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National Tree Day...

You would think that being a tree nursery - I would know when National Tree Day was! I could have blogged about it and made some special promotions to celebrate the event. But no - I was unaware that there was such a day until it was too late. Turns out that National Tree day is celebrated on September 26th (next year it is July 26th - take note - Ha! - also watch for promotions!)...and the only way I found about it was when a teacher phoned from a local High School who was wondering if we had any trees available for her class to plant. Do we have trees? We have thousands of them - how many thousands do you need? They didn't need thousands of them but 8 would do...well this turned out to be a big event. A class trip was planned to our facility and we ended up helping the class dig the holes and even donating a Pyramidal Oak. The local TV station was there as well as local newspapers. On further investigation I found that National Tree day is everywhere (how could I miss it!) it is on facebook and twitter - heck - they even have their own website and everything! I have to spend more time on my social media stuff and get out from under the proverbial rock I have been under! It has been quite busy here this past week as the weather has started to change and people want to get their fall gardening done. I hope to get out this afternoon and take some pictures of the leaves starting to change colour and it looks like it will be a bright sunny afternoon.

Our crew measuring the holes

Some of the students preparing to plant

The day I missed...

Local tv cameras...

Craning the trees into the holes

Some more trees...

Planting the grasses

The new look...

Finishing up...

Job well done!

Ahhh September...

Well to those who came out to our 5th Annual Open House - thank you so much - hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! The weather held out and the sun shone and the barbecue was loaded with peameal bacon on a bun. The tent was up and the fire was going and the trees were gorgeous. Now the tent is gone and it is back to the reality of fall and packing things up for the move. The crews are out busy planting trees and it is business as usual again. I will be out and about taking pictures these next couple of weeks as all the foliage begins to change as well as our nursery. Fall is great time to plant as the trees start to go dormant and they are not stressing out about shooting out more leaves. We are busy digging up trees on a daily basis. While out tagging trees I couldn't help but notice the subtle fall changes beginning to occur. The Tiger Eye Sumac (which I have blogged about before) is beginning to change colour. The white blob in the picture of the Sumac is my dog Monty who is constantly messin' up my photos! But now that the heat of the summer has passed he is back out on a regular basis running beside me in the buggy everytime I go out. The Pee Gee Hydrangea's blooms are starting to turn their fall show of pink. Some of the burning bushes are just beginning to turn to their brilliant red. The Highbush Cranberries fruit is a beautiful deep red and the top of the bushes are just starting to turning to a tinge of red but then my battery died...and there is still a crap load of photos to take...

5th Annual Fall Sale

Tiger Eye Sumac and my dog Monty

Tiger Eye Sumac foliage

Row of Pee Gee Hydrangeas

Pee Gee Hydrangea turning thier fall pink

Highbush Cranberry fruit

Hihgbush Cranberry starting to turn red

Burning Bush

Some Big Trees for a Big Sale...

As we prepare for our big sale we are starting to dig a few of our big trees. Not only are we getting ready for sale we are also starting to get ready to move them to our other farm. It never ceases to amaze me how this process is done. Unlike other companies we hand dig our root balls so that we can actually create a root ball that reflects the actual roots of the tree. Rather than tree spading them and guessing at the size of the root ball. And we know what we we are doing . We hand dug these four huge trees pictured below all in one day. Notice each root ball is a different size reflecting the actual size of the root system and you don't see any cut roots in the holes - the tree moves as a whole unit. This provides less stress to the tree. It looks like the last of our big Pines have found a new home - the lane way looks bare without them. I love White Pines - they remind me of cottage country! I am eagerly anticipating September and the photo opportunities that await. All these trees and all that fall colour will be spectacular to see to see. We have a busy week ahead in preparation for the big sale. The tent arrives on Wednesday and then the balloons and then we have the food to prepare. And with the rain we have had an opportunity to finally start to dig some of the smaller plant material to showcase in the tent. Some beautiful Blue Spruce and some nice burning bush which are starting to show their brilliant red leaf display will be some of the plants showcased. It is an exciting time of year and it has been a busy season - I can't believe it is September already...