Locally Grown Plants for
Food, Medicine, beauty & Habitat
Harvests & Habitats is a small plant nursery in Chico, California growing edible, medicinal, native, and functional plants selected with our local climate in mind.
Yes, We’re Tucked Away. Here’s How to Find Us.
Harvests & Habitats is located at 1710 Park Ave in Chico, in the same shared space as 1078 Gallery and Equilateral Coffee, and at the corner of W. 17th St. & Park Ave.
Because the storefront can be easy to miss, look for the signs leading you to the entrance on 17th St behind the building. We are open Thursday through Sunday from 10a – 3p, with some modifications depending on weather and staffing.
You can also find us at the Saturday Farmers’ Market in Chico 7a - 1p or our stand at Chico Natural Foods, 818 Main St during their longer open hours, where we bring a seasonal selection of our offerings.
A Small Nursery With a Lot Growing On
A Small Nursery With a Lot Growing On
We grow plants that do more than decorate. Our selection focuses on edible, medicinal, native, and functional plants for local gardens, food forests, pollinator & beneficial insects, and curious growers.
Edible Plants
Vegetable starts, herbs, fruiting plants, and edible landscape options for people who want their gardens to feed them. Summer veggie starts like tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini are customer favorites, but we also like keeping unusual and culturally specific food plants available when we can — plants that may feel like home to one gardener and encourage another to push their palate.
Medicinal Herbs
Medicinal and traditional herbs for gardeners who want useful plants close to home. We keep this guidance grounded and practical.
Native & Habitat Plants
Native plants, native cultivars, and pollinator-supporting plants for gardens that support more habitat, resilience, and ecological function in their yards.
Functional Plants
Plants for dye, soil and compost building, art, fruit tree guilds, pollinators, beneficials beauty, and garden experimentation.
This is also where you may find a few garden curiosities — useful oddballs, conversation starters, and plants that invite closer looking, playful experimenting, or a good garden story.
bring your plant list, your questions, or your “I’m not sure where to start” energy.
We’ll help you choose plants that fit your space, your goals, and the season you’re actually growing in.
Plants for All Kinds of Growers
Harvests & Habitats believes food, medicine, habitat, and garden knowledge should be within reach for all kinds of growers — people with tidy yards and messy experiments, big budgets and tight ones, years of experience and no idea where to start.
We support local access through community partnerships, school garden support, seed swaps, plant donations, and edible plant access programs.
Edible plants may be available through EBT-accessible options at Chico Natural Foods and the Chico Farmer’s Market.
Ask us what access options are current, what is in season, and what might fit your garden or community project.
EBT Accessible Options
Why Locally Grown Matters
Plants Grown Here Have Already Met This Place
A lot of nursery plants are grown in controlled environments, shipped in from somewhere else, and expected to adjust fast. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they sulk, struggle, or quit entirely.
At Harvests & Habitats, about 98% of our plants are grown by us locally rather than sourced from large commercial greenhouses. That means they have already had some experience with our heat, our timing, our soil realities, and the general uniqueness of gardening in this area.
That does not mean every plant is fail-proof. Gardening is still under the sway of nature’s whims. Our area and even our yards have their own microclimates, and every season teaches something. Starting with locally grown, seasonally appropriate plants gives you a better place to begin.
Meet Sherri
Sherri is the owner and principal grower behind Harvests & Habitats Nursery. Her work grows out of years of gardening, horticulture study, seed sharing, school garden teaching, and community growing projects around Chico.
She started Harvests & Habitats to help more people find plants that make sense for this place: edible plants, medicinal herbs, native plants, and useful oddballs that can feed people, support habitat, honor plant traditions, or simply make a garden more interesting.
Her approach is practical, honest, and experimental in the best garden sense. Not every plant belongs in every yard, and not every gardener needs the same starting point. Sherri helps customers choose plants with their actual space, confidence level, and local growing conditions in mind.
Rooted in Local Growing, Teaching, and Seed Sharing
Harvests & Habitats grew out of years of gardening, horticulture study, school garden teaching, seed sharing, community growing work, and a deep curiosity about what plants can do.
Sherri has spent years helping people learn through plants, including:
- Around 12 years selling at the farmer’s market
- Around 17 years hosting seed swaps
- Horticulture education through City College of San Francisco
- Experience as a school garden teacher
- Work with community gardens, nonprofits, and food programs
- Workshops on gardening, medicine-making, food preservation, herbs, native plants, and seed saving
- Speaking engagements with garden clubs, Master Gardeners, and a TEDx salon
- Certificate in Permaculture Design
- Ongoing learning in native plant landscaping and local plant adaptation
"Our goal is simple: send you home with good plants and a little more confidence than you came in with."
~ Sherri
For New Gardeners, Plant Nerds, & Everyone in between
Find Plants That Make Sense for Chico-Area Gardens
If you have bought plants that looked great on a shelf and then struggled at home, you are not alone. We grow and choose plants with local conditions in mind, so you can shop with a little more confidence and a little less guesswork.
Grow Something Useful & beautiful
Food plants, medicinal herbs, native plants, and pollinator plants can still be beautiful. Your garden does not have to choose between function and charm. It can feed you, support habitat, offer color, and teach you something.
Try Something New Without Feeling Lost
We like the tried-and-true plants, and we also like the oddballs. If you are building a food forest, looking for a hard-to-find herb, experimenting with native plants, or trying to turn a black thumb greener, we can help you start where you are.
What Local Gardeners Are Saying
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Carrie
★★★★★
“Sheri is simply the best!!! Such excellent variety and knowledge”
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Eboni
★★★★★
“A great place with knowledgeable and friendly staff”
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Miranda
★★★★★
“Harvests & Habitats is my go to place for gardening and landscaping needs. Produce plants here are bred to tolerate our California climate and hot Chico Summers.”
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Katrina
★★★★★
“Harvests & Habitats is my go-to for low-water California native plants and veggie starts. Feeding my family and keeping the bees happy with a lotta help from my friends.”
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ben
★★★★★
“Great selection of perennial herbs”
Want to Grow Something Together?
Want to Grow Something Together?
Have an idea for a workshop, school project, seed swap, plant discussion, education event, or community growing project? Tell us a little about what you’re working on.
Harvests & Habitats sometimes collaborates with schools, community groups, gardeners, educators, plant people, and local organizations on projects connected to food, herbs, native plants, habitat, seed saving, school gardens, and practical garden learning.
Sherri reviews collaboration inquiries as time and nursery seasons allow. If there’s a good fit, she’d be glad to talk more and see what might grow from there.
Click below to fill out the form and start the conversation.
Pollinators & beneficial insects
(Just a few of our favorites.)
Common Buckeye Butterfly - Junonia coenia
Common Buckeye Caterpillar - Junonia coenia
Bold Jumping Spider - Phidippus audax
Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly - Battus philenor
Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar - Battus philenor
Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly - Battus philenor
Polyphemus moth - Antheraea polyphemus
California Red Jumping Spider - Phidippus adumbratus
Soldier Beetle - Podabrus pruinosus
Questions before You Visit?
Because nursery days can be hands-on, the best contact method is written communication rather than relying on a phone call. Send your question, plant list, or general idea, and we will get back to you when we can.
Visit the Nursery
Come in with a list, a question, a garden plan, a half-formed idea, or a plant you have been trying to track down. We may not have everything, but we usually have more growing in this small space than people expect.
Find Plants That Fit Your Garden
Every garden has its own mix of sun, soil, timing, taste, curiosity, and wild little surprises. The right plants are the ones that make sense for your space, your goals, and the season you are growing in.
Harvests & Habitats is here for vegetable growers, food forest dreamers, native plant enthusiasts, cooks, medicine makers, pollinator supporters, curious beginners, and anyone who wants their garden to feel more connected to food, habitat, beauty, culture, and place.
Come see what’s growing.
Frequently Asked Questions
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We are at 1710 Park Ave in Chico, sharing space with 1078 Gallery and Equilateral Coffee. The storefront can be a little tucked away, so look for the nursery setup and plant signs when you arrive.
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Current nursery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 10–3, with some flexibility depending on weather and staffing.
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Yes. About 98% of our plants are grown by us locally, rather than sourced from large commercial greenhouses.
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We focus on edible, medicinal, native, and functional plants, including vegetable starts, herbs, native plants, pollinator plants, dye plants, gourds, food forest plants, and other useful varieties.
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Yes, seasonally. Harvests & Habitats has offered workshops and community education around gardening, seed saving, medicine-making, food preservation, herbs, native plants, and related topics. Interested in collaborating? Fill out the form and let’s talk about it.
