By Debbie Arrington, Sacramento Bee

TAHOE CITY – Leslie Hyche learned quickly that gardening at high elevations means being prepared for just about anything.

Snow in June? Plan on it. Unexpected windstorm? Keep everything tied down. Deer with the munchies? Persuade them to move on to another outdoor buffet.

“At first, I thought that gardening up here was very unusual,” she said. “It’s nothing like Davis, where I went to school. But then I realized, most of the country deals with the same stuff we do. They get snow, too. That helped me look at gardening here in a different way.”

Hyche is co-owner of Tahoe Tree Co. and McBride’s Nursery, a Sierra fixture and go-to source for high-elevation gardening. Hyche also wrote the book “High Altitude Gardening,” which is no longer in print.

“The biggest challenge is the weather,” she said. “Not just snow, but the unpredictability.”

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