A native plant and edible garden that has grown on Race Street in San Jose for 27 years has until Tuesday, Oct. 20, to move out after the property owner said the land is being sold to a developer. The nonprofit Plant & Soul California got a letter on Sept. 30 saying the site was in escrow and giving it 20 days to leave, CBS San Francisco reported.

Why it matters: the half-acre site at 76 Race St. is one of the few public native plant teaching gardens in central San Jose. Its board says it is hoping for a last-minute buyer or for the sale to fall through.

What's at stake

The garden grows plants many people don't know are edible, including fennel flowers, French sorrel, salt bush, nasturtiums and elderberry. "There is nothing else like this anywhere in San Jose," board member Jessicka Chamberlin told CBS. Volunteers turn the elderberries into pies, custard and syrup.

The site was a pilot project for the Sustainable SITES Initiative in 2009 and earned SITES certification in 2014, Hoodline reported. The nonprofit ran for more than two decades as the California Native Garden Foundation before renaming itself Plant & Soul California in 2025.

The money

The group is trying to raise nearly $3 million to make a counteroffer or pay to relocate, KTVU reported. Its online fundraiser had about $17,185 from 98 supporters toward a $2.7 million goal as of Tuesday morning. Volunteers held a community yard sale over the weekend to raise money and awareness. Delmar Duldulao, a professional landscaper who started volunteering there a few weeks ago, told CBS the garden had been "more inspiring than I expected it to be."

"The ideal would be if we got some kind of angel investor and some kind of miracle, and maybe the escrow fell through," board chair Melissa Blum told CBS. "We're not going to give up until we're gone."

What happens next

If the group can't stay, it hopes to find another site in San Jose so its volunteers can stay together. The nonprofit also runs Hester Farm, an organic farming project at 1460 The Alameda, Hoodline reported. The buyer and its plans for the Race Street land have not been made public in the reports we reviewed.

The Race Street garden is one of several South Bay community spaces facing a squeeze. In San Jose, Bay Area Community Health is also scrambling after a federal housing grant cut left 40 patients facing the loss of their housing by Oct. 30.