive. So everything there is pretty nice I just had a hard time with the prices. And the staff… I didnt really see them anywhere. Nice place though I will say that. The only reason I am giving them 4 stars is because of price and edible plant selection.

Wow, this is a wonderful nursery. With the drought, this place offers drought tolerant plants that are native to California. Who wouldn’t want to come!
Don’t be turned off by the words native plants, because there is a lot of interesting, wonderfully smelling and looking plants for our weather. There’s also fruit trees, plants and vegetables. You can pretty much get everything here.
We came on a very hot day. There isn’t any water fountains and I was dying of thirst. There’s a good amount of shade offered by their lush section of bamboo. But other than that it’s all sun! Be sure to bring a hat or a water bottle. There’s a lot to see.
They also have some set ups to look at for ideas and décor. It’s really pleasant and I’m sure the employees have a lot of fun working here. It’s great because there are a lot of bees, lady bugs and butterflies roaming around. We need more of this! Unfortunately because of the heat, we didn’t buy anything that day but we will definitely come back to purchase. The workers are very friendly and knowledgable. A must place to go to get plants!

I’ve shopped here twice, both great experiences and both times I didn’t leave empty handed. We picked up soil and a very beautiful eggplant plant. I love the message this place makes and I live so close by it’s just a gem! They even take VISA on an iPad!

I really like shopping here. They offer a nice selection of California native plants. I can usually find what I am looking for and if not then their knowledgeable and friendly staff is eager to help. Purchases at Ploughshares help support the Alameda Point Collaborative.

As good as it gets. There are 3 reasons to shop there;
1. Awesome staff, etc
2. The money goes to an excellent no-​profit, the Alameda Point Collaborative (check out their web site)
And, last but not least
3. The Rosenblum Winery tasting room is across the street.

Linda was extremely helpful, friendly, and sweet. I told her what level or maintenance, amount of sunlight, and price point I wanted, and she showed me a ton of plants that fit my criteria!
This wast first experience at Ploughshares, and it won’t be my last. I only hope Linda will be there again to assist me and keep me company again :)

It’s not quite as well-​organized as other nurseries but their knowledge, helpfulness, and mission more than makes up for it. Jeff even came out to our rental property today and gave us an informative, personalized consult for drought-​resistant, native species to landscape with on a limited budget. He got down to look at our soil, drainage, exposure, and gave us lots of great looking recommendations. Nursery’s don’t usually come out to properties so it was really helpful for us who know very little and also don’t have the budget to hire a full-​on licensed landscaper just yet. Just wanted to let ya’ll know if you’re looking to redo your yard for the dry years, Ploughshares is definitely worth considering.

It’s a little bit like walking through a forgotten garden — large plants grow seemingly wild amidst pots of plants available for purchase.
My first and only visit was for a garden party they held, so my experience is not your average. There were lots of helpful teens roaming about, asking us repeatedly if we had any questions about anything as we poked and prodded through aisles and greenhouses full of plants in various stages of growth and health.
It’s not the prettiest and most polished of nurseries, but I like its grassroots feel, and I love that it’s a positive impact on the community through APC. I’m sure I’ll be back.

I was very, very impressed with ploughshares and it will be my nursery of choice. I received excellent, patient service when asking many questions before buying a product. I received help loading everything in my vehicle, too. I’ve worked with several people and always had great service, and I have been there often. This, combined that it is a nonprofit that supports helping the local homeless, really impressed me. A good business with good service and good values. Enough said. My place of choice!

I’m a local, and visited Ploughshares for the first time March 2013. Every weekend I make my way to the two other nurseries in Alameda — time to mix it up and visit someplace new.
What a little gem Ploughshares is. Make no mistake, it’s no Orchard Nursery in Lafayette — it’s physically and visually a bit chaotic and rough, but plant groups are clearly marked and pricing is easily visible. I found plant health to be a mix, some perfect and some stressed. But I got the vibe of something GOOD going on there — staff was helpful but not overbearing, the succulent collection was quite good and I left with a couple of things I didn’t have in my collection. The location is off the beaten path but what that does is blanket the place in a peace and calm on a sunny day that makes it kind of fun to bounce around in. You can contemplate how badly (or not) you need that $ 4 succulent for 10 minutes without interruption.
The freebie used terracotta pot offer is still in effect and made pretty homes for the new purchase. A great way to spend a little time on a warm afternoon.

There is no way to overpraise this place!
I was here over a year ago, been a couple times before that. Always loved it, but kind of had forgotten about it. Very very surprised to see how much it has expanded and organized. Very encouraging to see.
We were doing some guerilla gardening in our hood, planted 9 trees on the street (thank Thornhill Nursery!!), then we couldn’t stop ourselves. Thought it might be nice to plant some drought tolerant things on a pretty neglected stretch here. Remembered that Ploughshares deals with native, drought tolerant plants. And we were more than impressed with the whole experience!
First, a very helpful woman showed us around (thanks Diane), thoughtfully explaining what might work best, and answering any questions. Picked out a few things, but money is tight, you know?
Great sale section though. Then, we noticed some grasses in pots being thrown away. Turned out we could have them for free. Bonus! Now, we had many many more plants than we could actually afford. Our little gardening project just expanded exponentially, and then more miracles: met a woman interning there (Leah) who happens to live in our hood. She was great, totally into helping.
This is community-​building spirit here. Can you get that at Home Depot? Or even any other nursery? (save for Spiral Gardens, another local treasure)
Aside from the great mission, the fact that the people are great, it’s really a top-​notch nursery. Plants are healthy, beautiful, cared-​for but not «commercial».
If you want to support a great cause, or just looking for truly great, native, drought tolerant plants and THE BEST EDIBLES section don’t wait!!!

The greatest strength of Ploughshares is that it is the anti-​Home Depot. It has a knowledgeable staff that actually *wants* to help you and will take the time to explain how to select and care for plants (as opposed to mumbling that they «don’t work in this department»).
Not only are the plants lovingly cared for by the staff, but the nursery has both an environmental mission of reducing water usage and a social mission of teaching formerly homeless adults job skills.
It can be a little hard to find the first time, so make sure you have good directions, but it’s definitely worth the trip!

We’ve come here multiple times for supplies and plants. We’ve found some really amazing things here that we hadn’t initially even considered, which were suggested to us by the fabulous staff. Most (but not all) of the workers here are volunteers, but the paid staff really REALLY know what they’re talking about!
The best part is though, the retail side of the business is not really the big deal here — it’s the effect on the community — the opportunities offered to local residents. Even if the service WAS a little shaky (which it hasn’t been, in my experience), I’d be willing to accept it for this reason alone.
In direct response to the previous reviews complaining about «sad looking plants», it strikes me that you don’t quite get how plants work. Today’s «sad looking plant» is tomorrow’s massive harvest, beautiful shrub or shining flower. Everything looks a little sad when it’s not at its peak, and a lot of the plants at ploughshares are completely natural plants that go through life phases — the bio-​engineered plants at commercial nurseries don’t do that so much.
The staff here is also unlikely to through out a troubled plant that can be revived, and rather more likely to give it away at a discount or throw it in on a large purchase to someone who will hopefully bring it back, than to throw it away, which would happen at, say, Orchard. They also know enough about them to be able to really tell when they’ll be fine, or are really troubled. We’ve had 100% luck with our purchases from them, and I trust their judgement implicitly.

It’s a really nice concept and really nice people but the plants look sad and there is a small selection. They offer native drought tolerant plants.
If you go with the mindset of impulse plant shopping, then you will enjoy this place. If you are looking for anything specific, then you probably don’t want to drive to the old naval base.

Hmmm. I thought I reviewed this place already, and would do an update, but I guess I didn’t. I went here last year (2008) and was impressed with some of the plants they carried, and the amount of plants available for purchase.
My visit recently left a lot to be desired. The location has fallen into disrepair, and staff was hanging out in the employees only section the whole time we were there. Many plants were looking like they needed a little love.
also Oak town nursery used to share this space with ploughshares, but it looks like they are not there anymore? if they are, they really need to improve their visibility.