As a gardener, it is rare that I visit a nursery I don’t like. But frequently, I enjoy different nurseries for different things – one for their perennials, one for their conifers, one for their trees and shrubs, another for their interesting selection of containers and pots, and so forth. Mendons Nursery in Paradise (http://www.mendonsnursery.com/) is one of those nurseries that I find fully satisfying straight across the board. It is a nursery for hands-on, dirty finger-nailed gardeners: it is not too fancy in its main shop where a warm wood-stove greets winter shoppers looking over seeds and soil prep products; it is refined and relaxing in its home and garden gift shop, the Winding Vine; but most importantly, Mendons’ extensive selection of plants rivals that of any nursery, anywhere. Photo above, John and Jerry Mendon in front of one of Jerry’s favorites - a large Sago palm at the nursery.

Jerry Mendon started Mendon’s Nursery in 1973. He, his wife Joanne and their children had relocated to the Northstate from Southern California a few years earlier with the intention of Jerry retiring. Since 1948 Jerry had been working hard in the nursery and plant industry in Southern California, primarily working on big commercial landscaping, specializing in setting large palm trees. In that phase of his career he was responsible for setting such notable palms as the ones at Dodger Stadium and Los Angeles International Airport’s Tower. Jerry’s father had been a banker by trade, but an avid gardener at home, and it is to him that Jerry attributes his gardening gene.

(more…)

Ken Chase is the owner and founder of Lifescapes, a full-service landscape company based in Chico, and working throughout Butte, Tehama and Glenn Counties. (www.lifescapes.us). Ken’s family has a background in rice farming around the Colusa and Woodland area and his wife Becky’s family was in the nursery business in Chico. Ken’s first paid residential landscape design job came in 1973 when his father-in-law saw Jim and Anna Mae Normoyle working in the front yard of their Butte Creek Country Club house. He stopped and said: you should hire my son-in-law Ken to help you out here. And they did. That very first design involved Twisted Japanese Black Pine and some beautiful large rocks in a serene arrangement.

Lifescapes, the company Ken Chase started from that first garden, has now grown into a well-established and well-respected award-winning design, build and maintenance company with 50 employees. The name in part refers to Ken’s strong belief in goodness perpetuating goodness and therefore in doing things thoughtfully and carefully – including (and in order of his personal priorities) being a husband and father, being a business owner with responsibilities to his employees as well as customers, and providing beautiful landscapes for people’s lives. Chase sees all of these facets: family, home, work, and environment as being critical to a person’s overall “Lifescape,” and thus the name of the business. Although Ken has worked on almost every kind of landscape you can think of – from a monumental fountain in front of a casino to planting three small trees in a suburban front yard - his “love of creativity – of proportion and scale and of mimicking the natural world” he observes while backpacking, hiking and fishing, often leads him back to interesting conifers – such as that early Twisted Japanese Black Pine.

(more…)

Scot Wineland is the owner and founder of Wineland Walnut, a Chico-based company since 1976 “specializing in all aspects of the Walnut industry, from the planting of young trees to the harvesting of mature wood,” to the milling of the wood on their own sawmill for the production of lumber for custom products including gun stocks (the wooden portion on the handle of a gun), furniture, and large slabs for dining room or conference-type tables. Originally from Alturas, he moved to Chico in the mid 1970s to start his business and raise his two children, Shelley and Trevor, both now grown.

Wineland is also a long-time certified arborist – the first certified arborist in Chico - and spends a good portion of his time on the tree service side of the business, maintaining and caring for all varieties of living trees. Like most good full-service arborists he provides consultations on the health and shape of a property’s trees. Once he has performed a “well-tree check up”, his crew will then – as necessary - prune them for health, safety and vigor. On large older trees his crew can install safety cables for the support of limbs, and as a last resort they will remove dead or dying trees. He will advise property owners – from a small home-gardener in Chico to a large ranch owner in South America to city parks and recreation departments – on all aspects of tree care, from reminding them to dig out around a tree’s collar, to annual fertilizing and effective water schedules.

(more…)

My first show of each month will focus on things to do in your garden, garden related topics in the news, and field trips and events for gardeners in the upcoming month. If you have topics you’d like to hear about, events you’d like to see posted, or know of a Northstate gardener or resource that you would like to hear profiled - send me an email! Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

To do In Garden:

It rained more than 6 inches in the valley portions of the Northstate in January – well above our average for the month of over 4 inches. My rain barrels are full and rivers, ditches, lakes and even seasonal creeks are full of water and life. Have you heard the frogs in the creeks? I can hear them during the day if I listen hard – but in the dim hours of early evening through the black of night of even the coldest nights - their voices become distinct and strong: a deep, throaty swelling from the creek bed and woodland of many, MANY frogs conversing. In the early hours of morning, I also hear an owl calling. I wonder if it is in delight following a meal of frogs’ legs? These are sure signs of life in our Northstate winter.

It’s also been a banner year for snow in the high country. Mt. Shasta City is a winter wonderland. While my friends in higher elevations have some time before they work the soil again, I’ve been using the few - very few - dry moments in the valley for late winter chores: pruning and clearing branches or cleaning up leaves; mostly as a way of staying sane during the gray days. I’ve planted some little things here and there, for instance a Daphne odora and a French Pussywillow (Salix discolor), but I am dreaming of much more.

(more…)

Wes Dempsey is Emeritus Professor of Biology from California State University, Chico, where he taught for 44 years. He is an active advisor to the City of Chico on tree management in Bidwell Park, and he helped to develop the extensive 2nd and 3rd editions of the Campus Trees Map and Guide for the CSU Chico Arboretum. Currently referred to as the Arboretum Field Director, Wes regularly leads tours through the arboretum. His discussions are full of ideas for the home gardener on how to choose the right tree for your space as well as how to take care of the trees you have.

I first met Wes when I attended one of these tours late last fall. At 81, he deftly rode his bike to the tour and happily walked the group of 15 or so attendees around the campus grounds for more than two hours talking about the many different trees - handing us leaves and seeds pods, discussing how to plant, how to propagate, what to expect from and how to take care of each tree as we went; he took the time to explain tangential pieces of information, for instance why 2007 was such a good – or “mast” - year for acorns. But that’s another story.

(more…)