Garden growing

A Shasta Street house will soon become one of downtown Yuba City's garden spots.

"It's always been my dream when I was growing up to have a nursery," Curtis West said. "Now it's becoming a reality."

West and Michael Clark are starting Vintagehouse Nursery Co., a new business at 661 Shasta St. They hope to have it open by Sept. 10.

In the meantime, they have invested considerable sweat equity into the quarter-acre lot on Shasta Street where thousands of roses, perennials, herbs and other plants are expected to arrive in the next few weeks.

Planting has already begun in front of the house, which has red banana plants and other species. West had an antique fence installed around the house.

"That's been a big eye catcher," West said.

While some other area nurseries have withered away, West hopes that a garden shop that emphasizes alternatives to pesticides, traditional gardening methods and California native plants will flourish.

"We're trying to stay away from the pesticides, and get back to more of a classic style of gardening," West said.

West is a Yuba City High graduate who enrolled in the high school's nursery program, and went on to work at area nurseries in between stints at fast food and at his grandfather's business, Yuba City Steel.

"I've worked at nurseries off and on over the years," West said. "Every time I go to one, I see a little piece I can take away: 'Well we could do that, try that.' So we decided to put it all together and make it our own kind of niche."

Appeal-Democrat reporter John Dickey can be reached at 749-4711. You may e-mail him at jdickey@appeal-democrat.com.