And yet those natives just keep getting better and better. Sorry if it sounds like climate bragging, but winter is our season of rebirth here in coastal northern California, and things are just jumping. I've already seen the first Califoria poppies blooming, (along with seeding a whole hillside of them on this latest spec home landscape), and shrubs like the Silk Tassle, Garrya elliptica are looking fantastic right now with their long dangling earrings of white tassles against verdant green foliage. The first of the Ceanothus/California lilacs are also popping, and I have been munching on the Miner's Lettuce, a local native that can actually be kind of weedy in a garden setting, for weeks now. The flowering season will just continue to get more and more colorful through about the end of April, and the Baby Blue Eyes and several species of Clarkia I planted out from 4 inch pots from Annie's Annuals here in Richmond back in December are already bursting into bloom as well. The real possibility of severe water rationing starting later this spring is still threatening us locally, but we even have some 2 days of rains forecast to hit tomorrow, ending this unseasonably warm spell with low 70'sF here in Berkeley. I spent the day up in Sonoma County yesterday wholesale nursery shopping, and enjoyed the scenery immensely, especially the green hillsides with the massive Valley Oaks dotted here and there. I must say, a lot of the Coast Redwoods planted along the Hwy 101 freeway medians did look rather stressed out from several subpar rainfall years, but those redwoods that had planted themselves did not appear to be suffering. The first of the flowering plums are also bursting out in bloom here, as well as all the non-native Acacia dealbata and many varieties of Magnolia soulangeana, M. denudata, M. stellata, etc. The first of the South African Leucadendrons are also getting ready to pump up the volume as well. It sure would be tough to be looking out at gray skies and dirty snow and below freezing temps in comparison to our local conditions, but then again, it isn't exactly tropical swimming in the ocean weather here either, but all in all, a gorgeous California winter's day, and the promise of some much needed rains. And I can't get too worked up about nurseries pigging back on this thread to self-promote, even if it is prohibited. I understand the underlying sense of feeling a bit desperate, what with the slow down in spending, but come on! Be a little more subtle about how you do it, and I bet it would be more successful! It does seem to show that there is no one doing what Spike used to do with yanking threads into the ether...

I don't know much about any of this, but IMHO, there's non-native and invasive, and it may be a bit of overkill (literally) to rip out the former when the concern is more with the latter--assuming, of course, the former is not a problem in its own right (in terms of needing a lot of water or pesticides). As humans, we are forever bending nature to shape our will. There is a greater interest in and desire for native plants, and I gather the native plant store here is doing just fine. But most suburbs are loaded up with plants that are at least not native to this area, if not even the US, because that's just what the standard has been (and in some cases, what the HOAs demand). I'd be more interested in seeing people get rid of their lawns than their non-native flowerbed plants, personally. But as someone without a lawn, it's very easy for me to get on a soapbox about it. My balcony has a number of non-native plants--on a microcosm level, nothing is actually native to my balcony, LOL, except concrete. Many are not local, like the plumerias. Others are from other countries, like the mandevilla and perhaps a succulent or three. But then I read that mandevillas aren't even found in their original habitat now. Still, as some note, things move around whether you like it or not. The gecko is now found everywhere in the world, traveling about on ships, and largely fits in nicely wherever it goes. Of course, the Chinese rat flea did the same thing hundreds of years ago and was nowhere near as welcome. :-) Meanwhile, the invasives in Hawaii and Australia destroy ecosystems in a heartbeat. I guess my two cents about the OP's situation is this: If they were ripping out non-natives that weren't causing any issues on the basis of some philosophy that non-natives are inherently evil and must be destroyed, I think that's a bit messed up. On the other hand, if their goal was to create a native garden (and more or less bill it as such), it's fine. In other words, I'm looking at motive--is it to *destroy* the non-natives or is to *create* natives? For some reason, that matters to me.

I was tempted to go in my lunch hour last week but thought that would be pushing it from Decatur! So we managed to get there today. It was our first visit and its a wonderful place, so sad that they are closing. My kids played in their sandbox with my husband while I looked around, what a treat! I bought a Ceanothus, thanks to David and Esh mentioning it (there is still one left!), Physocarpus Summer Wine, Caryopteris Bluebeard, Amelanchier Autumn Brilliance, Edgeworthia (paper bush), Kolkwitzia Dream Catcher, Rhamnus (buckthorn) Fine Line, and two Amsonia Hubrechtii, which I had been looking for all over town and was delighted to find. I agree, a wonderful selection, and very knowledgeable and friendly owners, such a shame they have to close. They still have a lot left -- tons of perennials, which I didn't have time to look at all of, but there were rows and rows of them, and lots of shrubs, including one more ceanothus! Thanks to Fay, my plants are all sitting outside having a good shower.

The question isn't so much how close the dealers are but how close are the local servicers - the question I'd be asking is are there any authorized servicers in Rochester - despite good intentions, you may have logistical issues getting servicers to travel 100 miles.