Finally, A Plantiful Berkeley Nursery Fix

by angela@diggingbliss | Jun 4, 2014 | book, books, botanical garden, Cacti, nursery, orchid cactus, spring, succulents

When my friend Cheryl told me she had some Byzantine glad bulbs for me… which I had originally shared with her years ago from my old Carmichael garden… I pondered when I’d see her next and seized the opportunity to invite her on a day trip to Berkeley to visit two places neither of us had ever been– The UC Berkeley Botanical Garden and Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary & Garden Arts Bookstore. The botanical garden and bookstore happen to be fairly close to each other, with the garden being just north of the bookstore, which is nestled in the quaint Elmwood neighborhood in Berkeley.

The drive from Sacramento to Berkeley usually isn’t too bad… about an hour and thirty-five to forty-five minutes. This time, I decided to take 80 to 680 to 24 to 13, which I think of as coming in “the back way” to Berkeley. My aim was to find the most efficient route to our destination and avoid the interchanges and traffic on 80 near Berkeley. This turned out to be a good alternate route, as traffic was pretty smooth and we made it in an hour and thirty-five minutes.

Have I mentioned how much I love maps and GPS systems? I’m literally lost without them.

Google Map It!

Destinations

The Round Trip

“Where’s a public restroom?” is probably the first thing you’ll ask yourself upon arrival. We asked at nearby Lulemon and they offered theirs, which I must say was delightfully clean and luxurious. I perused the yoga garb earnestly for a moment while waiting my turn, but thankfully didn’t feel pressured to buy $98 yoga pants in return for loo privileges.

Next, we were off to silence our growling stomachs. A bit of Yelping and Urban Spooning showed me in advance that I’d have plenty of gluten-free-friendly lunch options. This time, I decided to try sandwiches from Ashby Marketplace. I had a hazy notion of getting sandwiches “to go”, but forgot we still needed to hit the bookstore before the garden, so we ended up wandering Elmwood looking for a place to sit down. Having spotted no shady benches or picnic tables anywhere nearby, we ended up carrying our lunch bags back to the car, which was parked in a cozy metered parking lot behind the shops on College Ave. With all the amazing bungalows and blooms in the neighborhood, Cheryl and I risked not ever making it to the garden. We stayed admirably focused on our turkey and pastrami sandwiches.

I want to mention that there were several other sit-down cafes and restaurants we could have tried, including the Elmwood Cafe next door to Mrs. Dalloway’s. Word of warning: the upper wall of the cafe is open to Mrs. Dalloway’s, so don’t go to the bookstore hungry unless you want to be tortured by the sounds of clinking dishes and the wickedly wafting scent of syrup and coffee and bacon.

I’m glad we got to try Ashby Marketplace this time. It’s a charming deli/grocery store, with options for both carnivores and herbivores and lots of gluten-free options. I even brought home a yummy gluten-free cherry chocolate cookie for later. (more…)