Santa Rosa’s Imwalle Gardens a ‘farm in the middle of the city’

Joe Imwalle III doesn’t spend a dime on advertising, yet his business has steadily grown and drawn new customers for generations. His old-time produce market doesn’t go unnoticed along busy West Third Street in Santa Rosa, where Imwalle Gardens has been a fixture for more than 120 years.

Located less than a mile from historic Railroad Square, Imwalle Gardens has served the community since the days when travelers arrived at the bustling train station in high button shoes and top hats.

“Basically we’re a farm in the middle of the city,” Imwalle said. “I’m a holdout.”

Although housing developments have sprung up around the area, Imwalle Gardens recalls earlier days and a hopeful opportunity for German immigrant and horticulturist Joseph Imwalle, who founded his namesake gardens in 1886 and made deliveries via horse and buggy - an old-style truck garden.

He started out on property on Mark West Road, before moving to today’s Imwalle Gardens. His grandson now runs the business, with help from family members. Joe Imwalle, 79, has no intention of slowing down. He puts in long hours, processes restaurant orders from his dining room table at night during commercial breaks while watching TV, then gets up every morning to begin the same satisfying routine.

“I’m working more now than I did 10 years ago. I’ve done well in the farming business and could have retired a long time ago,” Imwalle said. “But I love my job. I’d probably die if I quit.”

He’s always worked the land - picking plums that were dried to make prunes as a boy - but joined the business full-time at age 23, following his father’s death. He’d been studying at Fresno State at the time and was in the Marine Corps Reserves. For a time he partnered with his uncle, but eventually operations were split and family members sold their shares of the property.

Tawny Tesconi, executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, said that while Sonoma County is home to many multi-generation family farms, “it’s very unique” to find a farm like Imwalle Gardens in an urban location. “It’s really a gift to our community. I think it’s a jewel,” she said.

She credits Joe Imwalle and his family for continuing the work started so long ago. “He’s obviously very passionate and loves the tradition of what his family has done for decades,” Tesconi said. “The fact they’ve held on speaks so highly of them.”

Imwalle follows the same farming practices of his father and grandfather: “We fertilize and plant and we don’t spray,” he said. Some crops, like onions, are planted by the moon to prevent early seeding.

Imwalle has made a rewarding career at the family homestead. He loves farming and visiting with customers, some of them second- and third-generation. Rather than budget for advertising, he relies on word-of-mouth recommendations to direct customers to Imwalle Gardens, where produce is displayed in crate boxes and bushel baskets within a former carriage house converted into a farmstand store.

Passersby, too, can’t overlook the picturesque location. With towering palm trees, a 100-year-old cupola-topped barn constructed of virgin redwood, and open farmland adjacent to Santa Rosa Creek, the 17-acre property is a snapshot of the past.

“We’re still the ’50s here, still an old-fashioned business,” Imwalle said. “And we try to keep our prices reasonable. I don’t mark it up too much.”

There are about 10 grocery stores within a mile of Imwalle Gardens, yet customers still pull in for produce grown on-site, sourced from local farmers, or from the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market and two suppliers in Sacramento.

“We’re different,” Imwalle said. “I guess (customers) just want to see old-time Santa Rosa. We’re a friendly atmosphere and people like our place. We’re not a box store.”

Imwalle and his wife of nearly 52 years, Maria, built a home and raised their children on the property: Joseph, Charles, Paul and Angela. Charles, 50, works full-time at the family business, with his siblings putting in part-time hours. Twelve-year-old Kevin Imwalle Hatch, the oldest of the four Imwalle grandchildren (the farm’s upcoming fifth generation), also likes helping out and is especially knowledgeable and capable, his grandfather said.

In all, a staff of up to 15 full- and part-time workers (including seasonal employees) contributes to the success of the business. The farm claims at least one romance: a long-ago farmstand cashier married one of her customers.

Imwalle Gardens cultivates 12 acres for produce, vegetable starts and bedding plants, with several greenhouses and raised beds dotting the landscape. During the summer months, about half the produce offered is grown on the property.

Maria Imwalle handles the bookkeeping, which includes about 100 wholesale accounts. Imwalle Gardens supplies produce to pizzerias, delicatessens, at least one school district, and restaurants specializing in everything from French, Chinese, Thai, Mexican and American food to old-school Italian; Occidental’s Union Hotel is among the oldest accounts.

Various artists have captured the beauty and charm of Imwalle Gardens on canvas. Several framed paintings and drawings are on display inside Joe and Maria Imwalle’s home, which faces the nearby barn and store.

Visitors won’t see the old railroad car housed within the barn that stores fruit and mushrooms at ideal temperatures. They will, however, catch a glimpse of a vintage, turquoise Plymouth salesman’s coupe facing out from a carport. The two-seater was owned by longtime employee Mike Rossi, who worked for Imwalle and his father and grandfather.

The coupe adds to the farm’s authenticity. For customer David Turner of Santa Rosa, who was buying produce on a recent misty afternoon, there’s a certain appeal shopping at a historic place like Imwalle Gardens.

“I look at the sign up there (on the barn) that says ‘Since 1886’ and that means something,” he said. “It’s a traditional, real farmstand market.”

And, Turner said, “Buying local is always better.”

Imwalle and his family appreciate new customers like Turner, who has shopped at the farmstand for the past few years, as well as those who’ve been coming for decades. Some shoppers headed to the farmstand with their parents or grandparents and now come with their own children.

“We have really nice customers as a whole,” Imwalle said. Some who’ve moved away from Sonoma County make it a point to stop by when returning for a visit. “They come back and come to see us.”

Imwalle has noticed several food trends over the years. Currently, green-leaf lettuce has gotten popular, and shoppers are buying more yellow corn than the white variety.

Items like kale and cilantro that often go into today’s grocery baskets were once unknowns. “Fifteen years ago you couldn’t sell kale. Kale is probably a bestseller now. The doctors on TV are pushing kale,” Imwalle said. “And 50 years ago we didn’t even know what cilantro was.” Today the popular herb is used in numerous dishes, including many ethnic specialties.

Another trend is rather amusing to the longtime farmer and businessman. Many customers arrive in Priuses. “We have a tremendous amount of Priuses. They’re either Hondas or Priuses.” It’s a far cry from the horse-and-buggy and railroad days of his grandfather’s era, but Imwalle Gardens has been around long enough to see the evolution of hybrid cars and Japanese imports.

One thing hasn’t changed. The long-tended family property is still “my little oasis,” Imwalle said. “It’s my home.”