apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Try the wholesale flower market. You have to get up early, but they have pretty much everything:

http://www.sfflmart.com/index.html

i'm not in sf, but in nyc, i'd go to the flower district -- is there one in sf? also, i just bought some at our union square farmers market. maybe your farmers markets will have them too. or how about one of the large nurseries, if not in the city, then in marin??? good luck.

Ixia on Market and Noe has a fantastic collection of exotic branches and other features. The prices aren't low but the final result is fabulous - http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/profile/899194/san_francisco_ca/ixia.html?marqueeType=vote&specialtyId=315

Try Nettleton Hollow.

http://www.nettletonhollow.com/branches.html

I'm in Marin and couldn't find any like you'd get at the flower mart, BUT I did buy some of these river birch branches at Crate & Barrel.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/search.aspx?query=birch&DIMID=401501&ShowXItems=20

Probably more expensive than the mart, but I'm happy with them.

I've seen them, at the San Francisco Flower Market, a few sources to try there:

1. Coast Wholesale Florist (just past Neve Roses, midway down on the left, it's down the little alley between the buildings)
http://coastwholesaleflorist.com/index.php

2. Repetto (halfway down on the right)

Also try Fantastico, out on 6th, specifically in the room to the left

http://www.sfflmart.com

Buying hours for the public begin at *10am*, if you don't have a market badge, be forewarned many vendors won't sell to you before then! It's really worth a wander through, while there are a few vendors who specialize (orchids, roses), many have a variety and you're likely to find the perfect thing. It helps if you take a picture with you because if they don't have it they generally know where to find it locally.

I've become a big fan of the manzanita branch as of late, and I found this site just the other day

http://www.manzanita.com/index.htm

The other day I accidentally wandered into the "Botanicals" section on CB2's website:

http://www.cb2.com/botanicals/accessories/v

Most of their offerings are natural, but it looks like there are a few faux pieces mixed in... Anyway, they don't have huge branches like the one in the photo, but some of their curly willow bunches aren't exactly shrinking violets.

This thread is cracking me up. I had this same "problem" a week ago, so I went for a hike and found a beautiful branch covered in lichens and mosses. I've been misting the lichens to keep 'em looking pretty. The price was good as well. Without sounding like too much of a hippie, I would reccomend using this as an excuse to enjoy the great outdoors.

Cracking me up too. I've got an acre of branches. But seems kind of wasteful to package them up and ship them to SF. This did give me the idea, though, to see what's out there that might look nice in the house. Good luck, branch hunters!

One caveat of branches found in nature: you might want to put them in the garage or a large trash bag for a bit, just to make sure there's no critters that are going to invade your home.

We've got manzanita growing all over the hills here, and once I found a nice piece (already broken off the plant) and took it home. It *looked* ok, but then 24 hours later a whole bunch of ants crawled out of it!

With fallen branches, you've got to consider that disease might be what caused them to fall off in the first place. Sustainable harvesting is the correct thing to do, but check it out first!

The selection at Nettleton Hollow looks amazing! Thank you for posting!

my mom picked up some branches for me at her local dump (which they now treat as a recycling center) in wisconsin. price = FREE

Roland of California
VERY AFFORDABLE wood branches and are very nice to deal with, fast turn around time. I used them to decorate my apartment:

http://www.rolandsofcalifornia.com/catalog/Wood.html

I never spend money of things like that. I just get from the side of the road and call it a day.

I'm picking Lichen, and tree branches ie birch here in Canada and need new customers to sell to
306-629-3228