Like Whole Foods, but don't like dropping whole paycheck? Then, grow your own!
Nothing beats the taste of homegrown fruit & vegetables, picked at their maximum amount of sweetness, unless of course, you like them a bit unripe. Why not get the most nutritious, best quality produce to eat & save money at the same time!
Champa Nursery sells tropical/sub-tropical & deciduous fruit trees, along with vegetables & flowers rounding out the selection. I bought a healthy 3 gal sapodilla (aka chico) tree here at a great price several years ago, so when I was in the hunt for another fruit tree, I came back to Champa to examine their stock.
A small nursery, Champa nonetheless has plenty of merchandise for sale. Before entering, several weeping mulberries & mangoes greet customers. Mangoes are the main emphasis at Champa, with dozens of varieties ranging from the Indian mangoes to the uniquely named Florida mangoes. I believe their wholesaler is a popular Florida nursery. Lychees, java plums, longan, sugar apples & starfruit (carambola) are among the other fruit trees you can expect to find. For my visit, I wanted to check out their green sapotes & purple caimitos.
The sole worker greeted me and helped me on my quest. He was a friendly Hispanic man whom I conversed with in my broken Spanish. He first showed me their caimitos, which were minute in availability & ugly in appearance. To my understanding caimitos are more tropical in nature and don't do well unprotected in our climate. Plus, Champa only had the green kind, whereas I'm interested in purple. So, no caimito for me.
Next, he showed me their green sapotes. Champa had a sizeable number of green sapotes, from 3 gal to 7 gal. I found the best looking 3 gal to find, and I was ready to take my baby home. The worker wrote me a receipt, bagged my new tree for me & place it inside my truck, thanking me for patronizing the nursery.
Service was good. The Hispanic gentleman was hospitable & quick to help me find what I wanted. The owner, Jimmy, even left some cuttings of a particular leafy green for me to take home. I communicated with him prior to my visit, asking if he had the aforementioned fruit trees & leafy green I was interested in. He replied he didn't have the leafy green for sale, but he'd gift me some cuttings to take home, which I'm very appreciative for.
Parking is in a teeny tiny private lot, with street parking for the spill over.
Champa Nursery should be your first stop for finding the more uncommon fruit trees to grow. Prices are competitive & quite reasonable, compared to other nurseries in LA & Orange County. I'm happy that I have all the fruit trees I want in my collection, but when the itch strikes & desire emerges to add yet another fruit tree to my urban homestead, I'm content to know Champa is there to quell my gardening hunger.
Highly recommend! read more