August 21, 2015
CapitalPress.com
13
Nursery does it all,
including soccer fields
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
BOISE — Cloverdale Nurs-
ery’s original owner, Hans Bor-
bonus, changed the landscape
around Boise.
He was born in Germany and
worked in the nursery trade there.
“He came to the U.S. in
1958,” says Beni Cook, one
of the current owners. “When
Hans arrived, he did residential
landscaping. Back then, every-
thing was very basic; people
just put in trees and junipers and
nothing fancy.”
Borbonus added his artistic
flair, with stones and more elab-
orate landscaping — like he’d
been doing in Germany.
“He is 80 years old now but
still has an eye for pleasing de-
signs and still keeps in touch
with the nursery,” Cook says.
When Borbonus started
Cloverdale Nursery it was just
a small place, headquarters to
do landscaping for clients, with
bushes to sell. It has grown into
one of the largest wholesale and
retail nurseries in Idaho.
“Our main emphasis is sup-
plying wholesale customers
who have landscaping business-
es. We have a 1,000-acre sod
farm and sell sod, bulk prod-
ucts, topsoil, bark materials and
crushed lava rock for bed cover-
ings,” she says.
The garden mix and planting
mix are big sellers in the spring,
she says. Planting mix consists
of compost, peat moss and a
time-release fertilizer.
“We educate people about
adding something to soil so it
doesn’t compact around the roots,
creating a better environment for
plants to grow in,” she says.
“We used to do landscape
construction but our main em-
phasis now is landscape sup-
plies, whatever a landscaper
would need,” she says.
The nursery has a wide vari-
ety of trees and shrubs that are
winter-hardy.
Courtesy of Cloverdale Nursery
When Cloverdale Nursery started near Boise it was just a small
place with a landscaping business. It has grown into one of the
largest wholesale and retail nurseries in Idaho.
Cloverdale
Nursery
Location: Boise
In business: Since 1964
Website: www.cloverdale-
nursery.com
“We have such a variable
climate here; 9 out of 10 people
can grow less hardy varieties,
but last winter reminded ev-
eryone what you can and can’t
grow easily in this region,” she
says. “We have a knowledge-
able and helpful staff and carry
a large amount of a variety of
plants so people have a big sup-
ply to pick from.”
The trees and shrubs are
grown on the sod farm south of
Boise, near Kuna.
“It’s a big market, however
and we do ship in some of the
plants we sell. Many trees and
shrubs grow faster in Oregon,
where there is more rainfall,”
says Cook.
Some plants are grown in 1-
to 15-gallon containers.
“Trees are usually balled and
burlapped, up to 3-inch caliper
trees,” she says.
A one-inch caliper tree
would be about 8 feet tall while
a 3-inch caliper tree might be 14
to 18 feet tall, depending on the
type.
“We carry the whole scope
of what people need for land-
scaping,” she says.
During the busy times of
the year, Cloverdale Nursery
employs up to 75 people at the
nursery and turf farm.
A special project Cloverdale
has been working on is a soccer
field on top of the Boise State
University stadium’s artificial
turf football field.
“We are doing the sod for the
Basque soccer game here this
summer. A professional team
from Spain will play a profes-
sional team from Mexico. The
sod has been growing for over
a year. For a soccer field they
want a very tight, short grass so
it’s very smooth,” Cook says.
“The sod will be harvested
a week before the event and
moved to the site — to cover
the blue turf at Boise State. They
will put down plastic and put
the sod on top of that, and keep
it watered and mowed until the
game. It has 3 inches of dirt
attached to it, so it can’t move
around. After the game is over,
they will roll it back up and take
it out,” she says.
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