Home & Garden Columns

O’Donnell’s Fairfax Nursery is an old favorite of mine, though I pass it maybe 20 times for every time I go in to visit. It’s right on one of our two usual routes to Point Reyes, though over the last five years or so it’s the route we take coming back and they’re often closed by that hour. Besides, on the way out we’re generally in a big fat hurry to go see some birds; on the way back, we’re tired and grouchy and unfit for civilized company.  

It’s worth a left turn on Sir Frances Drake when we time it right, though. The nursery’s in a sort of winter lull this month but there’s still temptation there. Here’s the deal: Paul O’Donnell is a devout (and practicing) restorationist, and he grows California native plants for that purpose and Just Because, and he grows them organically. He’s one of very few people who do that. 

O’Donnell uses a down-to-earth method to test for deer resistance, too: the fence around most of the nursery isn’t tall enough to keep deer out. “I decided to keep just that four-foot fence by the sidewalk. Deer hop it every night. So when people ask, ‘What’s a California native that deer won’t destroy, maybe just take a little nibble?’ I say, ‘Take a look! The deer are not prohibited from this property; they meander through here all the time.’ So yeah, I do have a sort of deer laboratory right here.” He points out that native deer have a symbiotic relationship with even deer-resistant native plants: “Stop fighting it!” 

Joe and I can attest to the presence of deer in downtown Fairfax. Some years ago, driving back at about 8:30 at night from the Point Reyes Christmas Bird Count, I saw a big brown nose and big brown knees on the right and then, Oomph! Something thumped into the passenger-side door of the pickup.  

Joe had dozed off in the passenger seat and came awake with an exclamation. I pulled over at the first parking space … Yes, parking space. It was only in literal hindsight that I realized the nose and knees belonged not to a dog as I’d supposed but to a four-point buck who’d come across a street and a parking lot and out from between parked cars to leave a couple of impressive dents in the truck’s right door.  

What I saw in the mirror was the deer bouncing up from his knees, glaring indignantly at us, and bounding off between buildings, evidently unhurt except maybe for skinned knees. He didn’t even seem panicked, just annoyed.  

O’Donnell has fruit trees (citrus, pears including Seckel, apples, figs the day we dropped in last week) and veggies, herbs, and the like in a corner with higher fencing, along with seed for natives, edibles, and erosion-control/bank-stabilizing plants. Organic-worthy amendments and bug traps and a tool or ten, too.  

Stop in any time you’re going out to play on the Point, or make it an excuse for a field trip.  

Just watch out for impulsive deer. 

O’Donnell’s Fairfax Nursery 

1700 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.,Fairfax. 

(415) 453-0372. 

Winter hours: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. weekdays; 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. weekends. 

“If there’s a three-hour downpour, we just close up and go home. Call first!” 

Spring and summer: 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. daily.