Community Highlights: Meet Ian Rhodes of Californica Nursery

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian Rhodes.

Hi Ian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Californica Nursery began in 2020 by two longtime friends with an aligned passion for California native plants and a vision for their hometown of Long Beach and beyond.

Our approach is simple- replace “traditional” Southern California landscape plants with ecologically valuable, locally-native California species.

At Californica Nursery, we want to provide you with the resources to re-shape the status quo of our green spaces. We aim to provide quality California native plants to both wholesale and retail customers to southern CA and beyond. We also aim to spread awareness of CA natives through social media outreach, events, and education.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Starting a business from scratch is not easy – this is Jackson and I’s first business venture, but it’s been worth it every step of the way. Our search to find a proper home base that supports both wholesale and retail capacity has easily been the hardest struggle we’ve had so far, as competition is high and enough space is few and far between in urban LA and Orange counties. We won’t stop looking until we find something though!

We’ve been impressed with Californica Nursery, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a California native plant grower based in Long Beach, CA.

Our focus is locally native species, however we also grow both popular and uncommon species from the rest of CA and Baja California. Our goal is to help improve biodiversity in our urban areas by increasing the presence of native plants and native plant gardens.

Creating linkages of habitat for wildlife throughout the urban landscape is critical for improving ecological and environmental function, which in turn improves quality of life for humans.

One thing that sets us apart from most native plant nurseries is that we grow everything we sell from seed or cuttings, while most nurseries in LA county and OC purchase wholesale. We also stand out by our background in ecological restoration and conservation biology, which influences our naturalistic approach to our garden installations.

When you buy plants from Californica Nursery, you’re receiving an extremely cared-for, locally-sourced, and tough plant. This is what we’re most proud of – we want only the best plants for our customers. We love pushing less common and overlooked species on people, as every single species we sell is ecologically important and deserves to be in your garden.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
No

Pricing:

• Average 1 Gallon Plant Price: $13.50

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.californicanursery.com
• Instagram: @californicanursery

Image Credits
Ian Rhodes