It all started a few years ago, when Chris saw the iconic bugs appear in a Craigslist advertisement. He contacted the seller, and discovered that they were original cars from a ride at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, dating back to the 1960’s. Shipped to Paradise to be repainted by a local craftsman, the set, originally numbering six ladybugs and—you guessed it—a giant mushroom, was never paid for or collected. Rather an unwieldy collection to store, the artist attempted to liquidate the ride at a garage sale. Unable to find a buyer for the entire family, he separated the pieces, selling two of the cars to Chris’ contact, who was in turn listing them eight years later.

The yellow and orange beetles found a ready home at the nursery, where children love to hunt for them among the winding paths lined with plants on every visit. But in 2010, a customer recognized the distinctive ladybugs. Coincidentally, her family had purchased the rest of the set at the garage sale. Over the winter, the fate of the siblings was discussed, Chris arranged to buy the remaining pieces. This spring, the original Boardwalk ride will be once again be complete, here on our grounds. Whether it will ever be restored to a functioning merry-go-round is still debatable, but it is certain that this piece of regional history will provide a charmingly original landmark in North Chico for customers of all ages to enjoy. And Chris will continue combing road shows, warehouses, barns and classifieds for strange and unusual antiquities…

Effective March 1, 2011, Magnolia Gift & Garden will no longer carry Bayer yard care products. Over the past decade, international research has accumulated extensive data to suggest that neonicotinoid pesticides are harmful to honeybees. Many Bayer formulations contain the systemic chemical Imidacloprid, which falls under this pesticide category. While it has primarily been observed to cause functional handicaps in pollinators, such as impaired navigational ability, reduced foraging activity and disorientation, other insecticides in this group have been directly associated with the death of juvenile bees, ultimately leading to deterioration of the colony. Honeybees have a vital role in agricultural production as well as the biodiversity of native ecosystems, and their continued population decline worldwide has inflicted serious economic loss and environmental damage.

While this information has certainly been a factor in our decision to discontinue the Bayer product line, the primary impetus for this change is that there are simply better alternatives. A landscape must be viewed holistically, and like natural ecological systems, the health or decline of each individual component affects the sum of the parts. Since the nursery was founded in 2008, Magnolia has advocated a systematic approach to plant nutrition, pest and disease control with minimal environmental impact known as Integrated Pest Management (IPM). This philosophy emphasizes preventative measures, including sanitation and a maintenance schedule which maximizes the vigor and immune function of plants while minimizing risks of infection. Biological controls or concentrates of botanical extracts are applied remedially. As a last resort, precise dosages of selective synthetic products may be utilized to bring a severe infestation back under the threshold of natural management; we will still offer some selective herbicides which do not contain neonicotinoids.

We do not view this change as a reduction of services to our customers. Rather, we have progressively expanded our inventory of organic fertilizers, soils, and natural pest and disease control measures to continue to meet the needs of the Northstate community. The products we stock are carefully chosen and tested in-house before they appear on our shelves, and we back that with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Agroecological research continues to demonstrate the efficacy of IPM. While a holistic approach may not provide the rapid gratification of a chemical application, it pays dividends over the long-term without the environmental costs of synthetics, such as pest resistance, salt buildup and toxic leaching into the surrounding landscape or groundwater. Our knowledgeable staff are always eager to help you work toward comprehensive landscape health through a combination of sound horticultural practices and proper application of naturally-derived products.

Here’s to a healthier planet,

Magnolia Gift & Garden

When you pick up a vibrant, healthy plant at Magnolia, know that it was a long line of research and cooperation that delivered it to you. The process begins with selecting wholesale vendors who uphold the highest standards of plant propagation, care, and quality control. Specifically, we choose to support growers who use rich soils, high in organic material, nutrients and beneficial biota; growers who refuse to sell diseased, undernourished or undersized plants, or those which have not yet developed a mature root system. In exchange, we actually pay for our orders up-front. Commercial garden stores are able to undercut privatized competition by contracting with wholesalers that agree to not receive compensation until the item sells. This pressures the grower to sacrifice quality for volume, in order to offset the high loss to income ratio. It also is a disincentive to the retailer to reject inferior stock; if it dies before it is purchased, they lose nothing, allowing them to maintain an artificially low overhead. We choose to develop a personal, mutually-beneficial relationship with our growers instead, and to pass the advantage of access to high quality products on to our patrons.

The next step is to carefully select the cultivars of plants grown by these vendors which will thrive in our Mediterranean climate, and still be hardy to the frosts of winter. Our employees spend hours pouring over availability lists, looking for standout traits like disease resistance, drought tolerance, wind resilience or fruit quality before placing an order. Even the ordering process itself requires a great deal of forethought. When sourcing from vendors located in coastal areas, we make sure that the plants will arrive in plenty of time to acclimate to our more arid zone before the heat of summer arrives. This presents not only a logistic challenge, but it has cost us sales on more than one occasion. For instance, when a customer requests a specimen that is only available from a wholesaler in the Bay Area in July, we will be forced to defer that order until Autumn because we take our responsibility to serve the customer by providing the best product possible seriously. Once the plants do arrive on our grounds, we place them in a display zone in the nursery that mimics their appropriate growing conditions in a landscape, so that you receive a specimen that is vigorous and holistically-adapted to flourish in your yard.

Because of the diligent care that goes into the plants in our inventory, from shoot to mature specimen, we have no reservations about encouraging customers to plant throughout Summer, provided that a few sound horticultural practices are adhered to. Your new landscape addition should never be placed in a location where it will receive greater sun exposure than it was on our grounds. While many species are able to acclimate to marginal exposures over time, hold off on experimentation until the Fall. Soil preparation, while always important, is absolutely critical to setting your plant up for success during the warm season. Humus-rich blends, such as our Greenall Soil Booster or E.B.Stone Organic Rose Grow Planting Mix, will retain nutrients, hold moisture, and encourage healthy drainage and aeration. To suppress weed competition, keep the root zone cooler and minimize evaporative water loss on the surface, mulching around the base of your new plant is essential. Our favorite product for this is Greenall Fir Mulch; light and non-splintery, it will also break down slowly to enrich the soil. Lastly, automatic irrigation appropriate to the installation is key to ensuring that your landscape investment pays off.

Now that’s why quality pays off.

An eye-catching display on the nursery grounds featuring a river of azure and turquoise glass winding through a xeriscape of sedum was such a favorite with customers last year that our modest offering of colors and sizes was outstripped by demand. The nursery soon made full-fledged foray into decorative mulches, and now offers 15 different recycled glass options, 12 kinds of gravel and rock, and several unique choices of glazed pottery shards to add resilient, year-around color to any container garden or planting bed. Large glass nuggets also make striking filler for patio fire bowls, while finer mulches accent many of the fountain basins on the nursery grounds. Sustainable and beautiful, recycled glass provides extremely durable weed suppression and water retention, but has enough heft to reduce shifting or erosion by wind and water.

A Magnolia exclusive, glazed pottery shards make a statement in containers and xeriscapes. Every lot is unique; you may choose from the intricate blue vines and brilliant blooms of a traditional Mexican fragment, or pieces of a drip-finished pot in rich caramel and umber. And if originality is your cup of tea, then you’ll find whimsical fodder for your creative instincts at our container-finishing station. A host of vintage action figures covering genres from Cowboys-and-Indians to Star Wars keep company with the ever-increasing variety of nostalgic treasures that capture nursery co-owner Chris Hunter’s imagination—a smile-inducing touch to any container garden.

Whatever your landscape style, whether you cultivate a sweeping estate or a cozy urban patio, we have what you need to finish your containers in style. So go ahead…hit the bottle.

Since its inception, Magnolia has offered an extensive and unusual selection of Japanese Maples. One major division may be made between the many varieties that come through the nursery in a year. Laceleaf-type maples generally exhibit the distinctive mounding, trailing form as they age, and remain fairly small. These are especially well-suited to landscape mounds, rock gardens, water features and patios, where their weeping habit can be unhampered. The finely-cut leaves in shades of red, purple or green are quite sensitive to wind-burn or sun-burn, and the plant should be provided full afternoon shade during the growing season. Prune seldom and selectively—the natural grace of these trees is accentuated by their tiered branches as they mature. Provided well-drained soil rich in organic matter, the laceleaf-type maples require little fertilizer.

The other group of Japanese Maples are the broadleaf-type. These are generally upright, with strong, straight branching patterns, and develop rugged, wizened trunks as they age. These are preferred for small shade trees, not only for their accommodating growth habit, but also because they are considerably hardier to wind and sun stresses. Filtered to full afternoon shade is still recommended during the growing season, but two new cultivars have shown increased resilience under sun exposure. “Emporer One” is a full, vigorous red-leaved variety which has demonstrated the greatest tolerance of the maples with colored foliage.

Though traditionally associated with Oriental gardens, the plethora of modern cultivars has extended the Japanese Maple’s appeal to other landscape styles. Whether you keep a natural woodland garden, or a neatly manicured border of Gardenias and Hostas, these trees add enduring beauty, distinct structural elements and lovely texture to the yard or patio. During the whole month of May, a wide selection of five-gallon Japanese Maples will be on special, so don’t miss this opportunity to bring home a touch of the Orient.

Grevillea is a many faceted shrub with sought after attributes that can be hard to find all in one plant. First, they are drought tolerant. That is, once their roots are developed after a couple of years, they don’t require very much water. In fact, they don’t appreciate summer irrigation. Second, they are evergreen, keeping their leaves year round, with needles ranging in color from deep forest green to a soft grey. Third, they can be planted in a plethora of locations. Full sun is this tough shrubs favorite setting, causing it to cloak itself in brightly colored flowers which come in varying shades of peachy pink to bright fuschia to ruby red. A little shade will not dampen its spirits either. Fourth, because of the cheerful eye-catching, nectar filled flowers, which often appear for two months in winter, hummingbirds flock to these friendly shrubs.

For any tough spot to fill, a grevillea may be the plant that has all the answers. Their root systems will thrive in poor soils, and they can be cold hardy enough to be planted up the Pacific North West, and heat loving enough to go down into the deserts of Southern California. They are from Australia after all!

The only problems the grevilleas tend to have are when they receive too much love. They are the ideal low maintenance shrub, requiring only light applications of low- phosphorous fertilizer, if any. To keep them as cold hardy as possible, harden them off by not watering them in the summer time.

Here’s a peek at the varieties we have brightening up our nursery:

G. juniperina ‘Lava Cascade’- This compact shorty reaches 1-2 feet tall and spreads 6-10 feet wide. Deep green needle like leaves are not as sharp as some forms. Great frost tolerant ground cover shrub, dangling coral red flowers in the fall through spring. Will establish a large area quickly, and choke out competing weeds.

G. lavandulacea ‘Penola’- Dense habit with half-inch gray leaves. Grows 5 feet tall and 8 or more feet wide, with rose red flowers through the spring. The gray foliage makes a great compliment to deep green conifers.

G. ‘Noellii’- Arching form 4-6 feet tall and wide, with glossy 1 inch needles. Spring blooming with pink and white flower clusters. Will thrive in full sun, with little to moderate water.

G. rosmarinifolia ‘Scarlet Sprite’- A fast compact mounding plant 4-5 feet tall and 8 feet wide, with dark green, fine textured needles 1 inch long. Large clusters of spidery rose pink flowers appear heavily in winter and spring. Frost hardy, full sun, light to moderate water.

G. ‘Noellii’- Arching form 4-6 feet tall and wide, with glossy 1 inch needles. Spring blooming with pink and white flower clusters. Will thrive in full sun, with little to moderate water.

G. rosmarinifolia ‘Scarlet Sprite’- A fast compact mounding plant 4-5 feet tall and 8 feet wide, with dark green, fine textured needles 1 inch long. Large clusters of spidery rose pink flowers appear heavily in winter and spring. Frost hardy, full sun, light to moderate water.