Legendary Nursery Innovators

Legendary Nursery Innovators. Historical Features. The California Nursery is closely associated with John Rock and George C. Roeding. In 1884, a German immigrant named John Rock purchased 463 acres on a site that is today known as the community of Niles in Fremont. He moved his start-up nursery from San Jose and named it “The California Nursery Company.” Rock created the best known Nursery Company in the state of California and became the premier supplier of fruit and nut trees. He marketed and hybridized 100’s of plant varieties with the assistance of the famous botanist Luther Burbank of Santa Rosa. In addition to fruit trees, the California Nursery became known for ornamental shrubs and 100’s of varieties of roses., In 1917 another legend took over ownership of the California Nursery Company, George Roeding. Combined with the Roeding operations in Fresno, the California Nursery Company dominated the fruit and nut tree national market at a pivotal time when private agriculture was emerging as a large corporate business. By the 1940’s George Roeding Jr. had evolved the company into an enormous retail operation with nurseries and growing grounds from the State of Washington to South America. All of this was headquartered out of Niles, California., Over the years the grounds of California Nursery were frequented by famous people that were customers or were otherwise associated with the California Nursery. They included President Woodrow Wilson, Phoebe and Randolph Hearst, Leland Stanford, John McClaren (the first Superintendent of Golden Gate Park), Architect Johannes Reimers, and photographers Andrew Hill and Gabriel Moulin. , Images: , 1. California Association of Nurserymen, 1910 , 2. Eleanor Roeding inspecting roses, 1920 , 3. Annie Kawaguchi and Yoshimi Kawaguchi at the Adobe, 1930 , 4. Ah Yen with peach trees at test Orchard, 1910 , 5. (left to right) William L. Thorne, Glen (horse), George Roeding, Jr., Gerald Roeding on Four Bits (donkey), 1930 , 6. Albert Etter, 1940; Spent 67 years hybridizing new varieties of apples and other fruits, some of which George Roeding, Jr. helped introduce through the California Nursery Company. , 7. Chinese workers tending Italian Cypresses in the lath house, 1920 , 8. Nursery workers budding roses, 1920 , 9. John Rock , George C. Roeding, 1910 , George C. Roeding, 1900