Posted by admin to The Foothills, independent, lifestyle, retail on 2008-02-18, 18:45:23

I am interested in Don mentioning in the last post that bare root sales are strong this year for his nursery, and that Dave Wilson Nursery, the wholesale supplier for much of the fruit trees we retail nurseries in nor. Cal. sell, is showing an upswing in sales. Also Melinda, who works at a well established nursery, also sells a lot of bare root.

We are located at 2000′ elevation compared to Dons or Melinda’s locations which are close to sea level. That means we are about three weeks behind in the march toward spring. That may mean are in for an up-tick in bare root sales as we get closer to what most people associate with planting time.

Having been in business for only four years at our current site, we may be getting a false impression of bare root sales potential. I do know that fewer garden centers are carrying bare root. On a trip today Monica and I visited Bushnell’s Nursery in Granite Bay, High Hand Nursery in Newcastle, and The Flower Mill Nursery in Loomis. None had bare root for sale! High Hand doesn’t sell fruit trees, The Flower Mill was selling fruit trees in pots planted last year, and Bushnell’s had a few fruit trees in fiber pots, none bare root. This may explain why people drive to Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis!

I suppose its like anything. The amount of enthusiasm we put into a venture the more we get out of it. I don’t intend on giving up on fruit tree sales as they do sell well for us in spring as potted plants. Being that we are a mountain nursery its harder for people to get enthused about gardening as early as the folks in the valley, where today the quince and flowering plums we’re blooming.

Thanks Melinda for finding my blog “excellent”! Knowing that people actually read what I write is quite a thrill.

Posted by admin to California, The Foothills on 2008-01-14, 16:02:53

Returning to work last Friday we had no idea that the weather had gotten so bad while we we’re gone. In southern California we kept hearing about the approaching storm. While in Riverside the wind did pick up but not that bad. It was interesting that while we were in Santa Barbara it did rain one night but by morning it was clear.

So when we got to the nursery we we’re surprised to hear the power had been out four days. The wind was a 50 year record! Trees were down all over northern California and in the foothills power remained out for some as long as seven days. We had power at the nursery but it was weird. Some things worked, others didn’t. Lights glowed at half their strength. PG&E said we had lost our negative wire when the trees blew against the power pole. This is a dangerous situation that Monica and I had no idea about. They cut the power to the store, fixed the pole, and got us power, all in the dark! One guy in a boom truck with a chain saw and lights got the job done. Our utility deserves credit for their hard work. Just a couple of miles from here a utility repairman was electrocuted trying to get the power back on.

The clean up will take days but we are glad we didn’t loose any large trees like Alden Lane Nursery did. That nursery, located a couple of hours from here in Livermore lost one of, if not “the” signature oak tree of the nursery, which had stood for centuries. I have been to Alden Lane and met owner Jackie Courtright and she must be devastated at the loss. Here is a link to their website and I assume the tree mentioned is the one in the picture. What a storm!

This next week we should receive our bare root fruit trees. While I don’t like the physical part of dealing with them (as I get older my back “talks” to me more) I do like having something new and fresh to get the season rolling. We will plant up half of the trees right away for spring sales and sell the rest “bare root”. I wish bare root season was a growing side of the business but as people become less knowledgeable about gardening many don’t even realize there is a bare root season. Customers want fruit trees when they are shopping in spring, hence the reason we pot half of them up. We may start potting up a greater percentage in the future if sales dictate it.

We are having our fruit tree pruning workshop this Saturday from 11 to noon. It is in the event tent, which I am amazed didn’t blow over. We’ll have coffee, hot chocolate and tea. See you there.