Best of 2003: Best Place To Buy A Palm

Jungle Music, Encinitas
(Call for directions)
www.junglemusic.net
619-291-4605

Phil Bergman, a former president of the International Palm Society, reigns over this horticultural resource. No other nursery in San Diego County comes close to offering the variety of palms (close to 900 different types) and cycads (more than 200 species). You might pick up a rare two- to three-year-old variety of fishtail palm for $15 or $20, but a mature exotic cycad could cost several thousand. Most of the unusual plants in 15-gallon containers run $125. Although his offerings hail from all over the globe, Bergman says everything he sells will thrive in at least some part of San Diego County. "We've tried everything, and what won't grow here, we've abandoned." The only drawback is the two-acre nursery's limited public hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, and by appointment.