Moonshot
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am quite fixated when it comes to moon themes around this hilltop. It all springs from my favorite movie, Moonstruck, which suited me as a name for this house those ten plus years ago when we bought it. I have never looked back since and the moon hits just keep on coming. I looked up the word moon in reference to the 1,437 stories I have posted on this blog, and it appears in the title of six of them in one form or another. This will be the seventh and I am sure not the last since the moon keeps shining and keeps on inspiring me in many different ways.
At the base of our hill we currently have three businesses within the mile or so from the house that represents the base of our hill. There are two gas stations (an Arco and a new Circle K). A local referendum turned down a housing development across the 15 by the Arco, and the talking points to favor it were that there might be a big mall developed there if we let that use get away from us (standard developer scare tactic). Let’s get real, there is very low impetus for building new malls these days.
The sign near the Circle K has, for a year now, strongly suggested that the gas station would be joined by other retail development (let’s call it a mini-mall), and the land below it has been cleared and leveled to give prospects a visual on what might be, but that’s where it stopped for now.
That leaves one more establishment down there that now encompasses a large swath of both sides of the highway, and that is the Moon Valley Nursery. It is the self-proclaimed largest nursery company in California with 11 locations and extending itself into four additional sunshine states (AZ, NV, TX, and, even FL). This behemoth of a family business stands out in an industry with low barriers to entry and God as a partner with sunshine and water as it’s primary ingredients. They even brag about having 43 farms that feed the yawing beasts that are their retail nurseries.
The company seems to have originated in the San Fernando Valley with roots (pun#1) in Fillmore, and has spread like a weed (pun #2), specializing in big-boxed trees. They tout their 1,500 varieties of trees and there is no doubt just from the massive inventory they keep within a mile of my hilltop that they are a force of nature when it comes to trees. As a student of business models, I find it fascinating how they differ from other nurseries. They are the CostCo of trees, but unlike CostCo, they only minimally branch out (pun#3) beyond trees. They practically give away pots and garden sculptures, not to mention smaller shrubs. There is no bagged soil or mulch for sale, but they do give away and probably pretend to sell jugs of Moon Valley Juice, some concoction to help newly planted trees grow. In fact, their sales office looks more like a new car dealership than anything else, with clients seated at desks being worked over by salespeople with smooth-dude pitches. The pitch is very simple, you choose (they cart you around the massive lot to keep you comfy), we plant and we guarantee…end of story until your next tree purchase.
I am sure they do huge wholesale developer business at volume discounts, but for the retail trade the pricing policy is very simple as well. The size of box goes $2,000 (24”), $4,000 (36”), $6,000 (48”) etc. up to about $30,000 (120”?) for the big boys. But wait….like all good retailers, everything is always half-off, so halve all prices, but don’t even think about a price that isn’t a $1,000 integer. There is no $0.99 pricing at Moon Valley. That would be like pricing a Mercedes Benz at $99,999.99, not gonna happen. Moon Nursery will never be accused on being inexpensive. Yes, they have great inventory and that’s especially important since not so many nurseries have so many trees versus other plants. Yes, they deliver and do so with a crew who plants the tree, start to finish, including an ample pouring of Moon Valley Juice, which hopefully is something good for the tree (they could put anything in that jug and I would be no wiser). And finally, they do guarantee their trees for a year. I’ve tested that last assurance and it seems to be real. The marginal cost to them of throwing in a new viable tree when when one goes bad is almost nonexistent. It’s good business since they expect that everyone will want a second bite of the apple tree (pun #4) sooner or later.
I have previously used Moon Valley for four trees and according to my consulting arborist, the big boy (Strawberry Arbutus) is doing well, the Crepe Myrtle is OK (I’ve never been happy with it), the Green Palo Verde is taking hold quite nicely, and the Ocotillo has never looked good for a moment and has been under consideration for replacement for two seasons. Just when I’m ready to give up on Mr. O, he sprouts a few little red flags on top telling me he is not dead yet. I use Moon Valley Nurseries the way Kim uses the Chinese anti-ant chalk that she and the cleaning girls use to keep ants and scorpions away. She knows its toxic and that it must be used with great care, but Damn! it does work well. The same can be said for Moon Valley…and it is right at the bottom of the hill…and I’m lazy enough for that to make a big difference.
For the fifth time since we moved here, there is a gigantic blue agave (Century Plant) the size of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, that has come to the end of its century and sent its 25-foot seed pod stalk skyward. That means it is having its last hurrah and will soon be dead. The good news about century plants is that you get about a six plus month warning because it takes that long for that stalk to grow, bloom and fade. Normally, I would have Joventino cut off the stalk and the huge floppy leaves, leaving the “pineapple” stump to either become an art fixture (as it is in two instances on the back hillside) or to get removed when I replace the plant with something else. The two that were near Audrey II got removed last year in favor of the palo verde and two pots with aloes and a ponytail palm in them. The pineapple down by the road is now a garden ornament. Audrey II needs to have its pineapple removed for space constraint reasons.
I’ve been thinking about Audrey II’s replacement for some time and finally bit the bullet and went down to Moon Valley Nursery and rode around the lot on a cart to find a nice new tree. I was thinking Jacaranda, which are very prolific hereabouts, with nice purple flowers in late spring and early summer. Then I was shown a tulip poplar tree with lovely yellow flowers. It is not really a poplar, but rather a member of the magnolia tree family. It does well in this climate (or so I hope) and it’s unique flowers and nice tree shape and trunk coloring (light like a eucalyptus tree) made it a winner for me.
I have arranged to have Moon Valley install the tree on September 15th, which should get us enough into the autumn to decrease its shock from summer heat. Since Moon would not guarantee that their crew would remove the pineapple (something they did for an extra few bucks last year), I got a referral to a “Frank”, who is coming on Saturday at 8am and will remove the stump for almost half the price of the damn tree. Once again, I find myself taking a moonshot, so to speak, and grumbling about overpaying for my experience with Moon Valley Nursery, but at least I hope my tree will be counted in the list of successful transplants and I can eventually feel I got value.