Trees and Shrubs from Musser Forests, Inc.
Potting and planting projects continue at the farm with a group of beautiful evergreen specimens.
The outdoor grounds crew worked hard to plant hundreds of trees that arrived - most recently, Colorado blue spruce trees, white spruce trees, Norway spruce trees, and Serbian spruce trees. I also ordered Osage orange trees, two varieties of boxwood, rhododendrons, and some pachysandra ground covers. They all came from Musser Forests, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company specializing in conifer and hardwood seedlings and transplants. The bare-root trees were potted temporarily, so their root systems can develop. The boxwood shrubs were planted directly into the ground in a field down by my vegetable garden.
Enjoy these photos.
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- I’ve bought many trees from Musser Forests Inc. over the years and have always been very pleased with their specimens. As soon as they arrive, the roots of the plants are immersed in water, so they can soak – doing this gives the plants a better start. http://www.musserforests.com
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- Musser Forests, Inc. was established in 1928. Every year, Musser produces more than 35 million conifer and hardwood seedlings and transplants – plus, ground covers, landscaping shrubs, perennials and ornamental grasses. They offer one of the broadest selections of plant material available from one nursery.
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- Healthy bare-root cuttings should not have any mold or mildew on the plants or on their packaging. The branches should be mostly unbroken, and roots, rhizomes, and other parts should feel heavy – not light and dried out. These bare-root cuttings are Osage orange trees.
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- The Osage orange, Maclura pomifera, is actually not an orange at all, and is more commonly known as a hedge apple, horse apple, bowwood, yellow-wood or bodark. Their distinctly ugly, almost otherworldly-looking fruits are considered inedible because of the texture and taste, but they are very interesting and fun to grow. I have a long row of them planted along one of my horse paddocks.
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- Here’s Fernando with the first load of newly potted Osage orange trees. They’re being transported by wheelbarrow to their new location outside my Hay Barn.
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- Next, Phurba moves onto some spruce seedlings. Phurba keeps the cutting centered in the pot as he fills it with soil.
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- All our tree potting projects are done in the Equipment Barn where the seedlings can be kept in water and protected from the elements during the potting process.
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- Fernando is nearby ready to sprinkle fertilizer onto the plants. The crew can pot hundreds and hundreds of trees a day – they have developed a good production line process.
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- Osmocote provides a steady supply of nutrients for even and continuous development throughout the growth cycle. The coated granules contain a blended mix of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
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- They don’t need too much – just a sprinkling for each pot.
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- These are weed guards, which help to prevent weeds from growing around the potted specimens.
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- Fernando places one disc around each tree. These discs come in a variety of sizes and are available at many garden supply shops.
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- I also ordered a selection of rhododendrons – pink and orchid varieties. Rhododendrons are medium-sized, dense, broadleaf evergreen shrubs that have large, glossy, dark green leaves. These will thrive in a site with part shade and moist, acidic, highly organic soil that is perfectly drained.
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- These came to us as small potted seedlings, which we will repot into slightly larger vessels, so they have room to develop.
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- These are Norway spruce, Picea abies, cuttings. This is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce variety. These are small now, but when they are mature they will be 60-feet tall and 25-feet wide.
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- And these are Serbian spruce, Picea omorika. Tall and slender, with graceful upswept branches, the Serbian spruce is an elegant evergreen. It has glossy dark green needles with slender streaks of white and distinctive purple cones. It is a threatened species in its native Serbia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, where it has only a few patches of habitat left, but is an adaptable, drought tolerant tree in the Midwest.
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- Phurba makes sure the pot is the right size for the cutting and then gently places the specimen into the container.
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- Next, he carefully works the soil in and around the roots and lightly tamps the soil to establish good contact.
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- There are now more than a thousand tree seedlings potted and kept in this area. They are all organized by type and kept in sectioned rows for easy identification.
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- The boxwood, Buxus, varieties include ‘Green Velvet’ and ‘Green Mountain’. ‘Green Velvet’ is a hybrid boxwood cultivar. It is a broad, compact shrub that grows up to three or four feet tall and three to four feet wide. Buxus ‘Green Mountain’ is a vigorous evergreen shrub with bright green foliage that retains good color throughout winter.
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- Here’s Dawa tilling the soil in a patch where the boxwood will be planted.
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- Zoe goes over the area with a rake to level out the bed and to remove any organic matter left over from the last planting season.
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- Before planting, Dawa secures twine at the fence line so everything can be planted perfectly straight. Once the twine is secure, several boxwood seedlings are placed evenly along the length of the twined row.
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- Dawa begins digging holes for each of the seedlings.
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- Each hole is about six inches deep. We had a lot of rain earlier in the week, so the soil was still moist and soft.
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- These two to three-year-old seedlings are only a few inches tall, but they will grow quickly in this soil. These young boxwoods will remain here for a couple years before they are transplanted into the garden beds.
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