Gatanaga Nursery

Kay Gatanaga
22790 Fuji Lane
Del Monte, CA
831-422-4474

Markets: Monterey, Del Monte, and Carmel

Products: A large variety of cut flowers, specializing in roses, alstromeiria, and colored calla lilies.

History/Philosophy: The Gatanaga family has been growing and selling cut flowers conventionally in the Del Monte Valley for over 35 years. Today, Kay and her brother Robert run the business with help from their retired father, Kenny who founded the business. Kay is the friendly face who will greet you at the market, and Robert grows the 15 or so varieties of decorative flowers on 10 acres in Del Monte. Most of the flowers are grown in greenhouses. Some hardy types that thrive in the Del Monte Valley sun are grown outside.

Kenny Gatanaga moved from Japan to what is now Silicon Valley in the 1960s with his wife. There he met other Japanese immigrants from an area near his hometown that were also interested in gardening. They worked together to help each other buy land and started growing flowers. In the 1970’s the Gatanaga family moved to their current location in Del Monte and opened their nursery, which is open to the public. Kay and Robert started helping their parent with the flower business as children, performing simple chores like weeding. Kay enjoys the interaction with customers and meeting new people. Her most popular seller is roses.

Some interesting fact about fresh cut flowers in California, provided by the California Cut Flower Commission:

About 73% of all domestically grown, commercially sold, cut flowers are grown in California because of the favorable climate that allows for year-round production.
About 5,000 acres in California are devoted to growing fresh cut flowers.
It is estimated that California supplied more than 173 million stems of roses in 2006!
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