Redding is located in Sunset's Climate Zone 9 which is very similar to Zone 8, but Zone 9 is a thermal belt and is a safer climate for citrus than Zone 8, which is a cold basin and includes the valley to the south of us. The same distinction, thermal belt versus cold-air basin, determines which species and varieties (hibiscus, melaleuca, pittosporum, and other plants) are recommended for Zone 9, but not for Zone 8.

Zones 8 and 9 have the following features in common: summer daytime temperatures are high, sunshine is almost constant during the growing season and growing seasons are long. Deciduous fruits and vegetables of nearly every kind thrive in these long, hot summers; winter cold is just adequate to satisfy the dormancy requirements of the fruit trees. Fiercely cold, piercing north winds blow for several days at a time in winter, but they are more distressing to the gardeners than to garden plants. You can minimize them with windbreaks. Tule fogs appear and stay for hours or days during winter. The fogs usually hug the ground at night and rise to 800 to 1,000 feet by afternoon.

Heat-loving plants such as oleander and crape myrtle perform at their peak in Zones 8 and 9. Plants that like summer coolness and humidity demand some fussing; but careful gardeners accommodate them by providing filtered shade from tall trees and plenty of moisture. In Zone 9, winter lows over a twenty-year period ranged from 28 to 18 degrees. Our growing season is from late February to the end of November.

For those of you who have chosen the foothills, you are no doubt in Zone 7. Zone 7 has hot summers and mild but pronounced winters and give this area sharply defined seasons without severe winter cold or enervating humidity. The climate pleases plants that require a marked seasonal pattern to do well - peony, iris, lilac and flowering cherry, for example. Deciduous fruit trees that required a marked seasonal pattern do well also; the region is noted for its pears, apples, peaches, and cherries.

You may have valley oaks on your property and you can garden under them if you limit your palette to plants that don't need summer water, such as airy grasses, sedges and Salvias. Native oaks do not like a lot of water and are often killed when too much landscaping is put in around them.

The growing season for Zone 7 is from May to mid-October. The winter lows can be down as far as 9 degrees, but average about 23 to 28 degrees.

As many of our plants as possible are grown locally, either in our own Red Bluff greenhouses or purchased from other local nurseries. This means our plants will succeed better in local gardens - they are not shipped from a greenhouse in southern California, to be put on the nursery shelves and expected to survive in a new, very different climate. We have better control and our plants are cared for by our expert greenhouse and nursery staff.

In addition to already being adapted to our climate, we now are able to offer our customers a wider selection of plants than ever before. Our affiliation with the Red Bluff Garden Center gives us two locations in which to carry the finest selection of plants in the area. In many cases, if we do not have a specific plant in one location, we will call our other nursery to try to locate it for a customer.

Our nursery staff is extremely knowledgeable about the plants in our area, and they always go the extra mile to disseminate information to our customers, to locate specific plants, as well as research answers to specific questions.

• We’re one of the largest retail nurseries north of Sacramento. Take a stroll through our five acres of gorgeous plants, carefully tended by our expert nursery staff.
  
• We carry a wide selection of trees, shrubs, beautiful container plantings, perennials, and annuals - common and exotic, selected for hardiness in our climate.
  
• We are a Master Nursery Garden Center. (see article immediately following this list)
  
• We have knowledgeable, helpful staff for advice, information, problem solving, design help and consultation.
  
• We carry a large selection of organic and chemical gardening supplies, pottery, fountains and statuary.
  
• We have an expanded selection of water garden plants and supplies for your pond. We also have two demonstration pond gardens for you to use for reference.
  
  
• We sponsor educational seminars on a variety of subjects throughout the year which are open to the public (see Events and Classes). We also publish a quarterly newsletter and have informational handouts on a variety of subjects available at no charge.
  
• We have a research library with a large selection of gardening books, landscaping design, problem solving, water gardens and many general garden topics.
  
• We provide potting services:
  - New plants into your container
  - Repotting of your existing plants
  - Custom color bowls
  
• We gift wrap.
  
• We have gift certificates.
  
• We have delivery service available.
  
• We have a gift registry for special occasions in your life when a new plant would be appreciated more than a toaster!
  
• Our knowledgeable staff can help you select the perfect gift for any occasion, over the phone if necessary - the perfect solution for long-distance gift giving.
  
• We recycle pots for cash.

Wyntour Gardens’ and Red Bluff Garden Center’s owner George Winter believes that “Being a Master Nursery Garden Center gives us buying power as a group. This allows us to buy our hard goods at better prices, and gives us a little better chance to compete with the big box stores.” George is proud of his association with Master Nursery, and feels that their products are definitely superior to many of the other soils and amendments available.

Plant Purchaser Mary especially likes Master’s Pride Professional Potting Soil, a premium potting soil that is ready to use for hanging baskets, containers and raised planting beds. For indoor and outdoor use, Masters’ Pride Professional Potting Soil is made of a natural and organic blend of ingredients including: peat moss, worm castings, chicken manure, bat guano, kelp meal and mycorrhizal fungi. “This soil has lots of great beneficial ingredients and it offers complete nutrition to the plants. There’s no need to add anything else,” says Mary.

For more information about the complete line of Master Nursery products, visit their website at www.masternursery.com, or stop by Wyntour Gardens or the Red Bluff Garden Center and ask one of the salespeople for information.

We recommend planting your new plants as soon as possible, following the instructions below:

1. Dig a hole twice as large and deep as the plant root ball.
2. If your soil is extremely dense or heavy with clay (like most of the soil in Redding), add a few     cups of gypsum to the bottom of the hole.
3. Make a mixture of 50% existing soil and 50% Master Nursery Eureka Planting Mix (or other premium planting mix/soil conditioner), large enough to fill the hole.
4. Fill the hole about 1/4 full with soil mixture, set in the plant to the depth it was in the container,     and fill around the roots with more soil mixture. Firm down so that the plant is secure.
5. Add Master Nursery Master Start starter fertilizer and Master Nursery Root Master B-1 (to prevent transplant shock), according to the instructions, whenever you are planting new flowers, shrubs or trees, or if you are transplanting plants in the landscape.
6. Soak thoroughly, making sure soil is wet to the bottom of the root ball.
7. Check water needs daily, making sure entire root system stays damp, but being careful to not over-water.

If, after following our recommendations, your plants fail to thrive, we will replace the plants or issue a store credit, if you bring the plant back with the receipt.

If there is a particular variety you are interested in that we do not currently carry, it may be possible to special order the item. Again, this is dependent upon availability, and it may be necessary to wait for a forthcoming season.