Serving Larchmont Village, Hancock Park, and the Greater Wilshire neighborhoods of Los Angeles since 2011.

Two Dog Nursery Closing after 13 Years

Jo Anne and Alejandro “Alex” Trigo, owners and founders of Two Dog Nursery, are closing down after 13 years. Monday is the last day of their final pop up sale.

 

More than a million seedlings and thirteen years later, Two Dog Nursery, a home-based business that started as a whim, is now closing. Owners and founders Jo Anne and Alex Trigo decided it was time to take a break and are winding down the business, selling their inventory over the next few weeks. Today is the last day of their Fall Open House, which started on Friday.

We stopped by on Saturday to visit and say thanks for all the wonderful plants we’ve enjoyed in our garden over the years. We also picked up some herbs and lettuces to plant, along with soil and compost. It’s a good time to shop if you need something, since everything is on sale.

While much has been sold, the following seedlings are still available:

Broccoli
Broccolini
Goodman & Cheddar Cauliflower
3 types of Kale
Artichokes
Beets
Herbs
Violas, Lavender & Scented Geraniums
Fruit trees:
Dragonfruit
Fuji Apples
Eureka Lemon
Meyer Lemon
Nagami Kumquat
Passionfruit
Black Mission & Panache Fig (only 1 each)

Plus organic soils, compost, worm castings, fertilizers, and pest control products are still available, and still 25% off.

Jo Anne told us they hope to sell everything tomorrow, but if not, “we’ll keep selling curbside. Tomorrow’s the last day of the Open House (cookies & lemonade included!).”

Jo Anne and Alex have been working together since they married 34 years ago, first in their design business, La Paloma Design, and then when Jo Anne enthusiastically embraced container gardening after her two rescue dogs destroyed their backyard garden.  The dogs inspired the name, and before she knew it, Jo Anne, who admits to having unlimited energy, was filling up table after table (made by Alex, an amazing craftsman) with organic seedlings, obtaining her Nursery License, joining the Organics Program of the State of California, having Agriculture Department Inspections (yes, the business is completely legal), and selling at local Farmers Markets. About six years ago, they dropped the markets and began selling exclusively at their Miracle Mile home, which is usually filled to brim with seedlings in various stages of preparation.

“Feeding living things is constant,” explained Jo Anne. “We have 36 flats under lights so we can grow the seedlings, then we have plants outside that we are feeding and watering. We are constantly planting and moving seedlings, all day everyday.” And that doesn’t even include young trees and roses (yes, she even has roses).

Jo Anne makes it look easy though. Everything is beautifully laid out for her sales, so shoppers have no idea how those seedlings get from a single seed to a healthy seedling nice filling out a four inch pot. And, she’s always planning for the next season, since we can garden year-round in Southern California.

 

Jo Anne Trigo explains her elaborate schedule for planning for each season.

 

But now that she’s decided to take a break, Jo Anne is deeply appreciative of all the support that she’s freceived from friends, volunteers, staff members and the neighborhood, where so many of her customers live. She’s raised more than seedlings too.  Jo Anne is proud to say that one of her staff members is now a gardener at the Virginia Robinson Gardens and another, Ryland Griggs, who is largely responsible for the raised beds in Trigo’s front yard, has recently started his own small business caring for vegetable gardens in raised beds.

 

Ryland Griggs has been tending the front garden at the Two Dog Nursery using Earth Boxes, a planting system that Trigo found after her two rescue dogs destroyed her backyard garden and inspired her to start her organic nursery.

 

“It’s been super rewarding to see our staff blossom into great gardeners,” said Jo Anne. “It’s such  a great life skill to be able to raise your own food and know that you can feed yourself if you need to.”

So what’s next for Jo Anne and Alex? First some time off to travel and rest, and then maybe they will do some small seasonal pop up sales, which are way more manageable for the Trigos. She’s even open to the idea of expanding and starting a full-on nursery, but only if it someone will donate the space, which has to be local. Moving the business out of their house would allow the Trigos to take a break from the constant tending, she explained.

“Everything that we put into this business has been such a labor of love, and I’m so thankful for the neighborhood and everyone who supported us over the years,” said Jo Anne.

She promised to keep us posted on her plans.

 

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Patricia Lombard
Patricia Lombard
Patricia Lombard is the publisher of the Larchmont Buzz. Patty lives with her family in Fremont Place. She has been active in neighborhood issues since moving here in 1989. Her pictorial history, "Larchmont" for Arcadia Press is available at Chevalier's Books.

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