Prickett’s buys Healdsburg Nursery

Healdsburg Nursery has been sold to Prickett’s, the iconic Santa Rosa nursery that has been in business for nearly 70 years.

Owner Michael Skurtun confirmed the sale of his property on Wednesday.

Prickett’s announced in December that it was closing its 5.25-acre Rincon Valley garden center and moving to a much smaller parcel at the Valley of the Moon Plaza, at Melita Road and Highway 12, just outside the Santa Rosa city limits.

The Healdsburg parcel, a little over an acre, includes a small retail store, and both shaded and sunny sites for plants. It will house some of Prickett’s larger products.

Harry Prickett opened the original store in 1945 at the corner of Calistoga Road and Highway 12. Current owners are his granddaughter Denise Prickett Baxter and two co-workers, Deanna Tubbs and David Kinney. The family intends to develop that property into a retail shopping center, pending approval by the city.

Skurtun, 63, says he’s elated to sell his parcel to another nursery.

He bought the empty lot at 12950 Old Redwood Highway in 1991 after discovering that he couldn’t afford to purchase an existing nursery. He and several buddies with building experience built the property from the ground up.

Skurtun moved to Sonoma County from Concord in 1972. He got his landscaping license in 1974, but later found himself assailed with physical infirmities. After three knee surgeries and with back and ankle problems, he saw the move to a retail nursery business as a perfect segue.

He got his gardening sensibilities from his mother, a longtime gardener who took her son to nurseries throughout the East Bay. When he found himself three college units shy of maintaining his student deferment from the draft, Skurtun signed up for a class in ornamental horticulture at Diablo Valley College. He enjoyed the class so much, he went on to get his bachelor’s degree in horticulture from City College in San Francisco.

Three generations of Skurtuns have worked at Healdsburg Nursery, including son Burt, who started when he was 10, and granddaughters Sierra and Kayleigh. After 23 years, though, Skurtun said he is ready to retire.

“It’s time for smooth whiskey and fine cigars, and fishing, camping and kayaking with my granddaughters.”

Gary Forsman, the nursery’s original manager, is semiretired, and the other two 20-year employees, Brian Colombia and Chate Cisneros also plan to retire.

A few people will be left without jobs, including current manager Scott East, because Prickett’s has its own complement of employees to staff the location.

Even so, said Skurtun, “There’s a satisfaction in getting to know people and watching their children grow up. It’s fulfilling to see the plants you recommended grow and fill the areas where they were planted.”

He admits to waxing nostalgic as the store shelves empty. Prickett’s has its own inventory to bring in, so everything at Healdsburg Nursery will be 50 percent off through Friday, Feb. 13, the day Skurtun will turn over the keys.

“When I was a child, my mother told me to plant trees for posterity, and that’s what I did,” he said. “I like knowing that, in a modest way, I have been a contributor to the landscape of the county.

Contact Healdsburg Towns Correspondent Ann Carranza at Healdsburg.Towns@gmail.com.