Owner hopes to keep nursery in bloom as 100th anniversary approaches

A slight afternoon breeze moved through the shrubs, succulents and other vegetation at Port Stockton Nursery, as nursery manager Gianna Cummins rang up a customer transaction, while owner Jeffrey Nelson tended to the rows and rows of plants.

“We’re trying to make it,” said Nelson, 77, who has run the nursery since 1987. “It’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” 

Part of the nursery’s seemingly around-the-clock schedule includes from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., grafting fruit trees, propagating plants, and handling the business end of the nursery.

In 2027, Port Stockton Nursery will celebrate 100 years in business, but with rising business costs, the aging of the nursery’s customer base, changing customer tastes spell for a difficult next three years, and an uncertain future beyond.

“This time of year is slow,” said Nelson, surveying the empty 1.5 acre facility. “Most of your money is made with bedding plants. Succulents and vegetables are some of our biggest sellers.”

Port Stockton Nursery had its beginning in 1923, when Frank Raffle opened Raffles’ Nursery at 12710 E. Main Street. In 1927, Raffle changed the name to Port Stockton Nursery in 1927, where it still stands. 

In the 1960s, Nelson’s father, Floyd, purchased the nursery in the 1940s and ran it with his brother, Art, while their brother, Harold ran a farm on Alpine Avenue, where he grew fields of roses and conifers, Nelson said.

For those who haven’t been to the nursery, it is a throwback to a pre-big box customer experience, where customers received nuanced advice on growing plants, like amending the hard, clay soil common in Stockton gardens, eradicating pests that wreak havoc with vegetable gardens, and selecting the right plants for light conditions. “People come in with problems, and we’ve been around long enough that we can really help them,” said Nelson. “It feels good to help them, even if we don’t make a sale.”

Cummins, a fifth generation Stocktonian, recalls coming to the nursery as a child with her grandmother, aunt, and mother. As an adult, she has been a customer for 15 years, purchasing plants and seeking advice from Nelson. “You can learn things here that you can’t learn anywhere else,” said Cummins, who has worked at the nursery for a year.

Although Nelson had been a “dear friend” for years, Cummin’s path to managing Port Stockton Nursery began as two plant enthusiasts talking about their favorite subject. “We were chatting, and Jeff asked me ‘Do you want to work here?’”

Cumming jumped at the opportunity, and she started work the next day.

“This is a great place to escape to,” she said.

The nursery’s longevity in the community “speaks volumes about their dedication to our community,” said Marcy Sousa, program coordinator of the San Joaquin UC Master Gardener Program. “Port Stockton Nursery has been an asset for the gardening community. They are a resource for both seasoned gardeners and those just starting out. What sets Port Stockton Nursery apart is their wealth of knowledge and personalized service along with their unique assortment of plants and other garden-related products.”

In its heyday in the 1970s, when the construction was booming and new houses were being built in the Quail Lakes subdivision. “We would regularly deliver plants in our trucks out to that area,” said Nelson.

 Port Stockton Nursery also made a brisk business selling more than 100 varieties of camellias to residents in Stockton and beyond. Nearly every home in some neighborhoods in central and south Stockton feature a camellia bush, which likely came from the nursery. “Almost all camellia bushes came from here,” said Nelson. 

Original owner Frank Raffle traveled to South Carolina to acquire many of the varieties that the nursery still sells decades later. The nursery still sells 36 varieties of camellias, Nelson said.

A fungus nearly wiped out the camellia inventory at Port Stockton Nursery and other nurseries throughout the region about 10 years ago, and the industry never quite recovered, Nelson said.

“Camellia petal blight, Ciborinia camelliae, is very common” among the species, said Sousa. “The fungus is weather and temperature driven. It starts off as small, brown, spots on the petals. The spots quickly enlarge and eventually the whole flower turns brown and dies. They will often drop to the ground as an intact flower.”

As for the profitability of growing and selling camellias, “there’s just no money there,” said Nelson. “A lot of growers are fading them out” in favor of plants that take less time to grow.

Growing a camellia will take at least three years in a 5 gal. container, Nelson said.

These days, the nursery brings in about $70,000 before taxes, Nelson said. And there are other costs, such as irrigation. In cooler months, watering plants totals between $400 to $800, Nelson said.

In the heat of summer, watering can run as much as $3,000 per month. Plus, there is the cost of keeping employees on the payroll.

“Like all businesses, you have labor costs,” said Nelson, who added that during the busy spring season, he often has as many as four employees.

Nelson suffered two strokes in 2017, and his father and uncles have long since passed away. His two sons don’t have an interest in taking over the family business, Nelson said.

“They got good jobs,” he said. “Why would they want to work here?”

For now, Nelson will survive the lean summer months, with rising costs, fewer sales, and an aging customer base. “We’re in between vegetable seasons,” said Nelson. “Collards, broccoli, lettuce, kale, and other cool season vegetables will arrive in the months ahead. Most of our old customers are passing away. With climate change, water is becoming too scarce, it’s also too damn hot to be out in the garden.”

Read published article: https://stocktonia.org/news/business/2024/07/29/owner-hopes-to-keep-nursery-in-bloom-as-100th-anniversary-approaches/

Port Stockton Nursery owner Jeffery Nelson has run the nursery since 1987. (Photo by Edward Lopez)