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Wonderful you posted these photos.
California Nursery in Niles, CA (Near Fresno) was an important source for all sorts of materials used for landscaping in the early years of the twentieth century.
When I worked as a tour guide at Hearst Castle I was told much of the original plantings there originated at California Nursery.
I had no idea the original building existed.
Thank you, Robert
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#1 of 2 posted
10 SEP 15 by
 BartBalk
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Hi, Robert,
Yes, the California Nursery Company did supply many of the plants for Hearst Castle. We just visited last month and found that out as well. I had a 1914 nursery receipt for 20 giant sequoias shipped to San Simeon, which was before the castle was even started. So we found a horticulturally minded tour guide who knew much about the connection which was really helpful. Nigel Keep was their longtime gardener and Hearst "stole" him from the California Nursery.
The California Nursery Historical Park is in the San Francisco Bay Area in Fremont, not in Fresno. Niles is now a district of Fremont. George Roeding bought the 463 acre nursery in 1917 and also owned Fancher Creek Nursery which is in Fresno. The nursery was sited at the mouth of Alameda Creek which in 1884 was very important for water and as a source of gravel.
The archives from 150 years of John Rock's Nursery in San Jose, the California Nursery Company, and Fancher Creek are all being processed. Lots of interesting information.
I have a facebook page for the nursery: https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofCaliforniaNurseryHistoricalPark?fref=photo. I try to post new things weekly.
I have been trying to find a Niles Cochet rose in our little rose garden, but this rose garden is relatively recent. The rose would have had to come from someone's personal bush in Niles. It wouldn't have been there since 1906. But I expect that there are Niles Cochet roses in some of the Niles gardens, somewhere. I'll be looking for them.
Janet
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Janet, thanks for all the lovely information. I must have been thinking of George Roeding when I remembered materials from the Fresno area. I know there is a park in Fresno named after Roeding.
I appreciate some of this history is being preserved as so much of our history in CA is being lost.
Best wishes, Robert
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