Anybody from the Central Valley?

Hi. I'm somewhat new to DG, and just began watching the CA forum. I live in Visalia (between Fresno and Bakersfield), and would love to hear from others in my area.What nurseries do you love? Any hidden gems as far as botanical gardens? I do love the Japanese gardens at Woodward park in Fresno! Tell me what you think.
LOL, Tanya

hello, tanya. welcome to dave's and to california gardening =). i lived in bakersfield for a year, but didn't garden then. i hope central valley dgers find this thread!

=)

HI Tanya,

This is Keith, I used to live in Fresno when I had a sales territory there for Monterey Bay Nursery. Now I live in northern Cal 25 miles north of Sacramento. the best natural gardens in the world are in the mountains just east of you Tanya. One is Yosemite National Park, and another is Sequoia National Park.

Cheers, Keith

I'm definitely with you, Keith! We love camping in our beautiful mountains in the summer. I have a botanical guide for all the trees in the Sierra Nevadas, and we search for the species, then take a leaf as a note that wev'e found that one. Great fun for the kids! It's good hearing from you and Moonglow. Which reminds me, I need to take a trip to Bakersfield soon, as I have cousins there, I should visit.
Take care, guys!
Tanya

Hello Tanya,
I am recently semiretired and hoping to do a lot more gardening here in NW Bakersfield. I have purchased a lot of less common trees (10 varieties of Asian pears, pummelos, chestnuts, etc) from White Forest Nursery here in Bkfld. I am hoping to plant part of my acreage with many different/unusual perennials and shrubs and trees to see what will grow here that you don't usually see planted. Recently finished Master Gardening I and looking forward to MG II and III this fall & winter. Hope we can connect at some time in the near future and talk about gardening in the Central Valley.

David

PS: While we have plenty of gophers, we currently have bigger problems with ground squirrels and flocks of wild parrots.

hi david. How lucky you are to actually have Acreage here in the valley! We've been looking for a small chunk of land and it hasn't been so easy. So where'd ya take the MG classes? It's wonderful to get to learn formally about botanicals and their whole world.Oh, speaking of unusuals, I've been seeing young mango trees on Ebay, wondering how they might do here. You think I should give it a go? Maybe if they wintered inside? Your Asian pears and Pummelos - I'm drooling!(mostly jealous, though) We live in a subdivision, and the lots are just not enough. We're currently re-doing our backyard, and are thinking instead of a lawn, maybe just tons of plants and ground-covers.(I hope my DH is convinced.LOL)Oh gosh, I'm rambling on! Hope to chat again.
Tanya
By the way-if you don't have young kids around, Castor bean will take care of those gophers!