The Dry Garden on a wet day

The Dry Garden Nursery in Oakland is in a former service station on Shattuck Avenue. The overhang made a perfect spot to sketch on a drizzly day.

Started by Richard Ward and Keith Calhoun in 1987 the nursery has become to the neighboring community. Bowling balls, which serve as garden decor, came from Marcia Donahue, a neighbor of the nursery and fellow plant enthusiast, he said. “Probably 25 years ago, she passed me 15 or 20 of them over the fence,” Ward said. “We just spread them around. They’re just another ornament, like a round rock or something.” (We sketched in Marsha's present garden in August. http://urbansketchers-bayarea.blogspot.com/2016/08/wonderful-garden-in-berkeley.html)

Dry Garden Nursery, Berkeley

It was a wet day at the Dry Garden Nursery on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley.  Grey skies and intermittent cloudbursts.  Open since 1987, the nursery specializes in drought tolerant plants, particularly succulents and cacti, rare, BIZARRE, and very unusual specimens.  Here are sketches of a few of the corners of their collection.