Villager Nursery

Experienced High-Sierra guides. Here to help with gardening and landscaping in our very challenging growing conditions.
Located in Truckee, California

Our purpose, as always, is to remain the primary source for honest and reliable high-Sierra gardening information while offering the widest and most interesting variety of native, extreme climate, fascinating, showy and cold hardy plants, as well as the appropriate organic fertilizers and finest soil amendments available.

Our hope is only to give our clients everything they need to succeed and find satisfaction in their mountain planters, gardens and landscapes.

Seasonal Notes

Through mid-winter, we remain open a few days a week. Someone is usually here, IN the shop, most weekdays (paperwork, plants, cats, all need attention). We don’t want to let anyone down, so if you need something (plant, product, plans, bids, or consulting) or have questions, PLEASE send-us an e-mail as we check them almost every evening. We’ll usually get back to you in a day or two or as soon as we possibly can. You can also call and leave a voice message at 530-587-0771. contact us 

We begin to open with more expanded regular business hours, a few days a week, in March. 

We are a “Garden, Plant, and Soils” sort of shop full of healthy indoor and tropical houseplants, bulbs, indoor gardening gear, pottery, potting soils, organic fertilizers and nutrients, as well as seeds and seed-sprouting  supplies. We also have every gardener’s favorite present: gift certificates from your experienced local garden center.

Our hours change with the climatic seasons  – always weather permitting. (Call ahead if it is dumping snow, if  the exodus traffic is heinous, or if we’ve got pea-soup smoke,  just-in-case we’ve gone home.) We change the hours here (on the website) and on independent Google, Yelp, Bing, Nextdoor, Tripadvisor, and Facebook sites.  Apple gets its info “elsewhere”,  even apple is unsure where, so Apple Maps and Siri usually have wrong hours,  for every business, ALL the time.

Check Instagram or Facebook or the references page on this website for updates, informational sheets, class hand-outs and calendar updates. 

Villager Nursery Garden Center has been serving Truckee, Tahoe, and regional high Sierra mountain plant lovers, landscapers and gardeners for 50 years. Villager Florist started in the original Gateway Center (next to the Gateway Motel) in 1951 (74 yrs). In 1975 (50 yrs) Jeanette Harper purchased the Villager Florist and added outdoor plants to the mix (becoming Villager Nursery). We relinquished the florist in 1996 to focus exclusively on the extreme winter-hardy plants, native plants, summer color and vegetables, and landscape suppies. In 1999 we moved to nursery to The home of Varney Dairy  / McIver Dairy / Villager Nursery.  The House was build in 1867 and the Shop (a blacksmith and then auto shop) was built in the 1930’s. We are the third owners of the structures on this land.

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Your Mountain and Native plant source

Villager Nursery brings you many of the most cold-hardy and abuse tolerant plants on Earth. We collect seeds and cuttings of local High Sierra, Great Basin and Rocky Mountain native plants for propagation and contract growing. We produce many of the best plants and offer selections that are available almost nowhere else. …from remote locations.

The High Sierra Garden Experts

Eric, Rob and the knowledgeable staff at Villager Nursery have decades of experience in what works in Truckee and Tahoe’s high mountain environments. Visit the store today for seeds, bulbs, perennials, annual color, trees, shrubs, composts, organic fertilizers, pottery, art, and more!

Villager Journal

Timely information for Mt. Gardeners throughout the northern Sierras.

London – Scottish Highlands – Late June 2024

Personally, and professionally, I had a wonderful family wedding to enjoy just-north-of London in LATE June and since the whole family came from around the world to get there, we stayed an extra week and went to the Scottish highlands. The highlands reminded me of a...

Boisterous Bumble Bee article from CNPS archive – worth a read

In the 2002 July-October V30 3/4 Issue of FREMONTIA – a journal of the California Native Plant Society, there was a terrific article by Robbin W. Thorp, Peter C. Schroeder, and Carol S. Ferguson: Bumble Bees: Boisterous Pollinators of California Native Flowers. It was such a perfectly detailed story of the annual life cycle of native Bumble Bees

15th Annual Kellogg Planting Days 2024

14th Annual Kellogg Planting Days Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, 2023 from 10-2 each day. Along with Buy 3, get 1 Free on many Kellogg Composts

Sagehen Creek Calflora.org “What Grows Here?”

Sagehen Creek Calflora.org "What Grows Here?" - We have many of these (or if we don’t have the exact species we have a close Genera native relation). The partial list of local natives from this small area we often carry are below in bold. Sagehen Plants Availability...

Lawn or Mowed Meadow Installation and Care

A lawn can be an environmental benefit (not a chemical junkie). A “lawn” can be a mowed meadow, a grazed pasture, or a perfect ball-field.
Well aware of the dangers of chemical fertilizers and broadleaf herbicides to children and pets and I was determined to avoid them from the start.

The 2022 Season…

We do this because we love helping people find plants that will provide joy, food, or solve a problem in their garden or landscape. We love the years-long processes of testing plants in our challenging environment and sharing what we learn with others. They say...

Fall Planting / Autumn Gardening

Fall Planting / Autumn Gardening Start gardening at the first sign of spring? Naw. September and October are months to accomplish the most important gardening tasks before winter settles in.   MOST of next year’s garden success depends upon the care your garden is...

Essential Woody Mulch in Truckee / Tahoe Landscapes

It works wonders in our climate and for our soils. If someone told you you could water half as often while your plants grow healthier twice as fast with a free product, who wouldn’t jump at the chance to use it?
What is mulch? Mulch is an organic or inorganic material atop the soil, above the spreading roots and associated soil biology. Mulch insulates soil from sun, wind, erosive raindrops, as well as temperature and moisture extremes.

Tree Winterizing

•) Tree Wrapping – In fall, after the leaves have fallen from your more brittle or vulnerable new trees and shrubs, tie them up for the winter. Wrap the tree tightly to itself, with heavy-duty tree tape.

Fire-Resistive Landscaping in Truckee / Tahoe

A deciduous screen can slow or even stop a fire before it reaches structures. Aspen, birch, maple, poplar and willow require some irrigation to remain fire resistant. -Forest managers frequently use the terms “firebreak” and “asbestos-type tree” to describe quaking aspen. If maintained, hedge rows can deflect wind and filter wind-blown embers.

Villager Handouts

PDF's and Newsletters with relevant information for gardening in the Sierras.

The Home of your garden and planting needs

We are a mountain nursery, so we incorporate every possible local and western intermountain native plant into our inventory and our landscapes. Many of our plants are grown from seed or cuttings that we’ve collected. Our staff and interns are encouraged to get out and hike as often as possible and note where, why and how plants thrive where they are found. Below are some of the  items we carry.

Annual Color

We offer an insane variety of annual color, texture and dimension to beautify your deck, porch and patio each summer. The mix changes with the seasons.

Perennials

The Sierra’s largest variety of hardy perennials and wildflowers, hand picked by the experts for Truckee and Tahoe mountain gardens. There are plants for every ecosystem and microclimate.

Shrubs

Shrubs fill-out every landscape. From a wide selection of natives to  exotic and fruiting species, we offer smaller woody plants for flowers, fall colors, heavy snow-loads and dense screening.

Trees

The giants that surround us affect every aspect of the climate around our homes. Adding trees for shade, privacy, spring, blooms, fall colors and fruit improves your landscape and our environment. We provide you with all the best species that thrive here.

Seeds

Our experience in this challenging environment allows Villager Nursery to gather the best selections of vegetable, herb, greens, flower, wildflower, grass and mixtures for the very best success rates possible.

Pottery & Art

We carry a variety of pottery, planters, lawn and garden art

Bulbs

“Bulbs” as a group of plants adapted to long periods of dormancy and harsh conditions are some of our favorite hardy perennials. We have a tremendous away of hardy bulbs selected for their resistance to being eaten and for their incredible resilience.

Indoor Plants

We would not be a real garden center without a wide variety house plants, tropicals, tender succulents and cactus as well as all the pottery, specialty soils and nutrients to help them thrive.

Potting Soils, Composts and Mulch

Worm castings to chicken manure, neem seed meal to fish bone meal, top soil, bark mulch and vegetable planting mixes and much more, we carry all of the right organics for your garden.

Fertilizers

We carry a range of fertilizers that meet the needs of growing in our area. From Lawn, BioSol and Cactus Fertilizers, to veggie, orchid, houseplant fertilizers and more.

Villager Online store

Shop online for Recommended Books, Wildflower Seeds and Gift Cards.

“In this ever-changing society, the most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart. They are real and sustainable. Their foundations are stronger because they are built with the strength of the human spirit, not an ad campaign. The companies that are lasting are those that are authentic.”

~Howard Schultz

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