Read on to learn how Bay Area Landscape Pros improve satisfaction with their customers and prevent landscaping project train-wrecks.
To help you prepare a professional estimate for the plant material that’s competitive and accurate, we make it easy and convenient with our Online Estimate Form. All that you have to do to take advantage of this free, valuable service is to follow these simple steps.
- | Make a complete list of your plants
- | Share all the details including size, color, form + more
- | Attach a digital plant list to our Online Estimate form
Our online Estimate + Order form allows you to attach your plant list—preferably a Microsoft Excel .xlsx file—so that we’ll know with certainty exactly what you’re looking for. With your plant list in hand, our sales team can then prepare a detailed Estimate and email it back to you.
It’s best to move ahead with a Plant Material Order within 1-3 days of receipt of your Estimate. That way, you improve the opportunity to get the exact plants that are available and you avoid one of the worst plant buying mistakes.
“My clients really appreciate understanding the cost of their plants and I rely on how easy it is to get an estimate online at Pacific Nurseries.”
Jared Sussman | J&W Gardens
Our approach is simple. The plants that you want are the plants that you should get.
So avoid one of the most frequent plant buying mistakes by wasting time and searching lots of wholesale nurseries to find exactly what you need. Because we’re both a Plant Grower AND a Plant Broker, it’s in our DNA to not try and “sell” you only the plants we have on hand.
We have developed deep resource knowledge of other quality plant growers over the last 150 years. And we often turn to these well-established relationships to get specific plants. Whether it’s exotic palms, a group of espalier fruit trees or balled and burlap multi-trunk specimens, our trusted network of plant partners enables us to fill your plant order with the plants that will satisfy your clients and make you look your best.
Bay Area landscapes have plenty of areas that only get limited or no direct sunshine. If that sounds like your project challenge, it doesn’t mean that a shady garden has to be dreary or uninspiring. Shade tolerant plants play an important role in providing needed contrast, texture and interest in garden areas that can sometimes be neglected or overlooked.
According to the California Native Plant Society | CNPS, there are a wide variety of CA native plants that are perfect for a shady or mostly shady location. Check out some of these great options before you install a sun-loving plant that may quickly be compromised and put you in a bad light with your client.
“I love how Pacific Nurseries delivers timely information on plant groups and specimens right to my email inbox. It helps remind me of plants that I hadn’t considered for a solution.”
James Ingels | rhaa Landscape Architecture + Planning
From ground covers and grasses to flowering shrubs and trees, native plants provide the benefits of lower water needs, reduced maintenance requirements, improved soil health, and increased diversity that attracts birds and butterflies. They also blend in naturally with surrounding landscapes and provide aesthetic beauty.
Check out our recommendations for CA Natives that can make your project a success. It can help you avoid one of the plant buying mistakes that we see so often.
As a Landscape Pro, you should have clear and simple goals when planning and installing a fire-safe landscape with compliant defensible space including:
- | Decrease potential fuel
- | Interrupt fire paths
- | Install fire-resistant plants
- | Comply with local fire department WUI codes + ordinances
The good news is, making a landscape fire-safe doesn’t have to be unattractive or cost-prohibitive. Fire-safe landscaping can both conserve water and increase property value while improving the aesthetics of just about any location.
“When planning a fire-resistant landscape, consider more than just the selection of plants.”
Nancy Roche | Roche + Roche Landscape Architects
Where do you look for garden inspiration that provides fresh ideas, innovative design concepts and unique use of plants that you can integrate into your projects?
Fortunately, we are blessed with many world-class, public gardens here in the Bay Area that demonstrate and display the beauty, diversity, and opportunity of what a landscape can be. Timeless aesthetics, tailored design, and excellence in the use of plant form, color, and texture all are reflected in these cherished and very popular destinations.
If you need to look at a landscape challenge a bit differently, or if you just need some landscape inspiration from those who have accomplished award-winning success, check out our comprehensive list of Bay Area Public Gardens.
When your next installation is complete, make sure you’re doing all that you can to keep the Bay Area green and support the sustainability of the planet. Just bring your empty plant containers to Pacific Nurseries. We’ll put them in our Plant Container Recycling Program that we’ve had in place for over 15 years.
This popular program provides reuse and recycling of over 200,000 plant containers a month. From mudflats to 15-gallon containers, over 2 million plant containers a year don’t spoil the landscape or end up as trash.
Do your part to keep the Bay Area green after your plants go in the ground and don’t make this one of your plant buying mistakes.
There’s no better way to conserve water and save the investments that your clients are making in their landscape than by using mulch and soil amendments. Using mulch in your installation offers great benefits including:
- | Holding in soil moisture, protecting plants from drying out quickly
- | Keeping plant roots cool in hot summer temperatures
- | Moderating soil temperature fluctuations
- | Inhibiting weed germination and growth
- | Preventing weeds from stealing valuable nutrient resources
- | Adding nutrition to the soil as it breaks down
- | Protecting plant roots from winter cold and frost-heaving
The best mulch to use depends on your site, soil condition and your preferred method of irrigation. Check out the wide range of specially formulated soil amendments and mulches that we offer to make you and your project look their best.
When additional tree support is properly applied, it supports trunk sway to enhance the spread of a deep root system and reduces the risk of trunk or limb damage.
To avoid a call back from your client to address a damaged or dead tree, check out these great tips that we offer on proper tree staking for freshly planted trees.
The best way to take advantage of these limited opportunities is to sign up to become a member of our Bay Area Landscape Pro community. It’s the fastest and easiest way for you to stay informed with valuable content that will make you more knowledgeable, effective, and profitable as a Landscape Pro.
Each month we provide in-depth articles and updates from our community that help our subscribers get the most relevant and valuable information to better serve their customers. It also keeps you informed of new featured plants, updates to our Prime Plant List, and news about special promotions and events. And best of all, it’s absolutely free.
Helping landscape pros avoid mistakes since 1869

For over 150 years, landscape pros have turned to us for our personalized service, expert advice, and an ever-growing selection of plants in over 36 acres of inventory that includes everything from the ordinary to the exotic.
As both a grower and a plant broker, we can provide just the right trees or native, water-wise plants that will make your project a success. It’s one of the many qualities that make us different from just an ordinary nursery.
And if you need a Plant Material Estimate or would like to place a Plant Order, just click on over to use our convenient ONLINE ESTIMATE | ORDER FORM.
And you?
What’s the worst mistake that you’ve made when buying plants for a landscape project? Send us your experience to share with our community.As President of Pacific Nurseries, Don Baldocchi gets satisfaction knowing the Bay Area is greener and more beautiful by helping landscape professionals succeed. Email Don or give him a call at 650.755.2330.