Zan Overturf closing The Treeman when she runs out of inventory

Posted: 7:45 pm, March 27, 2015 by Reporter Heather Young

Zan Overturf holds Buster the Roster at The Tree Man on Ramada Drive in Paso Robles. The nursery will close when the remaining inventory is sold off. Overturf is also looking for a home for Buster. Photo by Heather Young

A Paso Robles institution — The Tree Man nursery — is going out of business when it runs out of inventory. Owner Zan Overturf started the going out of business sale on Black Friday in 2014. Though it has been four months since, Overturf said she had four acres of plants and garden items to sell, so she will continue until it’s all gone or someone buys her business.

The whole purpose of the nursery was to raise her children, Overturf said. “The last one is in college so my contract is over. I didn’t expect it to go this long at all.”

Overturf started the nursery nearly 30 years ago in Templeton, just a year after she moved to the area. After her first 10 years of business, she moved her nursery to four acres of property at 2630 Ramada Drive in Paso Robles.

Her three daughters, Alanna, Tatiana and Kenwyn, who is a sophomore at Templeton High School and taking classes at Cuesta College, grew up at the nursery. Overturf said one of her goals of the nursery was for families with children to feel comfortable shopping at her nursery. She even has a play set for children to play on, and allows the children to feed the chickens that roam the property.

“I wanted a place you could feel comfortable shopping with a family,” Overturf said. “That what I orientated my business – to budget families.”

Over her years in business, she said she’s been through three droughts, and is feeling the heat with the emphasis from the city on putting in certain drought resistant plants.

At this time, Overturf said she’s not sure what she’ll do after the nursery, but is exploring business ideas. She does not own the land that her business is on; it is part of a 16-acre parcel that houses other businesses.

Overturf, who lives east of Paso Robles in the Ground Squirrel Hollow area, said that what she lives by is a passage from Psalms, “This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

She said that the answer to many of the world’s problems, including climate change, is to plant more trees.

“We need to plant more trees to save our planet and to protect our watershed,” Overturf said.

Though Overturf has sold a great deal of her four acres worth of inventory, she still has a lot to sell. Once she closes the nursery, however, she intends to keep her website going because it contains information related to plants and gardening. The nursery is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.