Looking to plant the common Hass variety of avocado in your yard? Looking for the less common Reed? Searching for where to buy a rarely grown avocado variety like Nabal, GEM, or Jan Boyce?
Let me try to connect you with the grower or seller of the avocado variety of your choice.
Where to buy common avocado varieties
Most retail nurseries throughout California don’t grow the avocado trees that they sell. Rather, they get their avocado trees from wholesale growers, especially La Verne Nursery in Ventura County and Durling Nursery in San Diego County. Between these two, about a dozen avocado varieties are made available to hundreds of retail outlets: Bacon, Fuerte, Hass, Holiday, Jim Bacon, Lamb Hass, Mexicola, Mexicola Grande, Pinkerton, Reed, Sharwil (recently available from La Verne), Stewart (also sometimes spelled Stuart), Wertz (also sometimes called Wurtz, Little Cado, and Hybrid Dwarf), and Zutano.
So if you want to buy one of these varieties you have many choices in retail outlets. Here a few of the larger outlets that sell Durling or La Verne avocado trees and have multiple locations. Maybe you already know one of these near you. (Click on the name to find the nearest store.)
Another way of locating a retail outlet through which to buy a La Verne-grown avocado tree is through their website. Click here to go to La Verne’s store locator webpage if you don’t have one of the above mentioned stores near you. You’ll likely find a smaller, independent nursery near you who sells La Verne avocado trees.
For example, in San Diego County, we have the independent Walter Andersen Nursery with two locations. One is down near Point Loma and the other is up in Poway. They usually have a good selection of avocado trees on hand, coming mostly from La Verne and Durling.
By the way, if your local nursery doesn’t have one of the above avocado varieties in stock at any one time, they can almost certainly request it from the wholesale grower (Durling or La Verne or elsewhere) and get it for you within a couple months — sometimes longer. Just ask.
Over the years, I have bought avocado trees from all of the outlets mentioned above, and I can vouch for their quality generally.
This Hass avocado tree was grown by La Verne Nursery and bought at Walter Andersen Nursery in Poway in 2013.
In Orange County, a good source of avocado trees is Laguna Hills Nursery. Their trees come mostly from a wholesale grower called Brokaw. Depending on the time of year, Laguna Hills will have different size trees available and many varieties, such as Hass, Lamb, Reed, Holiday, and Carmen.
Maddock Nursery in Fallbrook is one final place that I’ll mention where you can find the most common varieties. The distinction of Maddock is that they grow their own trees. They have been doing so forever and they do it very well.
Where to buy uncommon avocado varieties
To find uncommon varieties of avocado trees for sale you must visit smaller, sometimes peculiar, places.
In the avocado epicenter of Fallbrook, you find Atkins Nursery. Established by Oliver Atkins, who long served as the chairman of the California Avocado Society’s Variety Committee, the nursery is now owned and run by Victor Gonzales, but propagating rare avocado varieties continues. They are truly one of a kind, offering varieties found at almost no other retail nursery, varieties such as Queen, Sharwil, Nabal, Gwen, Nimlioh, Ardith, and on and on.
The huge fruit of the Queen avocado variety.
This Sharwil avocado tree was bought at Atkins Nursery. The pomegranate juice on my son’s shirt was not.
Atkins doesn’t have a website, but they do have a Facebook page. The nursery’s address: 3129 Reche Rd, Fallbrook, CA 92028. Their phone number: (760) 728-1610.
Not far from Atkins in Fallbrook is Subtropica Nurseries. This is an operation that supplies farmers with orders of thousands of trees but also sells to home gardeners, and here you can buy avocado varieties that aren’t widely available, such as GEM, Gwen, Pinkerton, SirPrize, Sharwil, Hellen, and Carmen.
You can pick up some fresh vegetables and avocado fruit when you pick up your avocado tree from Subtropica.
From Subtropica, you can also buy avocado trees on clonal rootstocks. These are specially propagated rootstocks that have demonstrated tolerance to problems that commonly affect avocados, such as salinity and root rot.
Beautiful roots on this Carmen that I bought from Subtropica Nurseries.
If you’d like to buy a tree from Subtropica, the manager, Eli Hofshi, asks that home gardeners first contact him through the website (linked above and here again), letting him know which variety you’re interested in so he can locate it and move it over to Eli’s Farm Stand across the street for payment and pick up. The nursery itself is not open to the public.
One other place where you can buy rare avocado varieties only pops up once a year, in April (a good time to plant a new avocado tree). The great people of the California Rare Fruit Growers Orange County chapter have a booth at the Green Scene at the Fullerton Arboretum where they sell small avocado trees they have propagated themselves.
CRFG booth at Green Scene, 2018.
There you might be able to talk to the very person who grew the tree you want to buy.
Varieties I’ve seen available at Green Scene and almost nowhere else include: Herd, Daily 11, Kahalu’u, Choquette, Jan Boyce, Esther, Linda, and Shindler.
Buying avocado trees online
If you live outside of Southern California or don’t have a good retail nursery nearby, consider buying an avocado tree online to be shipped to your front door. The only such vendor that I have used and that I can recommend is Four Winds Growers.
Four Winds is located in Northern California but they purchase the young avocado trees that they’ll eventually sell to you from Brokaw Nursery — the same Brokaw whose trees are sold at Laguna Hills Nursery in Orange County. Four Winds offers more than a dozen, excellent avocado varieties for sale through their website (linked above), and they even carry some hard-to-find varieties such as Carmen, Sir-Prize, and Gwen.
One small note: Don’t be misled by the photos of avocado fruit on the Four Winds website as — at the time of this update (October 2019) — some are not those of the variety name listed below them. For example, a photo of Hass fruit is shown above the Stewart variety name.
I hope this post’s information connects you to someone who has grown the avocado tree that you want to plant in your yard. Once you have your tree, have a look at my posts about planting and watering new avocado trees.
(Unsure of which avocado variety is best for you? See my post, “What’s the best kind of avocado to grow?”)
You might also like to read my posts:
Should you buy a big or small avocado tree?
I'm Greg. My goal is to help others grow some food at home, with a focus on vegetables and fruits -- especially avocados -- in Southern California. I write a new "Yard Post" every Friday. 
I just bought a 24 ” pot lamb hass and also wurtz n both, have fruits already can I leave them in their pot?
Hi Lorna,
Can you leave the trees in their pots? Sure. But they’ll be easier to care for and grow and produce faster in the ground.
Can you leave the fruit on the trees? Sure. Avocado trees usually regulate themselves well and won’t hold more fruit than they can handle, especially if staked up.
Do you have a Jan Boyce in your collection?
Hi Ryan,
I do have a Jan Boyce, but it’s young and has yet to fruit.
Hello Greg,
Where can I buy GEM avocado tree in Los Angeles. Thanks
Hi Peru,
I’m working on it. At this time, I don’t know of anywhere in Los Angeles or elsewhere in Southern California where you can certainly, reliably buy a GEM avocado tree. But I’ll keep talking to people and update this comment in a few days.
The main problem is that GEM is a patented variety that can’t be propagated by anyone and everyone.
Update: GEM avocado trees are now available to home growers at Subtropica Nurseries in Fallbrook, San Diego County. Please see the body of the post above for details on visiting Subtropica/Eli’s Farm Stand and getting a GEM or one of their other excellent avocado trees.
I reached out to the nursery but the response I got was that they are only selling to wholesalers.
Hi Shyam,
Thanks for letting me know. Right now the demand for some varieties of avocado trees is extremely high. Nurseries can’t keep up. I’ll look into it.
Update: They are available for purchase from Eli’s farm stand. There was a mis-communication that has been cleared.
Hello
Where can I buy Gem avocado tree in California
Thanks
Hi Roya,
I’m working on this. Please see my answer to Peru above.
Hi Shyam, thx for ur info. I’m looking to buy GEM avocado tree as well. Will give Eli’s Farm a call tmr. Also many thanks to Greg for putting this website & group chat together. I find this very helpful & grateful for the info posted here. Thank you everyone.
Hi Cheri,
Thanks for writing. I happened to stop by Subtropica Nursery and Eli’s Farm Stand today (June 22, 2019), and saw that there are many GEM trees currently available. They are closed tomorrow (Sunday) but open every other day of the week. I hope you get a great GEM avocado tree!
Hi Greg
How wonderful u happened to stop by there. Thank u so much for the info, I can’t thank u enough. Will give them a call on Mon. Have a wonderful wknd!
~Cheri
First time on this site. I’m in Hawaii and am looking for a GEM avocado tree. Does Eli’s Farm Stand want to or is able to ship trees to Hawaii?
Hi Newton,
As far as I know, unfortunately, Subtropica Nursery only ships large orders of 100 trees or more.
Hi Greg,
Thanks for all the great information! I contacted Eli a few months ago, and he said check back in June. I did and was able to pick up GEM, Kona Sharwill and Sir Prize all on clonal rootstock. I already had a Holiday I keep about 8’, so if I don’t kill the new ones, I have avocados all year on trees I’m planting close together and will keep small. For years I didn’t plant avocado because I thought it would grow uncontrollably to 40’ x 40’ and take up the whole yard. Thanks to you and Gary Matsuoka at Laguna Hills nursery, I know better and I’m taking the plunge.
That’s great to hear, Jane. I’ve been thinking lately that the most important message to get out there is the fact that we can grow our own avocados even in a small yard, and we’re not limited to varieties like Holiday. In fact, I can’t think of a single variety that I grow that can’t be held to 10 feet and still be satisfyingly productive. Let’s tell everyone about it.
Anybody in Southern California sell Multi grafted Avocado trees?
i have limited yard space and would like a tree with two or more verities/seasons to the fruiting.
Hi Alan,
I have seen multi-grafted avocado trees from time to time at a few nurseries. I can’t recall for sure all of the places, but one was Walter Andersen’s in Poway, San Diego County. Usually, any retail nursery can attempt to special order such a tree from a wholesale grower such as LaVerne or Durling.
You might also consider going the route of planting two or three individual trees very close together. One huge advantage of planting multiple trees a foot or two apart rather than a single multi-graft tree is that you can choose the varieties.
Alan, I also live in SoCal. I just recently grafted fuerte and bacon on my hass, I also have a lamb hass and a Mexicola Grande. If you live in ventura county message me.
Hi Herman, I also live in Oxnard. Really interested in Gwen (gem) variety avocado. Do you know any place selling it? I just recently plant wurst variety and like to add another avocado variety. Thank you
I’ve got a Fuerte that I grafted Hass and Reed to, but I don’t sell trees. Your best bet would be Armstrong. They are good about ordering trees. Give them a call. I bought my Reed tree at Walter Andersen about 4 years ago – they might be able to order it for you also.
I appreciate the helpfulness of your site, but before I start adding trees of any variety, I need to resolve an issue with my current tree.
I am in Simi Valley and have a beautiful 12 yo Fuerte avocado tree. It blossoms heavily each year and I’ve seen a lot of bees working very hard on it. Then it drops every flower and has only given me one avocado in the last three years. There are lots of other avocado trees within a quarter mile of here, but have room to plant other varieties that may complement it.
Not sure if there’s something more I can do or just cut it down and start over.
Any thoughts?
Hi Rick,
Oh, the fatal flaw of the Fuerte. This bearing problem has flummoxed and frustrated growers for a hundred years now.
It has been seen in some studies that Fuerte trees increase fruit yield when planted close to A-type trees, so you might try that. For my own Fuerte tree I’ve chosen Pinkerton and Lamb and Hass as pollenizers. Pinkerton especially seems like a good pollenizer since, in my yard anyway, I’ve noticed that they flower at mostly the same time. Any A-type avocado will help though.
That being said, many people have observed that some Fuerte trees just seem to be duds. They never bear much fruit.
In contrast, some Fuerte trees consistently bear a good amount of fruit even though they’re not near any A-type avocado trees. I’ve noticed this in some Fuerte trees that I’ve watched closely over the years in different locations. It’s a mystery to me.
If your tree is healthy, and you don’t need its space (both of which seem like your case), you might plant an A type nearby and give it a couple years to bloom and have a pollenizing effect. If still no fruit, cut down the Fuerte.
As for which A-type tree, I’d choose Lamb if you can only have one since the bloom time will somewhat overlap plus the Lamb’s harvest season is a good complement to the Fuerte’s (Pinkerton’s harvest season is almost the same as Fuerte). My second choice would be Hass.
Sounds like advice I can live with. I’ll try adding a couple varieties (probably Lamb and Hass based on your recs) and may play around with Herman’s grafting suggestion for the Pinkerton on the Fuerte itself.
Thanks for the response!
Greg gave you good advice. Here is my experience. In 2003 I planted a Hass and Fuerte close together in my yard. Being afraid of over watering I didn’t give the Hass enough water and it died. 2 years later my neighbor brought in soil and planted 2 Fuerte trees on common area. He died in 2011 and his wife didn’t want to care for the trees, so I got a common area license and took them over. My Fuerte tree produced a couple a year and was not doing well, so I grafted Hass and Reed to it and now it has many cados on it. The trunk of the Neighbors trees are 6″ dia. or more. As Greg stated some do better. One tree produced about 10 to 20 a year and the other was really pathetic. Then a few years ago the better tree was loaded and was pulling out of the ground since it was growing towards the sun down hill. I cut the trunk down to about 6′ high and grafted Hass to it. I also grafted Hass to the other Fuerte large tree. This year the poor performer had about 100 large Fuerte and the Hass has probably 150 cados. When you graft to a large healthy tree the grafts grow fast and big in size. I’m inland from the coast about 12 miles near SDSU. The neighbor who planted the Fuerte had lived in El Cajon and had many Fuerte trees that did very well there – it is a hotter climate. I hope that helps.
Thanks for that contribution, Richard. Good to hear that you’ve seen positive results from grafting in Hass and Reed onto those Fuerte trees.
I forgot to mention in my comment below – sprinkle epsom salts around the base of the tree and water it in. Also, as Greg stated, wood chip mulch – a nice thick layer.
Rick, Add iron as a fertilizer and put a cap of mulch around the base of the tree. I would suggest grafting an a type avocado like a hass, lamb hass or Pinkerton. I live in the Oxnard area and enjoy grafting let me know if you need help grafting in the spring time.
Hi Herman.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll give them a try. I’ve done a little grafting in the past, so will do that too. Thanks for the offer of your help. I’ll let you know if I run into trouble.
Hi ,this is Hyvens from South Florida do you know any online retailers that could ship to Florida?
Hi Hyvens,
I think Four Winds Growers ships avocado trees to Florida (they just don’t ship citrus to Florida).
Hi Greg! I love your site! I’ve been getting so much helpful info. I fave three kids under 6 and I have been raising them in the garden and they love it! So I especially love your site for the kid part of it. I just wanted to let you and your readers know that I ordered a tree from Four Winds and had to change the order and found out they charge a $10 fee to change orders or even cancel an order. Just thought it might be helpful info as it was not listed on their site. Thanks for all of your helpful info about gardening! Looking forward to future posts!
Hi Danielle,
Thank you for writing. My kids were grazing in the garden this morning, and I was thinking about how vital it is to our lives.
I appreciate the information about altering orders with Four Winds. Did you buy an avocado? I’d love to hear more about your tree once it arrives.
Where can I buy a Don Gillogly?
Hi Roy,
That’s a question I haven’t heard for some years. I have not heard of anyone selling that variety for a while.
May I ask what interests you about the Don Gillogly variety? I’m curious because some of the claims that were made in its patent and in its marketing are not reliable, in my observations.
Don Gillogly patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/USPP11057P/en
For instance, the Gillogly tree that I know does not produce two distinct crops per year, as is claimed. I’ve heard of other Gillogly trees also not doing so.
And as for the tree being dwarf, the Gillogly I know is far larger than a Holiday avocado tree growing beside it. Holiday deserves the label dwarf. This Gillogly certainly does not. Similarly, other Gillogly trees I’ve heard of have also not been deserving of the label dwarf.
Not trying to discourage your interest in the Don Gillogly variety, but just want to make sure you have a good idea of what the tree might actually be like in your yard. If you’re still interested, let me know and I can see about getting you some scionwood — the patent on the variety has apparently expired.
Hi Greg!
I recently bought a Gem avocado tree and was wondering if there is an easy way to identify that it is actually a true Gem avocado tree besides looking at the fruit. The tree looks almost exactly the same as both of my Hass avocado trees…. the way the leaves look and how they cluster together. I bought the tree from Adam Tropics nursery in California and had it shipped to me in Texas.
Hi Thomas,
GEM leaves do look very similar to Hass leaves. I’d say the only difference is that GEM leaves are a bit narrower than Hass, but that might not be the case with all GEM trees depending on the conditions they’re growing in.
Did the tree come with any tag referring to a patent? GEM is still under patent with the University of California, and anyone who propagates it must pay a patent royalty, and often — but not always — a tag is put on the tree to announce that.
You might also notice that the GEM grows in a slightly denser fashion than Hass. The leaves and branches tend to be more crowded together. But it might take some months to notice this growing habit.
The good news is that GEM is precocious, and it’s possible that you’ll get some fruit set next spring. So, in spring 2021, the mature fruit might tell the real story, finally!
Hi Grey,
Thank you for responding! The tree never came with a tag mentioning a patent. It only had a tag mentioning the nurseries name and the type of tree. It was very generic. Now that you mention the tree needs to be tagged, I recently bought a couple of orange trees and they were tagged with the patent number. This makes me wondering if it is a true GEM or if I got scammed and sold a Hass. The leaves look very similar to my Hass but some do look narrower. Time will tell once the tree bears fruit.
I also have another question. One of my Hass is suffering from root rot which is in a container. I know this because the the leaves were drooping badly and yellowing so I decided to uproot it. Once I took it out of the container the root ball was brown/black with every few normal colored roots. Do you think the tree can still be saved? I re-potted it into a smaller container with a soil mixture of potting soil and a lot of perlite. I was told that applying Organocide Plant Doctor would help to reverse the root rot. From your experience, do you think a tree can be saved from root rot?
Thank you for your time Greg. I appreciate it!
Hi Thomas,
I think it’s possible for your tree to improve without any special products applied but with proper watering. Sometimes with avocados in big containers you’ll find that the mix at the top dries out much faster than at the bottom so the bottom stays soggy and any roots there rot, as in your case.
Now with your smaller container and faster draining mix, you should be in a better position. Just try to give the tree light but frequent waterings, and only occasional long waterings to soak the whole mix and flush it out. And if possible, look into or poke your finger into the holes at the bottom to assess how wet it is down there. Don’t water if it’s still wet.
There’s also no big harm in waiting to water until you see the tree’s leaves wilt a bit.
I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my inquiry. I will just have to hope a nursery in Hawaii will one day ship in a Gwen or GEM avocado plant.
Hi Newton,
That’s probably your best bet. I’d ask them if they’ll consider it. They can buy those varieties from both Subtropica and Brokaw (in Ventura County, California), but they do have to buy in quantity, unfortunately.
I’m wondering if anyone is growing those varieties in Hawaii and how they perform there. I haven’t heard any reports. But my understanding is that Hass fruit stays on the small side and is not a great variety for Hawaii. Then again, there are many microclimates on the islands so it might be a matter of matching the microclimate to the variety.
Hi Greg, Is there any benefit to buying avocado trees on clonal rootstock if we are on city water (not recycled). I don’t believe there is a saline issue and I plant the trees on raised soil on a slope so drainage has been ok so far for my existing avocado trees. The clonal rootstocks from Subtropica seems to be about $10-12 more per tree so just checking if the extra investment makes sense for home growers. also if makes sense, what clonal rootstock do you recommend? Subtropica has a bunch of clonal rootstock types. Thanks Greg! Jean
Hi Jean,
I plan to write a post on avocado rootstocks in the near future. I grow most of my avocado trees on seedling rootstocks of various types and a few on different clonal rootstocks. I have a lot more to observe and learn about this topic though.
Without getting into detail, I’ll say that I doubt you’ll find a great benefit to any clonal rootstock in your situation. You might, but it’s certainly not a sure thing.
Hi there I am greatly interested in the Gem avocado tree and wondering if there’s anywhere in northern California (SF Bay Area) that I could buy from? Looks to be primarily Southern California. Would like to avoid a long road trip!
Thanks in advance!
Hi Austin,
As of now, I don’t know anyone up that way selling GEM avocado trees, sorry. I’ve gotten word that someone up there might start selling them soon (the wholesale grower told me so), and I promise to update this page immediately if that happens because I know many people in the Bay Area will be excited to finally buy some GEMs close to home.
Hi Greg.
I have really enjoyed reading your comments and all of the great posts sent in by others. This page is one of the bright lights for California avocado seekers. I have been looking for 15 gallon Gem, Sir Prize, Reed and Lamb Hass plants for two months and have drawn a blank. I am astonished that it has been this difficult, deep in the bosom of the state that created the avocado that we now know worldwide. I live in Thousand Oaks and would welcome all the help i can get locating the varieties that i seek.
PS, Cudos to Home Depot, Simi Valley. As of this morning they had 5 gallon Mexicola Grande, Mexicola, Hass, Feurte, Holliday and Pinkerton plants for $25.
Hi Gordon,
It is usually easier to find smaller trees of uncommon varieties than 15-gallon trees. In fact, I’ve never seen a 15-gallon GEM tree for sale, and I’d be very surprised to hear of one. My recommendation would be to consider buying a smaller tree just so you can get the variety you want.
Another method is to try contacting nurseries to place an order for specific varieties. You can do this through your local retail nursery or directly with wholesale nurseries who also sell to the public, such as Atkins and Subtropica. You might have to wait until spring 2020 to get the trees, but at least you’ll get them.
where can I purchase your gem avocado ?
I’m in 94708 N.CA
I purchased two 15 gallon Gems June of 2018 from Adam Tropics, sold one and planted the other.
You have to pick them up at the farmers market by 11:00am on Saturday or they put them back on the truck until next Saturday.
VERY,VERY HEAVY!!!!
My tree is now about eight feet tall and has at least 24 avos hanging at present.
So to all in N. CA that wish for a Gem, they seem to be available for a shipping charge and only in the 5 gal size.
It says on web site they ship
AdamTropics.com
(look under exotic fruit)
Adam Tropics is located in the center of Temecula
Avocado – GEM – 3 – 4 feet tall
$64.00
Tree Size
3 to 4 feet, 5 Gallons No additional charge
6 to 8 feet, 15 Gallons +$75.00
5 Gallon shipping to Central and Northern California +$59.00
5 gallon shipping to Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico +$59.00
5 gallon shipping to Texas +$69.00
PS, only trying to help, I don’t work there or get any commission.
I, like most, have avoided planting avocado due to the (potential) large size. Now I’m ready, and having done the research, I (of course) want the tree that seems the hardest to find … GEM. I live in Thousand Oaks area (93065), does anyone know if I should even try to get one, are they like rocking horse doo doo? Is it the wrong time of year? Thanks in advance for any advice.
Hi Stephen,
If you’re set on GEM, then you’ll probably have to do some driving down to northern San Diego County to get one at Subtropica Nursery in Fallbrook. I don’t know of anyone else who will sell a single GEM avocado tree to a home grower that I can recommend.
This time of year (end of summer, beginning of fall) is a fine time to plant an avocado tree in your area as long as you’re willing to give it some protection this winter on exceptionally cold nights. In fact, I planted a GEM last October, protected it a few times over winter, and it’s doing great now.
So make a Saturday drive down to Subtropica, or choose a different variety that you can find at a closer location. GEM is a nice variety, but there are other excellent avocado varieties that have similar growth and production habits to GEM.
Home Depot on temecula parkway has a few avocado trees in 24” boxes for sale for 200$ right now. I think Pinkerton, Stewart. Mexicola grande. I’m not interested but I bet someone here is.