Trees

San Marcos Growers was initially founded as a specialty tree nursery - See History. Recognizing the need for a nursery growing the uncommon trees sought after by local municipalities and landscape architects the founders of San Marcos Growers began propagation and production of many of the trees we still grow today. Over time we have also found many new trees to grow. Trees are the structure of the landscape and while not necessarily numerous in the garden they are often the dominant feature. While most of the trees we have grown are showy flowering trees, some are noted for their foliage, growth habit or adaptability to a planting situation. In an effort to understand how the trees we offer grow and to better understand their cultural requirments, we have long planted in the ground trees that we sell and this has resulted in the property having some stately trees, such as the Arbutus 'Marina' that is the current National Champion. See a list of the trees on the property at: Trees on the San Marcos Growers Property.

As a reference to the trees that we grow we recommend:

Exceptional Trees of Los Angeles by Donald Hodel, California Arboretum Foundation, 1988

Street Trees Recommended for Southern California Street Tree Seminar, Inc Anaheim, CA, 1999

Trees of Santa Barbara by Katerine Muller, Richard Broder and Will Beitel, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1974.

Trees of Santa Barbara by Robert Muller and J. Robert Haller, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 2005.

San Marcos Growers sells trees in 5 gallon, 15 gallon and 24 inch box sizes. To avoid constricting the root system or girdling of the roots, our trees are initially grown in bottomless tree liner pots which are directly transplanted into 5 gallon or 15 gallon pots. We grow many of our trees both as a low branched tree for garden use or as a higher headed tree suitable to patio or street tree plantings. We do not plant multiple plants into a container to create what in the industry is called a "multi" and consider this practice unhealthy for the long term success of the plant. Our low branched trees are trained to have 3 to 5 stems branching outwards at various levels from ground. Our higher headed trees, termed "Standards", are, depending on the variety of tree, either allowed to grow with a single terminal leader or tipped at 6 to 7 feet to encourage the formation of a branching structure, or "head".

The following links will lead to information about some of our many beautiful and often unusual trees. Other Trees can be found by Searching our database for trees.