A Visit to an Arizona Citrus Nursery

By Alexandra Pettit

Greenfield Citrus Nursery is a beautiful oasis in the desert. Located in Mesa, Arizona this 30 Acre citrus farm is full of beauty and adventure. Upon arriving at the nursery you are greeted with the sweet smells of oranges, Tangerines, Tangelos, Lemons and limes, and wonderful grapefruit. One may also be greeted by roaming peacocks and chickens, but don’t be alarmed they help keep the bugs away.

At Greenfield Citrus Nursery you have many varieties of citrus trees to choose from. Along with this you also can choose the size of the tree form small to large. The Greenfield Citrus Nursery team prides themselves on customer service and guaranteed product. Which means if you’re not pleased they will do everything they can to send you home a satisfied customer. The team will even take a special trip to your home to help you assess problems with your tree(s). For example, one customer purchased a tree from Greenfield Citrus Nursery and years later began dealing with problems, and Greenfield Citrus Nursery was willing to evaluate the problems and even replace the tree.

During my experience at Greenfield Citrus Nursery, I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting the owner that makes it all happen, John P. Babiarz. He first started in his backyard. Then in 1979, his first nursery was off Greenfield road, where he had 52 acres. Then in 1986, that property was sold and they moved to where they are now starting with just 10 acres. During this move, John explained how they moved about 10,000 trees from one location to the other, not an easy task.

 

Throughout my visit, John shared many facts and practices about his citrus nursery and even let me sample the citrus, my favorite being the honey Tangelo. I really enjoyed my visit. John and his wife, Debra are very proud of what they do and are amazing at it too, and by the way, they are Arizona Farm Bureau members.

Editor’s Note:

While on my trip I learned that John has a passion for all things history. Mainly fossils and Sabretooth Cats. He has published a couple of books on Sabretooth Cats. He has also been featured in National Geographic and in several BBC and Discovery Channel movies.

 

Looking for more articles like this check out the Fill Your Plate Blog. Looking for some yummy citrus filled recipes? Check out our Recipe Section.

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