CHICO — “I’m doing my favorite thing. I’m shopping for plants,” said city of Chico management analyst Jeannette Hassur during the Local Nursery Crawl on Saturday morning.
The 10th annual Local Nursery Crawl spans Saturday and today and includes 15 plant nurseries in Butte County.
For the event, participants were offered a flyer with the names of each participating nursery on it. If participants got the flyer stamped by six different nurseries, they could enter into a raffle for a gift certificate at the final nursery they went to. “This event is to get the public to visit/discover the many independent nurseries in the area and inspire loyalty and community support for local business,” states the event’s Facebook page.
This year is Hassur’s “fifth or sixth” year participating in the crawl. At Little Red Hen Plant Nursery she bought dwarf mondo grass she plans to plant in between the sandstones of her walkway.
In 2023, the event was held in February. However, this year it was moved to March.
“It’s been a lot busier with more people coming in,” said Little Red Hen Nursery instructor Karen Brewster. “They’re (customers) more ready to plant. February is too early.”
During the crawl, Little Red Hen Nursery offered 15% off everything except tomatoes.
Fair Street Nursery hosted the Chico Bonsai Society on Saturday. Some of the small trees on display were over 40 years old.
In addition to Fair Street Nursery’s many out door plants for sale, the company also sell indoor plants in a warm heated room. It also sells artisan decorations from local artists for the garden.
At Harvests and Habitats Nursery perennials, vegetables and wildflowers sold the most, said employee Suzie McAllister.
“People are starting to dream about their garden for the spring and summer,” McAllister said.
Harvests and Habitats Nursery owner Sherri Scott said it is nice having the crawl in March because more plants are blooming.
“I like that, but it’s also the really busy time for me planting everything because we grow everything ourselves, or like 95% of it ourselves. … I have not slept,” she said with a laugh.
For those looking a well rounded plant that smells amazing and is low maintenance, McAllister and Scott recommend scented geranium.
“They’re like a low key superhero,” McAllister said. “They don’t have a big showy a blossom, they still attract pollinators and they just smells so good.”
Other plants that are easy to take care of are rosemary, sweet bay and lettuce, Scott said. Another popular option she recommends is succulents.
“It’s just about getting it right,” Scott said.
