Newsletter & Tips

May 2016 marks 31 years in business for us. My parents, Richard and Cecilia Rice started the business in 1985. Richard Rice (Dad) passed away in 2005. Mrs. Rice (Mom) is still here almost every day. She is now moving out of the customer service capacity at the nursery. She has had some health issues this past fall which have caused some eyesight issues for her so she will no longer be writing up customer orders. She will be in a capacity of doing some of the maintenance chores around here she enjoys and also enjoys talking to folks. But myself and those who work here will be the ones waiting on customers. I hope all our customers understand and can appreciate mom’s new capacity here at the nursery that she and dad started. May is turning out to be another beautiful spring month. Not hot except for a couple of warm days and a little rain and long range forecats indicate a little more to come. It’s a great time to do some gardening and planting. Check your watering systems and make sure all drippers and sprinklers are working. Don’t want to find out a dripper is not working …

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Dwarf Citrus Trees $32.95 each Cara Cara Navel Orange Washington Navel Orange Trovita Orange Improved Meyer Lemon Buddhas Hand Semi Dwarf Citrus Tree $34.50 each Tarocco Blood Orange Oro Blanco Grapefruit Star Ruby Grapefruit Eureka Lemon Meyer Lemon Vaelncia Orange Washington Navel Orange Owari Satsuma Mandarine Clementine Mandarin Dancy Tangerine Bearrs Lime Mexican Lime Nagami Kumquat Avocados $33.95 each Bacon Avocado Mexicola Avocado Zutano Avocado

Bare Root Season Continues Through February 28th. Fruit Tree Pruning Classes February 6th & 7th at 10 am both days Potato Planting Class February 6th at Noon. FREE COFFEE AND HOT CHOCOLATE DURING BARE ROOT SEASON FRUIT TREES Standard Fruit Trees $19.00 with a few exceptions. Semi Dwarf Fruit Trees $21.00 with a few exceptions. The selection is still good. At the end of the month we pot up what is left. Once they are potted they will not be available until late spring or fall and the price is higher. ROSES Bush and climber roses $15.95. Bare Root. In container $19.95 24″ Patio Tree Roses $27.50 36″ Tree Roses $38.00 We also have bare root lilacs and shade trees and berries available as well. Remember, bare root season ends February 28th. After that bare root trees are no longer available. We begin potting them at that time. CITRUS TREES We will be getting citrus trees the first or second week of March. Weather depending. We will not bring them in if we are still having hard freezes. Seed Potatoes are now in. Plant them now and harvest potatoes later in the spring. We eill be having a potato planting …

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Saturday, January 23rd, 10 am Sunday January 24th, 10 am Saturday Feb. 6th, 10 am Sunday February 7th, 10am MARK YOUR CALENDAR. No reservation necessary. Just show up. We will demonstrate pruning of peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots, apricots pears and apples. We will also explain dormant spraying and show how to mulch and use drip irrigation on fruit trees to water deeply and save water at the same time. The clinics last about an hour. Free coffee and hot chocolate. Bare Root Season Now Through February. Large selection of fruit trees available as well as berries, vegetables, roses. Shade trees and lilacs and rose of sharon also available bare root in the next couple of weeks. We sell bare root through the end of February. Shop early for the best selection. Once a variety is gone it is gone for the season. We do not re-order bare root plants.

El Nino is going to start kicking in over the next couple of weeks from all the weather information I have been reading. And I have been reading a lot of it. We should have a very wet winter this year through March. Planting now is an excellent time to get plants established for next summer. With the forecast moisture, it is a great opportunity for the plants to get a nice healthy deep root system established before spring and summer. Dormant Spraying After the rain and wind, the fruit trees should be losing there leaves. If you have not been able to get the first spraying done you should be able to soon. I know in the orchard here at the nursery, I have not done the first spraying yet. I’ll get it done soon. The trees are bare of leaves so it is time. Get your first spraying done as soon as you can. The second spraying should be around Christmas and then the final spraying around Valentines Day. Spray with copper spray mixed with a dormant oil or Neem oil. The dormant oil will help it cling to the tree. Soak the entire tree including the trunk …

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The fall weather is perfect! Just the past week or so it has gotten a bit cooler and we have had some nice rain. Two inches since September here. The fall colors are really showing now. And it is still an excellent time for fall planting.  Fall fertilizing should have been done by now. If you forgot to do it you can still do it if the plants have not gone dormant yet. If they are already in fall color and starting to lose leaves best to wait until spring. Dormant spraying of fruit trees will be coming up soon. This will be the first of three aplications. Make sure the trees have lost their leaves before spraying. Remember “Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day as dates to remember for the dormant spraying. Make sure to spray all three times to prevent leaf curl. Use copper spray and mix a dormant oil with it. We use copper and horticultural oil from Monterey mixed together with good results. The horticultural oil helps the copper to stick to the tree. It also helps to kill overwintering insects. Be sure to soak the tree all the way down the trunk and all the branches and …

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5 gallon shrubs $9.50 each Mexican Sage Salvia Hot Lips Salvia Purple Rain White Rockrose Tuscan Blue Rosemary One Gallon Lavender $5.50 each Munstead, Provence, Hidcote, Grosso Ornamental Grasses One Gallon $3.50 Five Gallon $9.50 Select 5 gallon Trees $14.50 each Liquidambar, Red Gum Eucalyptus, Lombardy Poplar, Austrian Black Pine, Arizona Cypress, Casuarina, Allepo Pine, Italian Stone Pine Asparagus Fern 1 Gallon $4.50 10% OFF REGULARLY PRICED TREES IN STOCK. Special prices good through 11/1/15 Limited to stock on hand FALL IS THE BEST TIME FOR PLANTING!