Civano Nursery is a family owned and operated business. We have enjoyed making yards into gardens in Tucson since 1997. Les Shipley has been a horticulturist all of his life. Les and Doris moved their family from Victoria, British Columbia to Tucson in 1997 to venture into desert revegetation as Arborist to the Civano Development, a sustainable housing development on the Southeast side of Tucson. Les, with each of his three sons and his daughter-in-law, operate different divisions of the company.
Tree Salvage
Chris Shipley heads up Tree Salvage. In this division, we focus on saving native species (such as, Mesquites, Palo Verdes, and Ironwoods), from being bladed in the face of development. These employees work long hours in the hot desert heat sculpturing the root balls by hand prior to removalp>
Sahuarita Farm
Nick and Alex Shipley are responsible for the operations of our 70-acre containerized nursery. Nick, as farm manager, along with the assistance of our Grower John Koster and Tree Specialist Ralph Sivley are responsible for the activities in producing our premium containerized plants. Alex is the Wholesale Manager, assisted by Sales Manager Kirk Blondeaux. Service, quality and price are their mission.
In our effort to provide our customers with a consistent source of quality grown, native and non-native drought-tolerant plants, in 2002, we started to plan and build our Sahuarita Nursery on a 70-acre parcel of agricultural land. We use the latest technology to grow our plants. In order to conserve water, we monitor and record the caliper stem growth of our trees and shrubs on a 24-hour basis. Thus ensuring that we use the minimum amount of water to provide a healthy plant for maximum growth. We produce over 2 million new plants a year by seed or cutting in our climate controlled fog house. We grow a full array of annuals, perennials and trees for our Garden Center and Landscape customers.
Garden Center and Landscape Design & Consulting
In 1999, we opened our Garden Center on Houghton Road to the public. Mel Shipley is the General Manager of the Garden Center and Administrative Offices with the assistance of Susi Kort who runs the day-to-day operations. Eric Clark, Professional Horticulturist and designer, heads up our Residential Design Center. Together, with the help of our Inventory Specialists, Susan Renaud and Juli Runyon, we strive to provide a family atmosphere that enlightens, inspires, and ultimately guides you to the garden of your dreams.
What makes Civano Nursery great is our employees who know that the most important thing is ‘you’ the customer. So embrace the desert and decorate that outdoor room we like to call the garden. – The Shipley Family
