Welcome to Branches of the Past, an ongoing collection of short stories that highlight the history, camaraderie and memorable moments in CNGA history, as told by CNGA members. These memories reflect the deep roots and strong connections that have shaped our association.
Submitted by Stan Brown, Alameda Wholesale Nursery
A Shady Deal
In the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, Polyethylene shade cloth tarps were not invented yet, so nurseries had to adapt. It was a real problem in two main areas: Shade houses and deliveries. For shade houses, nurseries used lath boards or snow fencing. For deliveries, you either had to ship what would fit in a van body (which limited the size of a tree that you could ship) or you could drive at 25 to 30 MPH which would make the people behind you mad as heck.
Since trees spades also were not invented yet, we hand dug B&B trees and wrapped the ball with burlap. Dad had a guy who had a business west of Federal or Sheridan and South of Colfax who worked out of his garage opening up burlap sacks which we used for balling trees. Dad asked him if he could also sew them. He said “sure,” and he sewed up a tarp that was 8 or 10ft wide and about 18ft long that we used to cover leafed out B&B trees for delivery.
