Founded by Joe Ellis in 1970, Ellis Farms began on ninety acres of abandoned grape fields outside the resort town of Borrego Springs, California, situated in the midst of the striking natural beauty of Anza Borrego State Park, some sixty-five miles east of San Diego. Ellis was attracted to Borrego Springs by the exceptionally hot summers, tough on people, but ideal for the rapid and sturdy growth of palms and other desert landscaping trees. The water at the farm was also something special. Tests revealed that its nitrogen-rich content was precisely suited to growing quality nursery materials. In addition to being a pioneering business venture, for Ellis founding the farm was a challenging reclamation project, based on his desire to "make the desert bloom again." After clearing thousands of grape stakes and miles of wire and renovating the irrigation system, Ellis began with extensive plantings of Washingtonia robusta, the Mexican Fan Palm, and quickly expanded to other varieties of palms and desert trees. The success of Ellis' dream of making the desert come alive again can plainly be seen in the rich green expanse of trees covering the original farm.

 

In the late 1970s, Ellis Farms expanded operations to other growing grounds adjacent to the original farm and during the 1980s developed acreage in beautiful Pauma Valley, among the mountains between Borrego Springs and the coast. This gently sloping highlands property with its unique frost-free microclimate proved to be an ideal location to produce the lush Queen palms that Ellis Farms has placed in premier landscapes along the Pacific coast. Today, at over 400 acres, and with the ongoing support of its satisfied customers, Ellis Farms has become a leader in the southwestern wholesale nursery industry.

 

An interesting milestone for Ellis Farms came in 1988. The farm received the contract to grow a grouping of Washingtonia robusta palms for indoor planting in the new World Financial Center, designed by internationally renowned architect Cesar Pelli and then under development in Lower Manhattan's Battery Park. Carefully selected trees were placed for a year under a fifty foot shade canopy on the Borrego Springs farm to acclimate them to the lower light conditions of indoor planting in an eastern city. After this painstaking preparation, Ellis Farm trees were transported across country and found their place as the centerpiece to the Center's stunning Winter Garden, a vaulted, steel-ribbed atrium reminiscent of the "crystal palaces" of the industrial age.

Today, the 30,000 people who work in the World Financial Center, as well as tourists from around the world, can relax beneath these flourishing palms growing up from the Italian marble floor to the heights of the Winter Garden's indoor vistas. Since then, Ellis Farms trees have travelled even further afield, to large-scale landscape projects in Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Singapore, and Mexico.

 

These days, the attractive adobe patios and gardens surrounding the elevated office complex at Ellis Farms sit among a busy nursery scene. Trees are continually propagated and stepped up to larger containers. Crews carefully dig and ball-and-burlap field-grown palms. Sales consultants promptly and efficiently process telephone orders and walk buyers through the fields to tag trees. Trucks are loaded and covered for shipment throughout the Southwest and beyond. Irrigation specialists meticulously monitor the miles of drip irrigation lines and stand pipes that keep the water flowing to the trees that will meet the needs of an expanding landscape market.

 

 

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