Nursery crawl in Mount Shasta: Native Grounds Nursery

The first nursery we visited in Mount Shasta, Spring Hill Nursery, is in a park-like setting on the edge of town. Our second destination, Native Grounds Nursery, is just south of downtown at a location that has been home to a commercial nursery for over 100 years. Considering how fast things change, that’s a pretty remarkable legacy.

But there’s something else that makes Native Grounds Nursery special: It has a beer garden! Technically, it belongs to a food truck called The Garden Tap, which has different owners, but it sits smack in the middle of the nursery grounds so it seems like the two businesses are one.

The Garden Tap was closed when we were there (they’re open seasonally Thursday – Monday, 4pm – 9pm), but it was easy to imagine sitting there in the evening eating a pizza and enjoying a local craft brew.

The nursery surrounds the food truck on three sides (the fourth side is the driveway and parking lot).

The nursery carries everything from trees to annuals, edibles, perennials, and garden decor. I thought the selection of plants was pretty amazing, considering it’s not a huge business. For some plants, there may be only one or two, but that makes a visit more like a treasure hunt.

Popular summer perennials were plentiful:

I wasn’t expecting a lot of succulents beyond the typical cold-hardy sedums and sempervivums, but...

...I spotted a handful of different delosperma varieties...

Delosperma varieties

...and, to my delight, three Agave ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue’:

Agave ovatifolia

The most surprising find, however, were these Hesperoyucca whipplei, aka Our Lord’s Candle:

This California native is closely related to yuccas, but it dies after flowering — unlike yuccas, which bloom year after year. I don’t think any nursery in Sacramento carries Hesperoyucca whipplei, but here it was. According to the San Marcos Growers website (an invaluable resource), it’s hardy to 10°F, which makes it perfectly appropriate for Mount Shasta gardens. It has rigid leaves with a very sharp tip so it’s not for everybody. But I, of course, would have one if I lived here.

Hesperoyucca whipplei

Beyond that, there was a good selection of plants I would not be able to grow — which makes them oddly exotic to me:

Hostas (love them, tried them, killed them)

Golden club moss (Selaginella kraussiana ‘Aurea’), definitely an oddity — or maybe not in areas with cold winters?

Brown’s spikemoss (Selaginella kraussiana ‘Brownii’)

I had no idea what this was...

...until I checked the label, a lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina). It was good to see quite a few plants from Little Prince of Oregon.

Ligularia ‘Bottle Rocket’

Very pretty lily, don’t know which (forgot to look at the label)

Below is our haul from both Mount Shasta nurseries. Most the plants, including the hydrangeas, are my mother-in-law’s. I bought two Kniphofia from Walters Gardens (‘Lady Luck‘ and ‘High Roller‘), an Agastache ‘Arizona Sun’, a Coreopsis ‘Jethro Tull’, and a few plants from the 50% off table (Muehlenbeckia axillaris, Dianthus chinensis ‘Velvet ‘n Lace’).

Native Grounds Nursery is at 1172 S. Mt. Shasta Blvd. In contrast to Spring Hill Nursery, which is closed in winter, Native Grounds Nursery is open year round. For more information, visit their website.

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