We are not only retails for hardy fruit trees!
Over the last 2 years we have undertaken some considerable planting endeavors, in addition to our small original test orchard.
In our original orchard area we have many examples of mature fruit trees up to 15 years ago and younger. It has 8 varieties of mature apple trees, 3 mature pear trees, 6 different cherry varieties, 5 varieties of plum and cherry plums, 4 Sea Buckthorn, 12 haskap shrubs, 2 mature grape vines, a raspberry patch with 7 varieties of hardy raspberries, and many more I have given up on listing.
It’s a great backdrop to our retail area and don’t hesitate to wander through when you are on site. It gives you a great example of what to expect from your plants. I am also always happy to share my lessons learned and knowledge about planting and caring for your trees and plants.
We also have many apple trees scattered throughout the property with many heritage varieties we are experimenting with and testing for hardiness and survival in our area. On of my favorite trees on the property is an apple tree in front of the house that currently has 7 different varieties grafted onto a single tree (and I have plans to continue to add to it- if only I kept better records of the varieties I have added)
Our most ambitious new addition is the planting of 75 apple trees, in hopes we can one day offer a U-pick and sales of freshly grown northern apples. The trees were planted in the spring of 2022, so we anticipate it would be at least 3 years before we can offer any sort of U-Pick, but it’s an exciting possibility.
In the fall of 2021 we planted 2 small plots each containing 20 romance series hardy cherry shrubs, those may take slightly longer to come into production as they were very small plugs when planted.
Between 2020-2022 we planted probably over 30+ sea buckthorn shrubs and this year in 2022 we have already started to get a nice harvest. These are incredibly vigorous and fast growing shrubs and hope to be able to offer some of the berries in 2023.
In 2022 we planted approximately 20 mature haskaps shrubs from a local farm that was shutting down. In addition to that we planted 20 haskaps from the newer boreal series.
In 2022 we also planted over 10 plum and cherry plum trees.
10 currant bushes.
10 saskatoon berries
6 goji berries.
6 Aronia
3 large raspberry patches (fall gold, royalty and Boyne)
2021 planted 2 large elderberry patches.
Since 2020 we have also been conducting some propagation trials with hopes to be able to provide locally grown hardy fruit trees that are fully climate adapted for our area.
We are also actively offering workshops and lessons for anyone who wants to learn more about planting fruit trees in Northern Ontario. The most popular sessions are pruning and grafting, but we have also offered planting and design discussions and presentations. We have an extensive education section on our website and a growing catalog of recorded sessions and education videos on our Youtube channel and social media.