Exotica Rare Fruit Nursery

I have been a customer of Exotica for several years. I find that this nursery has a lot of untapped potential however ownership is sloppy and unorganized which, unfortunately, will eventually lead to this nursery's doom. The plants - large collection, everything is grown outdoors and submitted to the elements. You will find good and bad specimens. Plan to spend some time to find something strong and well developed. Fertilization is poor, water administration is sporadic and just enough to keep things going. Some plants will take time to recover on your property. Plants are poorly tagged. However, the variety is large and with proper management this could become an excellent nursery. The staff - Steve has broad knowledge and he is a wonderful person, just not a manager. He is personally attached to a lot of the plants and when you ask he would either not sell or quote you a price so high that you would not buy. He should not even be involved in sales. His sister is great and she has good intentions. With some proper nursery management training she could make that place happen. The mother is a darling old lady that puts her heart and soul into those gardens. She does so much. I personally shop there to keep her going. Leo and his brother have good knowledge and they could be good stock/ inventory managers/administrators if allowed. They have the staff and what it takes to make it work, they just need a consultant to set them straight and the focus. Maybe less herbal influences would help too. The place - it has been cleaned up a lot this year which is huge. An inventory, proper tagging and pricing and this place would be moving in the right direction. It is a family run business and with some effort it could have that charm. The decor should be redone, the lounge area improved, devote a play pen for the dogs, etc. This could be a charming nursery. The prices - prices are good as long as Steve is not involved. Their advertised prices are not honored and plants marked for sale are often not. That needs to change! The sister and Leo should price. Steve should do what he likes... graft, air layer, propagate, collect, etc. All in all, this could be a remarkable nursery. With constructive and proactive change, proper assignment of duties, commitment from the owner (s), it could be better. I would love to help if anyone would listen. Just my two cents.

I have been there several times. Frequently buy things I didn't know existed. Keep an open mind.... it's worth it! My latest was a Pakistani Mulberry. Fast grower and high yield. If hard of hearing old people bother you, piss on you!

Posted on September 8, 2010, updated September 8, 2010 I called first and spoke to Steve, asking if he had a Negronne (Violette Bordeaux) fig. He said yes. When I went to the nursery he sold me what he said was a Negronne. The method of labeling plants there seemed so varied -- and sometimes absent -- that I even questioned him about the name more than once. After I got home, I went online and saw that the leaf of the Negronne is 5-pronged, with the prongs quite slim and elongated. My fig has very fat 3-pronged leaves. I called and he wouldn't listen to me -- and there are no returns there. I am so disappointed. I have a small balcony and need a dwarf fig that can manage with only a little morning sun. Whatever I have here is not likely to work. :(

One of my favorite nurseries on the planet. They have an extensive collection of rare fruit trees from all around the world. So worth the visit. Here's a video tour I found on YouTube: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cXPUwD0JT8

Wow I am really surprised at the negative ratings that I just read about Exotica. I haven't been here for 6 month's as I do not live in the area so if something has changed forgive me for this feedback. Granted, Exotica is not organized like a Home Depot or most nursery's/garden center's nor does it have elegant personality of the prestigious Rogers Gardens in Newport Beach which I adore, but Rogers Gardens is a gardeners high priced retail wonderland that has an amazing buyer. Don't get me wrong If you haven't been to Rogers Gardens you should go one day and meander around. But for the gardener that is looking for something rare/ different (at exceptionally low prices may I say) and would like to experience a real natural nursery environment where the landscaping is the land and plants themselves your destination is Exotica. Yes the place is quirky, the land is spread out, and it is run more as a family operation but this is a unique place after all. Steve is the guru so ask for him. I go only when I need something rare and as a note we purchased our Indian Curry Plant from them two years ago and I have yet to see a nursery in here in Southern California that has had one. Yes Exotica, is not average on many levels, it's a simple family business that specializes in the unique. Be open to the experience...think of it like a forest, it's not all groomed but it's real. Young kids probably would love the area to explore. It's an adventure from the people and dogs to roaming around the property and finding your most wanted plants. PS. Shame on the reviewer that bagged on the elderly woman/mother who still help's out at Exotica. Who care's if you have to speak a little louder for an elderly woman and why be annoyed by her moving things around shouldn't it be the ones that work with her? I think it's just amazing that she is active and not sitting in front of a TV...we all have family members that are aging give her some kudos and patience for still being active.

The place is too messy. The price is too high. I was there this past weekend hoping to buy Fuyu and Hachiya persimmon and a mango tree. Lucky me they only have Fuyu persimmon. The lady told me that they won’t have mango or Hachiya persimmon until June I end up bought the 15 gallon Fuyu Persimmon for $100 from them with no leave on the tree and when I try to put it on the ground that when I realize it just bare root plant that they only put in the container for about 1 week or so to mark up the price. The next day I went to Ong Nursery which is located at 2528 Crandall Drive, San Diego, CA 92111. Phone: 858-277-8167. And see a must bigger Fuyu Persimmon in 15 gallon container that covers with leave and flowers and they sell it for $65. YES ONLY $65, since I already bought a “bare root” Fuyu from Vista, I end up to buy a Hachiya persimmon for $65 and Mallika Mango (come with 2 tiny mangoes on the tree) for $75 from Ong's. They are a beautiful tree not bare root like the one in Vista. BTW! The mango in Vista will cost $150 for the same size that I buy at Ong’s Nursery. If you are tropical tree grower you MUST visit Ong’s Nursery. You will save yourself big money and time because Ong’s seem like they have everything in stock year round

The problem at Exotica is mis-management and pure laziness on the part of the owner. He has no list of inventory. He puts his propagation efforts into plants with no idea of demand. Most local nurseries don't know he exists. If he simply would have supplied local nurseries with an availability list he would not be in the current situation. The owner advertises the place as "organic" but the reality is that he is too cheap to care for the health of the plants. If a plant looks troubled, the owner will tell you the problem is "jet chem trails". Most of the plants are kept in shade to reduce watering costs. Upon taking a plant home you may find that it too weak for sunshine and after a while starts exhibiting symptoms of some harbored virus. Consequently anything you buy there should be treated with copper-ammonium or similar before you introduce it into your plant collection. The main worker there is Leo, who is the only reason they didn't go into chapter 12 sooner. He and his brother have single-handedly cleaned-up and re-organized the property, turning it into more of what you would expect from a nursery and less of random collection of plants with roots breaking out of the pots and into the ground. If you buy anything there, you need to ask Leo if it is really a graft of the true cultivar or just some random seedling cross-pollinated by all the closely-packed plants. More often than not it is the latter. The owner's mother is often there. She is nearly deaf and won't wear a hearing aid. Consequently, you always need to bring pencil and paper to communicate with her. Why she is on the premises in the first place escapes me. She constantly moves unmarked plants from propagation areas into the front ("so people can buy them") and now the identity of the cultivar is lost. There is also another woman or two who works there on occasion. They know where the main sections of plants are but not too much about the plants themselves.

Amazing variety of tropical plants. Very helpful staff.

Great Nursery! If you are in Southern California and want unusual or rare fruit trees, this is the place to go! It's a bit eccentric, and they seem disorganized, but they really know their stuff. Incredibly helpful and friendly staff (a bit on the "Earth Mother" side LOL). It's big. No signs to point the way once you are in the grounds. Snag a staff member, just ask where something is, and you are off...dodging humungous in-ground fruit trees, down skinny paths, ducking under low branches and keeping an eye out for the dogs and rooster. Turn a corner and there are suddenly more paths in front of you. It's crazy, its fun, and if you are into unusual edibles, it's heaven! :-) If there is fruit on any of the trees odds are they will have some out for you to taste. There was an in-ground European pear (Lincoln) that we found with amazing fruit - it was round, incredibly tasty and sweet right off the tree - we found one in a pot and brought it home. They have a greenhouse with Pitaya swarming all over the place. Most of the in-ground trees have foil bulges - air-layering in progress. As far as I can tell they start many of their plants on-site. They had some funky thorny plants here and there - turns out they are rootstock plants. They are not currently doing mail order, but they hope to be able to set it up in the future. Right now they just aren't set up for it. While I was there I talked about their web page (which is out of date) and they definitely want to sell via the internet do it, but the current staff doesn't have the skill set required for shipping out plants. With luck they can get that going so the rest of the country can have access to the amazing variety of plants they have on offer to locals. It's a 45 minute drive for me, and I drive a Prius so I can only fit a limited number of plants in my car at once - but I am going back!

I made a point to drive up to this nursery while I was in Southern California recently because of hearing about it many times. This nursery seems to have been established many years ago and the mature fruit tree plantings attest to this. I got the sense of disorganization while walking through the nursery and felt like the nursery plants suffered a bit from the shade that the surrounding trees cast on them. On the other hand those trees did provide the fruit for the wonderful fruit tasting table that they set up daily. On this day there were: sapote, pineapple guava, carob, strawberry guava, tropical guava, natal plum and many others. I intended to buy a Trask pineapple guava but quickly found out that many if not most of their plants are grown from seed. I much rather would have a true cutting grown or grafted plant. They did have a great selection of tropical fruit in general and I did end up buying a Manila Tamarind(Guamachil) which I had not seen offered anywhere else. Overall the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable and went out of their way to help with any questions.

I purchased a quality plant at a good price by dealing with this nursery by email at the following address: sdrareplantnursery@yahoo.com Ellie was very helpful and patient. They have some hard-to-find plants and do not gouge you on shipping...I was very pleased with my purchase and would buy from them again.

I ordered from exotica around May 05. Steve was very patient with helping me select the right variety of fruit trees for my climate. I received a Cherimoya, jujube, guavas, and papaya tree from him. I was surprised at the nice size of the plants especailly the cherimoya. All the plants were healthy and now that they have acclimated to my climate are all putting out new flushes of growth, the cherimoya is blooming and the jujube too. I would definately buy from Steve again. I have complete faith in Steve's nursery. Steve makes several runs to the bay area (SF/ Oakland) a year and I usually have him bring me up some plants when he does. Aside from the normal stress from transport, his plants arrive in good shape.

Exotica is a well know local nursery in the northern part of San Diego County. Their address is: 2508-B East Vista Way Vista, CA 92084 ; (760) 724-9093 ; Hours: 11:00-5:00 M-F 10:00-5:00 Sat-Sun. The last URL I have for this company is: //snow.prohosting.com/mabedar/exotica.html Don't let the modest website fool you. I have visited this nursery for the past 10 years. They have a HUGE selection of unusual edible plants suitable for a temperate climate. They also have planted most of their stock onsite, so you can see the mature plant. If the plant is fruiting, they often have samples out for tasting which is probably the best excuse to visit regularly. Five stars outta five, well worth a visit and to buy your exotic plants from!