Notes From The Nursery
4/15/08

It has been a long winter and a slow spring, but things are finally beginning to roll here at the nursery.  Every year is a little bit different.  Some years we are actually pushing material out the door in March – other years we get delayed well into April.  This seems to be one of those ‘delayed’ years.  If you have visited us over the past few weeks you have noticed lots of activity inside our greenhouses, but nothing much going on outside.  Well that is changing pretty quickly as we speak. 

We have gathered numerous truckloads of fresh nursery stock this past week and are working hard to get it all out on display in time for the weekend.  Perennials are starting to be brought out on to our benches and we will be assembling more fresh material on into May.

This year we are trying something that is both new and old for us in the sale of trees.  We are offering bare root trees that were shipped to us from Minnesota and are now stored in our new cooler.  We have sold bare root trees in the past, but not in this fashion.  By storing them in our cooler, we can keep them in a state of dormancy for an extended period of time.  Usually you have to heel-in bare root material into mulch and sell it relatively quickly before it leafs out too much.  By keeping the trees in the cooler, we can offer them for sale on through May and even into June.

What exactly is a ‘bare root tree’?  It is exactly what the name describes:  A tree that has been harvested when dormant, and has had all the soil removed from its root system. 

What are the advantages of planting bare root trees? 

    Bare root trees normally cost about 40% less than the same trees offered in a pot or

    balled and burlapped.

    It cost less to ship a bare root tree.  More trees can fit in a truck and they weigh a lot

    less than trees shipped along with the soil they are growing in.

     Consequently, not only do bare root trees cost less, they are easier to handle.  You

     do not have to be a husky landscaper with a truck to bring multiple trees home.  Yes,

     that is right, your mom can fit a bunch of bare root trees into her Honda hatchback.

     That means they are that much easier to plant.  Not only that, they have a better          

     chance of survival, because:

         -There is usually more root system left intact.

         -The roots make direct contact with the soil they are going to have to adapt to.

         -It is easier to plant the tree at the proper depth because you can see exactly where

           the root system starts.

Another reason we are offering trees in this fashion is to participate in the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign.  The goal is to raise awareness about deforestation, erosion, global warming, and to plant a billion trees worldwide.  Go to www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign for more information about this campaign.

The bare root trees we are offering come from one of our long time suppliers, Bailey Nurseries, Inc. of  St. Paul, Minnesota, who are promoting this effort through their own ‘Trees are Cool’ program.  Go to their website at www.baileynurseries.com to see more about this program, plus take advantage of the great information and image library they offer.

The trees we are offering through this program are:

Maple ‘October Glory’

Maple (sugar) ‘Fall Fiesta’

Maple ‘Celebration’

Serviceberry ‘Allegheny’

Gray Dogwood (This is a native, naturalizing tree/shrub specimen. NOT the popular

white or pink flowering Dogwood)

Hawthorn ‘Winter King’

Hawthorn ‘Toba’

Honeylocust ‘Imperial’

Carolina Silverbell or Halesia

Crabapple ‘Adams’ (pink)

London Planetree, ‘Bloodgood’

Cherry ‘Kwanzan’ (pink)

Oak ‘Swamp White’

Elm ‘Accolade’

All trees are priced at $29.00 each.  The same tree in a pot or balled and burlapped would cost anywhere from $50.00 to $80.00 each. They are all between 5-7 feet tall and have good, vigorous root systems.  If you would like more information, call us at the store at 814-899-5424.

I’ll be in the nursery.

-Mark