We carry a large selection of area tolerant plants, trees and specimen trees. Our wholesale and retail nursery combined with a full service landscape construction and maintenance company provides the freshest and most affordable plants in the Sacramento area. Don DeVorss has been a licensed landscape contractor in Sacramento for many years. With his 25 plus years of experience, Don oversees the abundant selection of area tolerant plant material.

Stop by early for the BEST SELECTION of

• Plants & Shrubs
• Trees
• Fall Color
• Pottery
• Garden Wall Art
• Ironwork
• Fountains
• And other unique gift items

30 – 50% off EVERYTHING

We are conveniently located on Green Valley Road in El Dorado Hills and we are open 7 days a week.

(Subject to stock on hand, not combinable with any other offers)

Come Join Us along with other El Dorado Hills Chamber of Commerce members as we highlight the many varied local companies in El Dorado Hills.

Where:

When: Saturday, August 14, 2010 – 4:30pm – 9:00pm

Music by: Chicago Tribute Authority & Lightning Hand Concerts

Be sure to stop by and take a spin on our wheel! We are giving away many prizes.

Boy, do we have a bribe for you!

Take 40% off any plant or tree, 5 gallons and larger. But only until this Sunday, July 27, 2010 @ 4pm.

We not only sell plants and trees, we offer full service landscape installations. You can have us plant those trees and dig the holes for you (nominal fee). So be sure to visit us over the next few days to take advantage of our large selection.

Success with summer plantings is easy to achieve. Trees, shrubs and perennials have the same needs whether it is spring, summer or fall, and following a few simple steps we have found for Sacramento homeowners that will ensure your success.

Proper planting technique, adequate but not excessive water, adequate but not excessive sunlight, and adequate but not excessive nutrients are all you need to provide your new landscape plants whether it is spring, summer, or fall. It is just as easy to do in summer as at other times.

When you plant, root prune potted plants aggressively, cutting through matted roots on the outside of the root ball many times on the sides and bottom. This will allow many new roots to quickly shoot out into the surrounding soil, providing much faster establishment and far better long term vigor.

Plant no deeper than the level the tree, shrub or perennial was growing in the pot or field, and make a circular dike of soil an inch or two high around each plant. Place one to two inches of mulch over the dike to keep it from washing away during the first year when the plant is becoming established.

The dike will assure that the small amounts of water you provide everyday or every other day during the first two to three months will soak directly down into the root ball, providing adequate, but not excessive moisture. By making this small dike around each plant, it takes only a few seconds a day to water each plant by hand. As a result, most planting projects will require only a few minutes a day to keep adequately watered.

The easiest way to provide adequate, but not excessive nutrition is to mix a handful or two of slow release fertilizer in with the soil you dug out of the planting hole. Dig the hole 2-3 times the width of the root ball. Backfill with the soil/fertilizer mix, and use the excess soil to make your dike around the plant. Timed release fertilizer can be compost you make yourself, or purchase, or a time release granular formulation purchased off the shelf here at the nursery. Another easy way to fertilize is to put Miracle Grow in your watering water once every two weeks.

Avoid putting sunny area plants in heavy shade and shady area plants in lots of direct sun. Generally speaking, sunny area plants need three to four hours or more of direct sunlight per day, and shady area plants may do best if they receive only one to three hours of direct sunlight. Ask a sales person for assistance on this.

By following these simple steps your summer planting projects will be a satisfying success and your plain June yard can become a beautiful place to relax and enjoy. Don’t wait until next year to get started!

Every additional day that your plants can be growing new roots this year, is preparation the plants make for vibrant growth next year. Get those trees, shrubs and perennials in the ground today and let the enjoyment begin.

Green Valley Nursery has a large selection of hardy plants and trees. Come visit us to see our fresh and vigorous plants.

Citrus trees make a wonderful addition to any Sacramento area home. Growing citrus in a container makes perfect sense not only for people with smaller spaces, but also for people who never thought about growing citrus because of the weather in Sacramento.

The many benefits of citrus trees from fresh orange juice and lemonade to simply owning a diverse garden can easily be your with a few simple tips and advice for growing citrus trees in your yard, on your porch or patio and even indoors.

The steps to successful citrus tree gardening begins with selecting the correct sized container. Somewhere close to a 10 or 15″ diameter pot is the perfect size. Use a smaller pot for one year dwarf citrus trees and larger for the two and three year dwarf trees. Green Valley Nursery has a wonderful selection of fashionable and practical pottery to choose.

As the citrus tree grows, you’ll need to increase the size of the container to a larger size container around 15 to 20″. Don’t start with a large container right away. The soil moisture can get to be difficult to maintain and may cause root rot in the tree. Citrus trees need plenty of good drainage. If using a Redwood, Cedar or wine barrel container, drilling a few extra holes in the bottom of the container will help control moisture levels.

Soil mixture is critical to a citrus tree grown in a container. The soil must not contain any peat moss or any other dense materials. A good airy, loamy soil is the correct consistency required for optimal citrus production. Adding a small amount of crushed lime stone and cedar or redwood shavings makes a good mix for newly planted citrus trees.

Prepare your new citrus tree container by placing about 1″ of soil in the pot. Place the new citrus tree into the container and fill it with soil. The top level of the soil should just cover the top of the roots. Use a stake if the citrus tree is a bit wobbly or needs some extra support.

If you listed all the ingredients that make a company successful, customer service is usually No. 1. Add to that carefully selected merchandise, expert, experienced personnel, attention to every detail and repeat customers and you have a recipe for success. Toss in community service and that puts the company over the top.

Because of their focus on all those key details, Don and Julie DeVorss have seen Green Valley Nursery & Landscape blossom into a successful business. They credit that growth to personally ensuring that their customers’ experiences with their company are both rewarding and satisfying.

The DeVorss’ mission is to exceed expectations of customers and go the extra mile whether customers are looking for the freshest, most vibrant plant materials or they are working with Green Valley’s experienced landscape design staff.

“We are unusual in that we are landscapers who have a nursery,” said Julie. They not only help homeowners with design, consultations and installations, they also offer a wide selection of plants and plant materials that do well in the area. That knowledge is a plus when assisting homeowners with landscaping design plans and selecting the right plants for their homes. While national magazines feature beautiful gardens, bursting with colorful blooms, those plants may not do well in the very hot, dry summers and frosty winters that are typical of this area. Green Valley offers a wide selection of in-season trees, shrubs and flowers that are ready to take home and plant now or tag and have installed later by their landscape crew.

Julie describes their combination nursery/landscaping operation as an “all encompassing business” that provides full landscape installations and spruce ups, irrigation installation and repair, and landscape design and consultations. They also offer weekly maintenance and landscape staging to improve a home’s curb appeal as well as help design court- yards and front entryways. In addition, Green Valley advises and refers homeowners in selecting custom concrete, landscape lighting, concrete overlay and coating, masonry including walls, firepits and barbecues, outdoor kitchens, overhead structures and trellises, waterfalls and ponds – just about everything that goes into creating beautiful landscapes.

Many products are displayed in the Green Valley Nursery and Landscape Design Center, which is a showplace of ideas and projects. Throughout the nursery grounds, shoppers can view a fabulous selection of plants, trees and shrubs and more pottery, fountains, wrought iron, and decorative trellises and other structures.

Green Valley’s back-story began a few years ago. Don DeVorss, a landscape contractor who has operated his own company for 15-plus years, always wanted to own a nursery. He and Julie built their nursery from the ground up in 2004 and have seen it blossom into a successful operation.

Julie, who was a paralegal for several years, takes care of the business side of Green Valley. She runs the office and serves as marketing director and community liaison. Both Julie and Don grew up in the area – Julie in El Dorado Hills and Don in Granite Bay and Folsom.

They believe in giving back to the community as well as helping youngsters develop an appreciation for gardening. They have an ongoing commitment to assist local schools with beautification projects. This year they donated several varieties of plants to Marina Village Middle School in El Dorado Hills. Student and adult volunteers planted the outdoor classroom last month on the school’s Beautification Day. Two years ago, the DeVorss’ donated plants to Jackson School, also in El Dorado Hills, to improve and enhance the grounds there.

Their commitment to help youngsters also is ongoing. In April, Green Valley sponsored the “Burst Into Spring Sweepstakes,” where $1 of every transaction was donated to Young Life of El Dorado Hills. Young Life is a worldwide, non-denominational Christian ministry committed to making a difference in the lives of middle school, high school and college students through the friendship and influence of caring adults.

In still another program, Don and Julie offer hands-on planting projects for youngsters. They invite schools and parents to bring children to the nursery and help them select and pot vegetables to later plant in the garden at home. Not only do kids have fun getting their hands dirty, it’s said that youngsters who care for and grow their own veggies will eat them.

Julie noted that Green Valley is proud of its fine services and refers to repeat clients as proof they are focusing on customer service. She listed several examples, including homeowners who liked the work on their front yards so much that they called on Green Valley to do their back yards. Another homeowner, with a large amount of acreage by a lake, had Green Valley landscape the property in several stages. Still another called on Green Valley to do the landscaping at one home, then after selling it, had them landscape their new home. Other homeowners ask Green Valley to update colors in their gardens by replacing plants when the seasons change. “We have maintained long-term relationships with these people. They are so happy with the work, they want us to do a second project,” Julie said.

Landscape design

Traditionally, landscape designers and architects have used pencil and paper to plot the position of plants and other landscape features. Landscape design software has become a popular choice since the advent of the personal computer.

Practically speaking, landscape architecture and landscape design are almost the same, if done properly according to the science, knowledge and skill that should be utilized. Some Landscape Designers are licensed Landscape Architects. Sometimes, professionals must call themselves “Landscape Designers” because local laws and rules prevent advertising as “Landscape Architects” without that level of license. Licensed Landscape Architects must pass a rigorous 5 section exam to ensure a minimum level of competency within the profession and to protect the health, welfare and safety of the end user.

There are also licensed Landscape Contractors who perform landscape design. They may employ landscape designers.

Culturally, Landscape Architects are frequently associated with larger projects, and Landscape Designers are associated with smaller projects. But in actual practice, that’s not the case 100% of the time.

In the landscape design profession, “Landscape Architecture” is generally the name of the more advanced level of college education pertaining to landscape design.