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Seedlingsrus and Highland Hill Farm
Evergreens For Screens and Buffers At Highland Hill farm
Fountainville Pa18901
We have available 20 different types of hollies at Highland Hill Farm. See How We Dig and Our Efforts in Producing Many of Our Trees and Shrubs. Although most often associated with Christmas, hollies are used to good advantage in gardens as specimen trees or foundation plantings providing attractive decoration the year round. This feature of year round interest is complimented by fresh wreaths that can be made from trimmings at Christmas.
There are many species of hollies we offer, one of which, the Inkbery grows from 4 to 15 feet in height and features lustrous dark green leaves and black berries. Another other, Winterberry, is a deciduous plant with red berries. It grows to a height of about eight feet and is extremely hardy. We offer new hybrids, known as the Blue Hollies. These resemble the traditional varieties but are reliable choices for growing conditions in the eastern United States. Many cultivars are now available, but two of the proven varieties for our area are "Blue Prince" and "Blue Princess".
New strains and cultivars are being developed all the time, so we shall offer more interesting possibilities for our garden customers in the near future. If you don't see what you want here, E-Mail Us with your needs.
Do you need help in planning or selecting a Plant? Why not email us a picture of the site and let us give you choices for your landscape? We can also have James Hirst our in house designer give you a free landscape plan based on the photo. Call him at 215 768 9229 Just let us know
what kind of plants you prefer...Evergreen...Natives...Flowering and he will do the rest.
About Hollies
Blue or Meserve Holly (Ilex x meserveae) is a medium sized broadleaf evergreen shrub with dark , waxy blue-green foliage and attractive berries on the female plants. Varieties include ‘Blue Prince’ & ‘Blue Princess’, and ‘Blue Maid’, ‘China Girl’ and ‘China Boy’,and ‘Blue Boy’ & ‘Blue Girl’. Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra) is a broadleaf evergreen shrub with an attractive upright, oval growth habit and dark green lustrous leaves. Inkberry is a good alternative to boxwood where a taller and faster growing broadleaf evergreen is needed. It is one of the few evergreen shrubs that can thrive in a wet site. Inkberry produces insignificant fruit and does not need a pollinator.
Culture
Location: Evergreen hollies do best in partial shade and a protected site. (China Girl and China Boy are the exception, able to take full sun). Do not plant in open areas or a south or west facing location where they may be subject to drying winter winds. Winterberry deciduous holly, can be planted in sun or partial shade. Best fruit production will be in a sunny site.
Soil Preparation: Hollies prefer moist, well-drained, acid soil high in organic matter. Amend soil with peat or well composted tree bark at planting and apply an acid fertilizer such as ‘Holly-tone’ in spring following the directions on the product label.
Pruning: Prune Blue or Meserve and Winterberry Hollies carefully. Next year’s flower buds are set on the current season’s growth by the beginning of summer. Pruning after this time will remove next year’s flowers and therefore berries will be affected. The Inkberry hollies can tolerate light to moderate shearing. This will help promote compact growth. Shearing the hollies is essential for they will become leggy.Mulching Mulch with a 3” layer of shredded hardwood bark to maintain soil temperature and preserve moisture. This is most important to have in place durring the fall for winter protection of the hollies.
For ornamental fall and winter fruits, Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) is a one of the best. It is a native deciduous shrubs for ornamental fall and winter fruits. Winterberry is also a top selection for wet areas. It naturally thrives in wet clay soils. Its stems, covered with Berries, make great long-lasting winter decorations.We sell afew of the many varieties. My vavorite is ‘Sparkleberry’, a compact cultivar with bright red fruit. Watering: Make sure all your Hollies receive at least 1” of water per week until the ground freezes.
We stock at least 100 or more varieties of Evergreens at any one time. There are many more varieties available which we sometimes have in stock. If we don't stock the variety you want we will find it for you if possible. We can deliver and plant most our stock anywhere on the East Coast. See How We Dig Many of Our Arborvitae. Some varieties that we usually have on hand are listed below. If you don't see what you want, call us at 215 651 8329 or if you have any comments, please E-Mail Us
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This is one of the deepest Blue Spruces we have. This ornamental spruce is 4-5' tall and is a very slow grower. **************************************************************************************************************************************************************
This is a top grafted Montgomery Blue Spruce on a standard. It is slow growing and mounded in shape. Pricing: 1-9 $130ea., 10+ $90 ea.
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Dawn Redwoods Our Tree of the Month
Okay campers: This tree proves that scientists don't know when a tree is extinct. Fossil records showed that this tree was extinct for 35 million years, yet this deciduous conifer fooled them all until 1945 when it was rediscovered in a remote valley of Central China in 1945. Dawn Redwood or The Dinosaur Tree, is officially called, "Metasequoia glyptostroboides".
The Dawn Redwood first came to America in 1945 in seeds and has shown to be viable in zones 6 to 8. This tree grows fast and can reach 75 to 100 feet by 25 feet in diameter. It likes full sun to partial shade and is tolerant of moist to dry soils with ph ranges of 3.7 to 7.0. Go ahead and plant it in clay soils, loam or sand. Its bright green, feathery, needle-like foliage will turn brown and will drop quickly in the fall. Thus this plant will be suitable for a great summer screen or a specimen plant.This plant is great for a Hort 101 beginner. It is easy to grow, pest free, adaptable, grows fast, and has soft bright green needles, and of course we have hundreds of 3-4' plants ready for your landscape.
Did you know that the Black Hills Spruce tree may have been named for the Black Hills of South Dakota, but no, the Ponderosa Pine was not named after the Cartwright's ranch along the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe in the popular TV series, "Bonanza." The Bonanza series originally ran from 1959-1971, and now we Hirsts, me, Marjorie, my dad, and my sons, all occasionally watch the reruns. Westerns, TV and movies both, never seem old or out-dated because they're set 100-plus years ago to begin with.
So, can you guess how the name was created for the Ponderosa Pine tree? We'll give you a hint, it's right there in the name Ponderosa... The Eastern White Pines which covered Pennsylvania, including our Bucks county, could grow incredibly tall, up to 150 feet. The Ponderosa Pine could reach over 200 feet. That's more than huge, that's immense, no, gargantuan, why that's ponderous! It was actually the English Botanist of the early 1800's who helped explore and catalog America's trees, David Douglas who named the Ponderosa Pine.
Douglas, hmmm, what tree could have been named after him...? Douglas Fir is a visually striking evergreen tree that can grow to over 200 feet tall "out west," ranging from the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico all the way north towards the Arctic Circle of Canada and out to the Pacific coast. Douglas Fir has such a vast range, that's why it is the single most important timber tree of all. When we buy lumber, it's mostly Douglas Fir.
Douglas Fir grows especially well in snowy wet high altitude climates which are actually warmer than here in Bucks county. Although Eastern White Pine trees are native to Bucks County, and will grow more readily, the unique three-fingered forked branches, or "bracts," of the Douglas Fir can add aesthetic interest to your landscaping design. Here in the northeast, 130 feet is the tallest Douglas Fir trees can grow.
How'd the Douglas Fir get its name? For David Douglas, a Scotsman who came to search the botany of then exciting and new western America in the early 1800's. Alexis de Tocqueville came from France to search for democracy. It seems there were Europeans who came just as Americans did, to search the "new" west, from Lewis and Clark's famous excursion Thomas Jefferson commissioned, to John Wesley Powell's search for geology in the Grand Canyon, in short, people have always been searching in America. David Douglas catalogued several hundred species of trees, shrubs, and even flowers, like the Lupin (or Lupine).
The Red Fir, which is actually not even a Fir tree, but a pseudo-Hemlock, or "Pseudotsuga," was also known as the Oregon Spruce and the Oregon Pine. (Awfully confusing don't you agree?) Finally, it was named in honor of David Douglas. Keeping on with Douglas names, maybe Douglas Fraser gave the name to the Fraser Fir. Hmmm.
The Fraser Fir is a singularly distinctive specie of evergreen tree, or "conifer," as the trees which don't drop their leaves (needles) and stay green all year 'round are properly called by tree scientists. Do you know what tree scientists, in turn, are properly called?
They're "botanists."
So, why do botanists find the Fraser Fir so singularly distinctive? Because the Fraser Fir is the only fir tree which comes from the southeast. It is endemic, or "native," to the southern Appalachian Mountains. The Fraser Fir is considered to be the best-looking Christmas tree with its silvery green foliage and often perfectly conical shape with a pointed crown .
Douglas Fir trees are named after David Douglas, but Douglas Fraser did not get the Fraser Fir named after him, although this Scot was a great labor leader (Chrysler, 1960's and 70's, then, president of the United Auto Workers, 1977 to 83). Simon Fraser was a Scottish lad whose family moved to Canada from Vermont. He explored and mapped British Columbia's wide and wild river which meets the Pacific at Vancouver and so the Fraser River was named after him. The Rocky Mountains of our Pacific northwest and Canada have so many Pines, Spruces, Redwoods, Firs, etc., but where did the one fir specie of the southeast get its name you want to know already? It was named after yet another Scotsman! An explorer named John Fraser, following the Revolutionary War's end, introduced the Fir tree he found in the mountains of the Carolinas to the countries of Europe.
The Balsamic Vinagrette salad dressing we get actually does come from this tree, the northern equivalent of its very similar "southern cousin," the Fraser Fir of the southeast's Appalachian mountains. How is it that the tree is used? Probably the needle leaves are pressed and the squeezed out juice becomes Balsamic Vinegar, right? Wrong. Squeezed Balsam Fir needle juice is just Balsam Fur needle juice. Darn. We're sorry.
Vinegar comes from the souring, rotting, decomposition, or "fermentation" of fruits like apples and grape. Fermentation turns sugars into ethanol alcohol, the first stage being vinegar. Ohhh.
Wine vinegar which is aged in barrels, or "casks," of Balsam Fir wood will come out as Balsamic vinegar. The lower slopes of northern Italy's Alps, the "subalpine climate zone," provided Balsam Fir trees for the casks which were first used centuries ago to create special flavors of vinegar from the grapes used for "sherry," the sweet desert wine.
Ahhh.
Balsam Firs don't grow especially well here in Bucks county, even though these are supposed to be a northern tree species. Our climate is just not "subalpine" enough. The Fraser Fir of the southeast will grow better here, believe it or not. Best conifer of all for Bucks county, of course, is our native Eastern White Pine. Balsam Fir trees do make a great Christmas tree. They are the traditional favorite in America, the best-seller up until 1975, with the strongest aroma of all. So if you must buy a fir, and you are from Bucks County, Make it a mink.
Growing any crop involves risk of capital and time. No one can give you back your time. You can always earn money just by putting your captial in the bank and waiting. When you put your money in plants, your returns can be terrific. Where else can you invest a dollar and in afew years get 20, 50, and more dollars back in return? Yet many people fail to determine whether they really can make these huge profits and if they are real. You should review your investment opportunities before you invest. There are other uses for the land that you should consider. Only then can you make an informed decision.
The nursery market does experience numerous peroids of over production. Durring these peroids discounting is a method of selling stock durring these times. On our farms, our land cost was almost nil so when we harvested a crop we culled out stock and left trees in the field to grow to larger calipers than we planned to harvest in order to sell to large tree transplanting services. We realized premiums for these trees. Some trees were left in areas we wanted for recreational hunting. We then allowed some customers to hunt there. These customers become loyal and send us referrals. This is where going trees an hobby farming get blurred. We always treat our activities as a business but try to keep our customers as friends.
Try to monitore your costs for various species as a bank would. You will have to make assumptions as to future expenses. Many people don't do this because they are just not confident that they will have accurate projections. Organizing costs into groups helps one see where costs are and help get handle on projections.
- office costs
- fertilizer
- insurance
- labor
- taxes
- chemicals for weed and pest control
- expected time from planting to harvest
- cost of stock
- estimate of tree loss
- site work
- equipment *
- cost of funds outlayed
We feel lucky if we can harvest 70% of what we plant. If your area is with a high deer count (over 10 deer per square wooded mile) you may not be able to grow trees without deer fencing. This can be quite costly. In Pennsylvania you can get help from the game commission in erecting fencing. The State buys the fence and the grower erects it to the Commissions standards.Click here for details
Did you also know that we are located near Doylestown Pa and Milan Pa.? On our farms you will find a large assortment of trees plants and shrubs. We have many from seedlings and whips that are ready to plant or line out to large 2, 3 and 4" caliber trees that are B&B. Email us with your questions and Mark will find you an answer, hmmm....
Information about our Locations
Order seedlings from us or large plants. Call us to discuss your needs. We help the beginners to find the best seedlings and we offer advice on types to buy for those who want to start to grow seedling. On our farms we raise and sell nursery stock from seedlings to large caliber trees. We also offer infomation on the web ABOUT SEEDLINGS , and how to CARE for seedlings and nursery stock. If you buy your seedling from us you will have access to the free use of our planters.We have three types available for use and have had years of experience in planting seedlings. Our PLANTING EQUIPTMENT is located in Doylestown and Milan Pa. We are dedicated to helping you with your plant needs. You will find ARTICLES we have written to help you and explain how we do what we do. We will be glad to assist you. We welcome everyone to come to our farm, if we have time we will give you a tour and show you how we built up our nursery. There are no trade secrets to our operation and we feel that in helping you we will become sharper ourselves. Our phone number is 215 345 0946. If you have any comments, please Email UsArborvitae - Were Ready To Load Your Truck! We May Also Be Able To Deliver and or Plant For You!!!
