Nurseries That Flourish off the Beaten Path

A diversity of nurseries flourish in North County, a land where nearly all things grow well and people pride themselves on creating a unique setting for their not-always-unique homes.

Some nurseries, such as Nurseryland, carry everything from garden gloves to annual color packs. One full-service nursery, Evergreen, covers more than 100 acres on Black Mountain Road and carries both the usual and the not-so-usual.

But, for the times you’re looking for something more specialized, there are also nurseries that pride themselves on creating a certain ambience, offer a particular service or fill a niche.

Here are some nurseries off the beaten path:

Finnamex

An affinity for trees and plants and flowers--a “forest feeling�--is part of a person’s nature, believes horticulturist Aarre Silvola, owner of Finnamex Nursery in Fallbrook. Unfortunately, people tend to forget the forest feeling in the rush of their lives. It can be recaptured though, says Silvola, in a thoughtfully planted landscape.

The entrance to Finnamex, lined with a blend of trees and shrubs and few flowering plants, provides a living illustration of that concept. Many visitors (most of whom come from the surrounding areas of Fallbrook, Lake Elsinore and Temecula) tell Silvola they would like to achieve the same effect with their own landscaping plans.

Finnamex buys seed from all over the world, always on the lookout for plants that are hardy, at least somewhat drought-tolerant and easy to care for, such as the King’s Pines, which are natives of the Caucasus Mountains and grow as much as six or seven feet a year. Every plant, from those in one-gallon pots to those in 48-inch boxes, is watered by hand, ensuring that each “is monitored every day and water is saved by adjusting to weather conditions.� Silvola firmly believes that the need to save water does not make it impossible to nurture our “forest feeling.�

Finnamex Nursery, 2910 Rainbow Glen Road, Fallbrook. 728-4714 Exotica Rare Fruit

Exotica Rare Fruit Nursery in Vista has a wild look about it. Colorful vines wrap around the door and cover the roof of the tiny office, trumpet flowers hang down from trees, and an array of mostly strange but some familiar fruit (cherimoya, sweet pomegranate and guava, to name a few) covers a table.

Partners Jessica Leaf and Steven Spangler invite visitors to “experience the high renaissance of plants in the age of exotic edibles . . . in an Eden-like garden.� Everything is organically grown and “guarded by wild butterflies�--and seems out of place in San Diego. However, all the plants the nursery carries are suited to Southern California--although not necessarily to your particular microclimate.

Among the mango, papaya, carob, fig and lychee trees are flowering and fragrant plants such as the Angel Trumpet, which releases a seductive fragrance only from dusk to dawn, plumeria with its perfectly formed blossoms, several different kinds of jasmine and at least 20 varieties of palms.

Exotica Rare Fruit Nursery, 2508-B E. Vista Way, Vista. 724-9093 Rainbow Gardens

Rainbow Gardens specializes in flowering jungle cacti with dramatic and colorful blooms ranging in size from under three inches to more than nine inches. As alluring as their epiphyllums, Christmas and Easter cactus, and rhipsalis are, the Rainbow Gardens Bookshop also attracts visitors from all over the county and the world.

The Bookshop has more than 400 carefully selected new, used and out-of-print titles, including books written in Russian, Czechoslovakian and Dutch. Since Rainbow Gardens grows epiphyllums, the bookshop carries everything available on that subject from the basic to the esoteric.

The books on epiphyllums are just a part of the extensive cactus and succulent section. There are also sections reserved for information on bromeliads, palms and cycads, orchids and carnivorous plants, as well as general horticultural books such as “Tropica,� which has 7,000 photos of plants from tropical regions and was written by Dr. A.B. Graf, who lives in Vista. You can even find a couple of shelves filled with Southwestern cookbooks.

Rainbow Gardens, 1444 East Taylor St., Vista. 758-4290 Rebecca’s at Fire Mountain

Tucked in an unlikely spot near the intersection of Highway 78 and I-5 in Oceanside is Rebecca’s at Fire Mountain Nursery. A pot of cut flowers marks the entrance, and once inside visitors forget everything.

Rebecca’s is actually a nursery within a nursery. Fire Mountain Nursery has been around since the early ‘60s and produces and grows trees and shrubbery and designs and creates large- and smaller-scale landscaping. Rebecca’s opened less than a year ago as the nursery company’s contact with the public.

The green thumb and artistic touch of Rebecca Parker pervades the atmosphere at Rebecca’s, which succeeds as the “comfortable loitering place� it was meant to be. Relax in the Amish gazebo, picnic at tables under a towering tree or wander along paths with surprises at every turn--a simple bridge, a splash of color, a stone creature (some of which are imported from England) and a four-poster willow bed (made by Tennessee Gypsies) full of geraniums.

Rebecca’s at Fire Mountain Nursery, 1825 Ivy Road, Oceanside. 433-6692 Stallings Ranch

Stallings Ranch Nursery in Encinitas specializes in hard- to-find plants, relying in part on people who have collected over the years and will share their plant wealth. However, the nursery won’t carry a particular plant just because it’s rare, Dale Kolaczkowski says; it must also grow here. He emphasizes that hard-to-find doesn’t necessarily mean hard-to-grow and that some of the zealous adherents to native plants would have us ignore other worthy species that are also drought-tolerant.

“We have over 5,000 species but not necessarily all at the same time and gave up on keeping a plant list, because things are constantly changing,� Kolaczkowski said. “If someone wants something, they should call, and we’ll try to find it for them. But don’t expect us to find it right away, because it could take months.�

And don’t expect to find much in the way of frills at Stallings, which must look much like it did when it first opened in 1945. As one customer explains, “It’s a real old-fashioned nursery and doesn’t have that hospital look.�

Stallings Ranch Nursery, 910 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas. 753-3079 Sunshine Gardens

Sunshine Gardens in Encinitas may be a modern, full-service nursery, but it doesn’t have a hospital feel, either. A favorite of many local gardeners, family pride shows in attention to detail and attractive layout.

Although laid out in a fairly traditional way, with annual color in one place, perennials nearby, bare-root fruit trees in another place, Sunshine also has specially designed spaces. In the sun room you’ll find bromeliads and orchids set among smooth rocks, strangely shaped logs, bird cages, even a colorful (but not real) parrot. New this month is a water area, and another relatively recent addition is Drought Tolerant Way, which used to be a lawn with garden furniture.

Sunshine Gardens offers a number of classes in subjects such as rose pruning, moss gardens and bonsai, as well as a play area for children that is built around an old trolley.

Sunshine Gardens, 662 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas. 436-3244 Taylor’s Herb Garden

In addition to the herb walks scheduled the first Saturday of every month (no matter what the weather brings), Taylor’s Herb Gardens has started a series of seminars. Subjects include cooking with fresh herbs, medicinal uses of herbs, herbs for women, sacred herbs, herbal wreaths and making compost.

Visitors are welcome to sit by the pond and watch the swan glide through the water, picnic on the grass or watch the kids play.

The Taylors started growing herbs 50 years ago, and Kent Taylor carries on the family business in Vista. They sell herb seeds and plants retail, but also ship to nurseries all over the country. The plants are started from cuttings from the “mother garden� and grown with bio-dynamic principles that emphasize natural insect and disease control.

Taylor’s Herb Garden, 1535 Lone Oak Road, Vista. 727-3485 Tropic World

Despite its name, Tropic World carries a wide variety of non-tropical plants, including many cacti and other succulents, bamboo, fruit and nut trees, palms, California natives and some aquatics. The nursery, which is located on the northern fringes of Escondido, has probably the largest selection of roses (about 600 varieties) in the county. Besides the ever-popular Queen Elizabeth and Double Delight, Tropic World carries old-fashioned species, Bourbon and rugosa hybrids.

Manager Paul McLane emphasizes the importance of education and often recommends that people read before they plant. To help in that endeavor, Tropic World has its own book store.

“We will often talk people out of buying particular plants, because we want people to be happy in the long run,� McLane said. “This is a business where the customer is not always right. If they plant a plumeria on top of Palomar Mountain, it won’t work. We try to get people to understand and to plant correctly.�

Tropic World, 26437 N. Centre City Parkway, Escondido. 746-6108 Weidners

Weidners’ Begonia Gardens in Encinitas was born when Bob Weidner, who had retired from the nursery business, decided to plant 20,000 tuberous begonia seedlings as a show of flowers. Wife Evelyn put up a sign facing the freeway inviting people to “dig your own begonias,� and the curious soon started to arrive. Soon customers noticed a fuchsia basket that had been a gift and asked about it. From there, the Weidners sort of “backed into� the business of growing unusual flowering plants, recalls Evelyn Weidner, who was named San Diego County Farmer of the Year in 1990.

Over time it became a tradition to search the world for new blooming plants and to introduce a different one each year to both the trade and to customers. This year the plant is called Lotus Maculatus “Gold Flash� and has bright yellow flowers tipped with red-orange and soft, gray-green foliage.

Evelyn Weidner, with the help of daughter Mary Witesman, has carried on with the family business even after the death of her husband four years ago. Closed to the public at this time of year, the nursery reopens April 1, closes in mid-September and is briefly open again from the beginning of November until Dec. 22.

Weidners, 695 Normandy Road, Encinitas. 436-5326