Sambucus racemosa var. racemosa

Seasonal Notes

Fall: Mid-October – Late-November -Planting Season, Fall Color, Bulbs, Winterizing, and the transition to Christmas Trees and Accoutrements
Open Mon-Sat 10:00-4:00
Closed Sundays from Mid-October until Thanksgiving.weather dependent* (*closed if snowing very hard)
We are closed on Thanksgiving Day.

We are still within THE optimal time for moving plants, dividing perennials, and for planting in anticipation of next spring. Temperatures are cooler, soils are actually still gaining warmth, we get a few showers here and there – more pleasant for us and ABSOLUTELY IDEAL for plants.

November has ~50-60° days and consistently frosty ~20’s°F. nights.

By Thanksgiving, our ave. loww are is near 18ºF. For hardy material in a short season, the sooner you plant the better to gain as much root-growth as possible. Deciduous trees and shrubs put-on about 80% of their yearly root system expansion in late fall, after they lose their leaves.

Our Autumnal Thermal Overturn occurs in mid-late-November. Until that time our soils are actually GAINING warmth and promoting expansive root growth! It is a GREAT time for planting and easy digging until snows cover the ground (then it’s still good for planting but few gardeners get out there). As soils cool, root growth slows or even stops, but once our insulating snow covers the ground, our soils thaw and root-growth continues throughout the remainder of the winter.

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 use regional ecosystems as our model. By integrating native and adapted plants, ecological restoration techniques, and botanical knowledge, we help local gardeners create distinctive landscapes that are rooted in place, and naturalistic in expression. 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 exodus traffic is heinous, just-in-case we’ve gone home.) We change the hours here (on the website) and on independent Google, Yelp, Bing, Nextdoor, and Facebook sites. Apple gets its info “elsewhere”, Apple Maps and Siri usually have wrong hours for every business.

Villager Nursery outdoor areas are open late-winter (Mar-April) through late-December depending on snow persistence. Through mid-winter, we may have limited regular or no hours. Someone is usually here, IN the shop, most weekdays (paperwork, plants, and cats 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 most 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. PLEASE do not use Facebook messenger to contact us. It is largely unmonitored.

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

For 52 years, Villager Nursery has been serving Truckee, Tahoe and regional high Sierra mountain plant lovers, landscapers and gardeners. Villager Florist started when Lou Stout moved her floral business to the Gateway Park Center (Old Gateway), next to the Gateway Motel, in 1951 (75yrs). In 1975 (52 yrs) Jeanette Harper purchased the Villager Florist and added more outdoor plants in a small corral across the back alley as well as some landscaping services to the mix (creating Villager Nursery). We relinquished the florist in 1996 to focus exclusively on the extreme winter-hardy, native plants, garden center summer color and vegetables, and landscape supply. In 2020 we relinquished our landscaping division but can direct homeowners to several local landscape contractors about whom we frequently hear unsolicited praise.
In 1999 we moved the nursery to the old home of the Varney family and Dairy and the McIver Dairy. The House was built in 1867 and the Shop (Jim McIver’s blacksmith and then auto shop) was built in the ~1920’s?. We are the third owners of the structures on this land. We are grateful to care for a business and a place with such deep Truckee roots and to honor their legacies.

2026: Since becoming a town in 1993 this property has been re-zoned 4 times, so far (depending on the planning department’s most recent consultants), – The young town “allowed” us as a “non-conforming” approved use when we moved here in 1999 (then zoned Residential / Agricultural) … we had a house (always used as a residence) and a Nursery (botanical / horticultural / agricultural)… pretty much 100% conforming. They haven’t improved their planning since. Now we’re “corridor commercial”. The “mixed-use” idea is out of favor. The residence is now against the new code. Brilliant.