74 Cricklewood Secret Garden
January 20, 2023
76 February, Whatcha’ Doin’?
February 24, 2023
Trees Outlet
9149 Gerber Rd, Sacramento, CA 95829 • (916) 254-8789
Website
T rees Outlet doesn’t have a nice “storefront” street entrance. It’s located at a man named Richard’s house.
Richard says that growing trees and selling them has been his hobby for 15 years. At first I thought I might ask, “Hobby? What’s your actual job?” because his house is literally surrounded by rows and rows of potted trees and shrubs. Then I thought of the “hobby” that surrounds my own house and I decided I didn’t need to ask what his actual job was. I think I know.
(There are times I do keep quiet. Very few though.)
We had come here hoping to find a tree to replace the flowering cherry that died in 2022. (Mike would tell me, “Oh that tree’s not dead, give it some time,” even though no leaves appeared after its pitiful blossoms came on and then fell off!) That tree had provided needed shade for my hellebores and my iron plant, my ferns and azaleas. I HAD to replace it. But in all my travels I had failed to come across the “right” tree.
I had told Mike I needed a new place to look for one, and he found Trees Outlet on Craigslist—of all places to find an excellent source for trees!
Richard may have rows and rows of trees but there’s no real rhyme or reason to how his inventory is organized—and no signs pointing the way.
With a little luck you’ll find what you’re looking for. And if you’re looking for citrus, I can tell you there’s definitely NO shortage of citrus trees at Trees Outlet.
I only mention it because nowadays you see “Citrus Shortage” signs posted around at other local nurseries. While walking around I really wanted to grab an orange and have a snack. Would that be rude?
Besides citrus, what sets Trees Outlet apart is that Richard has a huge inventory of “this and that” trees in great variety. Name it, he probably has it and may be able to tell you where it’s at on the property.
Another thing….his prices are beyond spectacular! For example, I had really wanted a multi-trunk mature olive tree—one that’s 50 or more years old. But various growers had quoted me $5000 to $7000 for a 12-foot high olive in a 36-inch box. Well I declined! Think how many plants I can buy for the price of one tree!!!
Happily at Trees Outlet I found olive trees in varying pot sizes from $120 to $1500—WAY cheaper than $5000. And of course I had to have the $1500 size!!
Olea europaea ‘Majestic’ (Olive ‘Majestic’ Fruitless Multi-trunk)
These ‘Magestics’ were pruned for screening which is not what I wanted. But Richard had an ‘Arizona’ multi-trunk pruned just like I’d hoped to find.
Not only did I get my olive tree here at a great price, I also bought this beautiful Japanese Allspice—which for its size was a bargain at $1200.
It’s winter now, but this is what it will look like in leaf form…
Chimonanthus praecox (Wintersweet, Japanese Allspice)
We made our purchases and planned to return another day to pick them up and transport them home. I couldn’t wait to get them installed in our yard.
Readers, do you think picking them up, bringing them home and getting them into the ground went smoothly? You know how things work around here. Of course they didn’t go smoothly!!
On the morning we went to pick up the trees, there was a torrential downpour. And when Mike went out to prep the dump truck and trailer for the trip, the battery was dead and he had to get it going again.
Then when we tried to head out, the trailer had a locked wheel because there was no weight on the trailer to cause it to unlock. Mike had to drive back and forth for like 10 minutes, slamming on the brakes and making sharp turns until the dang thing finally released. All the while I’m sitting in the passenger seat silently trying to avoid whiplash and thinking “just shoot me now.”
At least we arrived at Trees Outlet and loaded our trees without trouble. By then at least it had stopped raining so hard.
But then on the freeway home, we had to drive 40-miles-an-hour to limit damage to the leaves of the olive tree and to prevent further loss of the pretty yellow flowers on the Japanese Wintersweet.
Drivers were hating us. I could only hope they might enjoy the sight of my lovely nursery selections as they veered around us and sped on past.
We left home that day at 10am and didn’t get back until 3:30. Normally a round trip to Trees Outlet would take just an hour and a-half!
And our adventure was not over. Now we had to get the Wintersweet Japanese Allspice and the olive tree installed in the garden, and who knew what fresh trouble was ahead!
Luckily, the Wintersweet install went smoothly. Except when Mike tried to tell me how to backfill soil into the hole. Gawd, am I an idiot and only Mike knows it?
I think the Wintersweet’s leaf stage is not quite as spectacular as when it’s in bloom—which happens in winter. It has paper-like yellow blossoms with burgundy centers, and they smell just heavenly!
Chimonanthus praecox (Wintersweet, Japanese Allspice) in bloom.
I installed it in front of my greenhouse on the west side to give shade during summer. But in winter, I spend a lot of time in the greenhouse, and with it close, I can enjoy that lovely scent!!
One install done, now we come to the olive tree install—with even more “holes and soil” excitement. Here’s the beginning of its hole…
When Mike finished digging (far deeper than above) he asked me to measure for the correct depth. I measured and said, “You dug to China, Mike! We have to put a foot of soil back in!”
He whipped his head around. “You’re seriously going to tell me how to dig a hole?” he said. I just ignored what didn’t make sense in that and just answered, “Yup.”
I want to pee my pants right now remembering the look of death he gave me before I picked up the shovel myself and started putting the dirt back in the hole.
With the hole at the correct depth, it was time to transport the olive tree from trailer to hole, which let Mike show off his backhoe skills.
At the left edge of this photo, you see a cedar tree. It’s important to the story.
In this second photo, that cedar is on the right edge and directly behind Mike.
To get the olive tree maneuvered above the hole at the right angle (square peg in a square hole), Mike had to position the backhoe head in a very narrow spot. And that cedar tree was so close behind that he had to drive back and forth about 20 times making small steering adjustments to line up the tree with the hole!
You’ve seen the Austin Powers movie where Mike Myers has to get the golf cart out from between two parked cars? It was like that!
OMG, all that maneuvering got Mike and me laughing. I have to say that he is a master at steering a backhoe and also…that this is the only time the entire day when we smiled.
Finally he got the tree positioned over the hole and lowered it in. I immediately saw it was 2 feet above soil level. I had wanted it to mound but only by a foot or so—definitely not by 2!
When I pointed this out to Mike, he whipped that head around again. “Didn’t you measure?!”
“Of course I measured!” I said, denying any possibility that I had done it wrong.
So Mike raised the tree back out of the hole, climbed down from the backhoe, grabbed the shovel and dug out the very soil I had just put back in there!
OMG. So funny! But Mike didn’t think it was funny, and this is why I don’t have a photo of that “Kodak moment” to share here. Because as he shoveled, he and I were having a meaningful discussion, and I wasn’t about to pull out my phone and….”Say cheese, Mike!”
Besides, he thinks taking pictures during an install is not as important as actually doing the install. So blame him for lack of more visual documentation here.
In the end, I give my husband an A+ for not stomping around and destroying the plants surrounding the new olive tree, which—because those plants needed shade—is the reason I got the tree in the first place.
And here it is…safe and sound and in the ground.
Olea europaea ‘Arizona’ (Arizona Fruitless Olive aka ‘Swan Hill’)
So thank you, Richard at Trees Outlet.
And thank you, Mike.
I love love love my olive tree, even though it will be decades before I see it turn 50.
I am patient.
