Rivendell Tree Farm Shapes Local Landscapes

To quote the famous author Joyce Kilmer “I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.”

Today on Bring Back the Porch, Dylan Lafferty, owner of Rivendell Tree Farm, shares insights on selecting, planting, and caring for trees in southeastern Alberta. You will learn the best species for your yard, how to maintain them, and the story behind the farm's name.

00:00 Introduction 
04:28 Tree Species and Their Care
12:07 Establishing a Tree Farm
17:35 Tree Planting Guidance for Homeowners
24:13 Exploring Different Tree Varieties
30:01 Transitioning to Tree Farming
35:00 Environmental Benefits of Trees
39:25 Understanding Apple Trees
43:22 Challenges in Tree Selection
44:36 Rewards of Tree Farming
46:40 Purchasing Trees and Customer Experience
50:24 Future Vision for Rivendell Tree Farm

A true hidden gem for Medicine Hat is Rivendell Tree Farm. They grow a vast variety of hardy trees and shrubs for the southern Prairies. Including Oak, Elm, Maple, Walnut, Honey Locust, Birch, Apple, Cherry, Plum, Pine, Spruce and Larch. They also supply potted, basketed and 54″ spaded trees. The farm specializes in substantial trees, as large as 100mm calliper. They also offer project design, planting and arborist services for their valued customers. 
 
The mandate at Rivendell Tree Farm is to cultivate a deeply rooted business that will provide the people of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan with quality trees. Trees to provide shelter, beauty, food for our children, and help to make our communities more pleasant and verdant. They are committed to providing care and service for trees throughout their life cycle. The Lafferty’s have a passion to grow beautiful trees.

Key  topics

Tree species and their growth habits
Best practices for planting and watering trees
Environmental benefits of trees in urban areas
Tree pruning and maintenance tips
Story behindRivendellTree Farm's name

Sound bites

"Colorado Blues are exceptionally hardy"
"We travel all over southeastern Alberta"
"Trees provide shelter and psychological comfort"

Resources

Rivendell Tree Farm Website - https://rivendelltreefarm.ca/

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Transcript

0:00

Hey, this is Brian again, and I'd like to ask you to do a favor. We can't do this work without people like you. So if you can, please like, share, subscribe, tell your friends about bring back the porch. And why would people pick these for their backyards? Okay, Colorado blues are exceptionally hardy. The deer more or less. We'll leave them alone. They're a little bit prickly. If I see a pungens actually means prickly needle. So they're a good choice for just being hardy and low maintenance. They do grow fast. They're they're pretty indestructible. This episode will bring back the porch. Brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. Hi. Welcome to Bring Back the Porch. Today we are on location at Rivendell Tree Farm. I'm here with owner operator Dylan Lafferty. Dylan, welcome to the porch. Hi. How are you today? Welcome to Rivendell tree farm. Thank you very much. So today, Dylan has offered to kind of give us a tour of the tree farm. We are so fortunate in Medicine Hat to have such a lovely tree farm. But I think it is a kind of little secret to a lot of people. So we're going to make sure that you get a lot of exposure today. How's that sound? Thank you. Pretty good. Thank you. All right. So let's start with like, this beautiful tree right here. Okay. So we're in a couple blocks of Colorado blue spruce Colorado blue spruce can be green or they can be blue. It's just genetics. Blond hair, brown hair and people. So this one is very nice with bright blue. We're going to actually put this tree in our arboretum. But the one behind it is green. So this tree is we start selling them at 200cm about 6.5ft. And it will be that after it buds out. So this tree is ready to go. We have been growing this particular tree for about five years, and it's pretty much perfect in every way. We try to shape them so that they have nice bushy form and everything symmetrical. Sometimes the trees need a little bit more help than than others, but this one is this one's just perfect. Okay. What do you mean by arboretum? What's that? So on the other side of the nursery, we have specimens of each tree that we grow, and they'll be there permanently. So when you come to pick a tree, you can walk through the arboretum. And arboretum is a zoo for trees. Essentially, you can walk through the arboretum and see the trees in their maturity. Nicely pruned and proper. Yeah, yeah. And which one you want? You have an idea? Because to be honest, a lot of people don't really know a lot about different tree species, so that will help them. And so how many trees species do you have here? That's a good question. This year we dug 79 different species. So 79 are available for sale. But there's a lot more counting the potted stock. There's there's well over 100. Well over 100. Okay. The arboretum I think I think we're up over 45 trees in the arboretum now. So. Okay. So how big when you start these? How big are they? Okay. Well, the prairies in general are very hard on conifers. So we learned the hard way. If you plant the little seedling, they just escaped over the winter, they dry out. Those trees evolve to be covered in snow. Over the winter. We don't get enough snow, so it's really hard on them. So we start our trees about this tall. Okay. They come in a number five pot. Just a little bit. Yeah, a little bit taller than that little guy there. Okay. If you start smaller than that, they're just they won't do well over the winter. Okay. Awesome. And there's no difference between the gray or the green. Just the color. Same species. Just again genetic variation in the coloring and what people want. Some people like the blue. Some people prefer the green. Yeah. Some people or it doesn't matter. It's it's preference. In some yards we go green, blue, green, blue. We've done all kinds of things. I prefer the green ones myself, but the Colorado blue is one of the few that offers a blue hue or tone to the color, so they are nice. Most of them are green, most conifers are green. And why would people pick these for their backyards? Okay, Colorado blues are exceptionally hardy. The deer more or less. We'll leave them alone. They're a little bit prickly. If I see a pungens actually means prickly needle. So they're a good choice for just being hardy and low maintenance. They do grow fast. They're they're pretty indestructible. And how tall? Well, they get big. It very tall and very tall. If you think Dunmore Road around the mall. Marx's those are all Colorado blue spruce in there. And they're they're quite tall and still growing. Okay. Taller than most people will want them in their yards in 60, 80 years. Okay. Yeah. And that is their life long would be like I would expect over a hundred years. Oh, wow. Yeah. If they're taking care of okay. And they have an adequate space to grow in and taking care of means watered. Yeah. Usually if a tree is watered, it'll do well. If the yard is neglected, they'll go into decline. And yeah, we see it quite a bit. And any kind of pests that you would have to worry about with there, there are some bugs that get into them. It's usually not a problem, but it it is becoming more of a problem. There are beetles that are starting to show up in Medicine Hat that we've actually seen. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it for myself, but but generally speaking, they're fairly resilient, okay? They're good trees. And what size do you like to move them out or does it matter. Like so that one's he's a little bit small. So like 200cm. So 6.5ft okay. These trees are usually sold by the foot. So this one is he's just a little slender. He needs to fill out some more. But next year he'll be ready to go. Go. Yeah. This tree up ahead. This is a Norway spruce. So the Colorado blue spruce is native to North American North America. The Norway spruce is from northern Europe. That's the name. So a little bit softer. They're almost identical, really. But there are subtle differences. This one's plenty big enough to sell. Yeah. He's more like he's over nine feet already. So that's a very nice tree. You can always spot a North spruce because it has great big pine cones. Yeah. Quite quite large pine cones. Yeah. He's really pretty. What is he again? Norway spruce. Yeah. They look really nice when they're just starting to bud out. And so how big will he like. Just as big as. Just as big. Yeah. They get they get monstrous. In front of Saint Joseph's home. There's on the left side. There's three really nice Norway spruce. Yeah. And then well back over here. This this is a pine tree we can just walk through here. This is a ponderosa pine. Yeah. So these are off. Also quite common in medicina. You see them everywhere So the ponderosa pine is very hardy. They're very beautiful. You can often point them out when they're mature and large because they have a very orange looking bark. The deer, the deer. If the winter is rough, they will browse on them, believe it or not. But it is a it is a problem. So when they're young, if you have lots of deer, it's a good idea to fence them in the winter because they will they will get get at them. Okay. Look like they take up a lot of space. Do they like. Well they there's they're very similar. They're very similar. So these trees just for comparison this is a Colorado blue again although it's green and these trees were planted at the same time. So oh wow. They grow about the same speed. Yeah. Similar. And again water basically for maintenance. Yes. Water. That's really it. It's best if you can keep the grass away from the bottom of the tree. If you can mulch around the bottom, that's always best for the tree. That's all trees evolved. That's what they prefer. Once they get larger and established and you're happy with the size, if you let the grass grow underneath them, that's fine. The acidity from the pine needles will slowly start to push back the grass. Yeah, you can treat that with dolomite lime, but mulch is definitely best. Rocks. Rocks are not the best, but lots of people do it and you can get away with it. But from the trees perspective, it's not the nicest way of doing things. Okay. And what about when people are fertilizing their plants and lawn fertilizer? Hurts. Doesn't hurt. It's okay. Okay, so in general, anywhere in southeastern Alberta, we have good soil. There's nothing wrong. When there's soil, you don't need to fertilize. If you want to push the tree along and get more growth, extension like get more growth every year. Fertilizer isn't a bad idea. It's impossible to know exactly what you need unless you get a soil test done. Ina. So like we have designer boutique fertilizers with micronutrients, but a general starting place is is a small dose of Miracle-Gro for trees. Okay, okay. Yeah. Just don't don't overdo it. Even a little bit of nitrogen around the base of the tree, the same nitrogen that you fertilize your grass with. Will will help the tree grow along. And you can you can tell trees health like this by this, this bud extension from last year. So that's over six inches. Same here. Yeah. So if it's if you only have a little bit of growth you're it's it's lock in water and nitrogen So how many trees do you decide to bring in of each species? Okay, so those numbers are based on what we sell and what's popular and what we're short on. So at this point in the farm, it's really a matter of economics, what we can afford. So I'd like to fill up the entire farm with trees, but it is very expensive to buy that stock. So we see what people like, what people are buying from the previous year, like at the end of the at the end of the the fall, I guess we'll count all our trees and analyze what we've done for numbers and then plan ahead for the next year. But it's kind of complicated because you're really planning for five years down the road. So it's it's tricky. But we you know what what people plants in the medicine that area is, is all it's all pretty pretty similar from year to year. Like the Colorado blue spruces are a staple. so a tree farm in southern Alberta is going to look different than a tree farm somewhere else. So when you're purchasing trees, you're purchasing them based on like how well they do in wind and drought and yes, yes, Medicine hat are our winters are a little bit more mild than the rest of low Berta and parts of Saskatchewan, so we can get away with some exotic stuff. But generally speaking, the prairies are very much the same, for we can grow black walnuts in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. They don't do so well in Calgary. Edmonton not all the time, but here they do very well. Yeah. So there are exceptions. We have Ginkgo is growing at the farm that do very well. They don't grow anywhere else in Alberta like there. Maybe you can get away with 1 or 2. But here they do just fine. Okay. So we're they call us the zone four B. Now that's recently right. Zone three. Yes. Correct. So we're pushing the limits. We have tulip trees that are wintering here. Those those are zone five trees all day long. But yet they can do just fine on the farm okay. We have Austrian pine growing in Medicine Hat that are, that are probably 50 years old when we're like 65. And those are zone five trees as well. So we can push the limits here. Okay. And there's microclimates within the city. Like Riverside is very famous for being able to grow exotic trees, for example. So I remember when this was just bare land, you had just purchased the land. So what's were kind of like your first steps that you needed to take in terms of getting it ready for a tree farm? Okay. So all of our water comes from the river. The farm is adjacent to the Celsius Gatchaman. So when we first started, we were pumping with solar because I didn't have power out to where we needed the pump. So we we at that time we could pump about 12 gallons a minute. Now we're pumping 200 gallons a minute. So water was the first step. There's in southern Alberta, there's just not enough water to sustain a tree naturally. So if you're not irrigating even the hardiest of trees, they'll go into decline. It's very hard to get a tree to survive without water. So water was the first step. And then the deer. So down by the river and then the coolies, there's lots and lots of deer. So we had to control the deer. So we needed to establish some fencing to keep the deer out those fences. Sometimes we're good, sometimes not. But we're making improvements as we can. Okay, okay. Yeah. All right. How many acres did it? Okay, I know, but the farm is just over 50 acres, so not all of that is nursery. But that's our total land with with the land that we have set aside for the nursery on a five year cycle, we should be able to support 2500 to 3000 trees per year to market. So that's our that's our business model. That's what we're striving to achieve okay. Okay, so these are Scots pines. This is a pine tree that's that's native to northern Europe. They do very well here. They're obviously a cousin of the ponderosa pine. You can tell the difference because the needles are quite a bit shorter than on a ponderosa pine. So you see these trees quite commonly in Medicine Hat. They also get an orange bark as they mature, and they tend to open up as they mature. But we have specimens in here that are, well, basically 3.5m. So very tall, very tall. They're very nice trees. We just love them. They're beautiful. So again like so how old would this one be. These trees right now would be approximately six years. And you can tell some are taller than others. So there is a little bit of variation in the genetics on how fast they grow. Yeah. But you do get you do get quite a bit of growth per year. So this was all growth from last year. And the thing about these trees is they keep their needles for three years. So there's one year of growth two years three years. And then on the inside there's no more needles. Oh wow. That's how that works. So lots of people get concerned because they they're worried that their needles are falling off their tree. That's just the way that they are. Okay. So that leads to why you can't people say, well, you can just prune back your tree and keep it small. Well, you can't actually do that. The trees, they have to be allowed to grow. If they don't grow, they don't have new foliage and they'll go into decline. Okay okay okay. So what you would take these now like are these at the age. These are, these are all ready to go. So as long as they're over 200cm they're ready to go. They sell. Most most nurseries sell by the foot. We sell by the half a meter. So just the bigger the tree, the more expensive it is. Yeah, yeah. This tree like this is a champion. It's got two tags on it. Starting to drop its pollen now, but it was dug with a 54 inch tree spade. So if you were to buy this tree, we would come to your yard, dig the hole for the tree, bring that dirt back to the farm. Come and grab the tree and put it right in the hole. Okay, so they have to be transported one at a time. And that's just because it's such a big tree. It needs a needs a substantial root system. Right? Yeah. If they're a little bit smaller then we can put them in a basket and it'll be in a 40 inch basket. And so we were just talking earlier about so someone buys their new home and they want to do some tree planting. Do you come out and kind of help them with that idea of, you're going to need this much space for this kind of a tree? Absolutely. If we're doing a big yard, that's something that we do do on our website. I have a lot of information on the trees, the size of that maturity and how far to space them apart from each other. So it's something that needs to be it needs to be planned because sadly, and a lot of instances, people that are developing a yard planted trees way too close together, and then ten years down the road, they have to start removing trees because there's not enough space, right? So it needs to be considered. Spacing is very important. Yeah. And then when they come and buy a tree from you, like people can come out here to the tree farm, they can kind of walk like we're walking. And most most of our customers come and visit the farm and we'll go look at several different varieties of trees, and they can pick the ones that they like. That's that's our that's our business model. We're here to So I saw you and the guys getting this, you bush, lilac bush, getting ready to be transported. Where is he going today? Okay, so this this is a common purple lock. So this is the lilacs that you see all over the hill. And in the older parts of town. We've been planting these trees here for a long time. This tree is going to Lake Peletier just south of Swift Current for a for a fella developing his his lake lot. So before this tree leafed out, we went and dug the tree with our tree spade. So we cut all the roots in a cone shape. And then this morning we grabbed the tree and put it in the basket with burlap and tied it up. So this is how we transport the trees. These are 40 inch baskets because they're actually they're pretty big for lilac already. And then this winter we went through and shaped them all nice. Give them a nice esthetic pleasing shape. So we're we're quite proud to take them to their new home. Yeah they're beautiful. So six years old. 5 or 6. Yes yes yes. We've had to do some fills in that block. So approximately us why locks don't actually grow that fast. And they just they just are around so long they get big. But on a yearly basis, like when if you start running for seed, you're lucky if you can get it this tall in one summer. So it's nice to be able to start with a substantially sized shrub. Yeah, yeah. And so they use it both for wind I think. Aren't they like. Yes like a wind shelter. And you can, you can prune them and make an awesome looking hedge. You can let them grow wild. Just let they do spread like they'll get basil sprouts. So they do fill in. Like if you plant them every two meters they'll fill in. In between you can just plant one in your yard and prune it up nice and have it as a specimen shrub. They're they're very versatile and they're hardy and they're tough. The deer don't. The deer don't go super hard on them. They will browse on them a little bit, especially when they're young. They're not I would not describe them as drought tolerant. And you have to water them. And I know that from living up on the hill, I had an old hedge and if I didn't water them, the leaves would start to droop, right? So yeah, yeah, they like water, but for, for springtime flowers and the scent of them, they're very hard to beat. Okay. And so you're going to Swift Current area today. How far do you travel. Will you deliver. We've taken trees east of Regina. We've gone to Saskatoon an hour and a half north of Edmonton. Lots of Calgary, south of the Cypress Hills. Yeah, all over wherever. Wherever. Folks want our trees, we'll take them. Yeah. Awesome. So now we're in kind of a whole different area of the tree farm. What are these trees? Okay, so this is the box elder, or more commonly called the Manitoba maple. So these trees grow natively here in southeastern Alberta. They're most often found in riparian zones. So growing beside a creek where beside the river. And they're very hardy. They're very tough. They don't mind their winters at all. They're they're exceptionally they're hard to kill, actually. So they're good for a lot of folks in a rural setting where you're looking for a shelter belt. Sure. So you put these trees on the perimeter of your property to block the wind, and then on the inside, you can put nicer, more delicate trees. But for for a pioneer species, when you're developing land, this is an excellent selection. Okay. Its biggest drawback is the box elder beetle. The little black and orange beetle. That beetle is everywhere in Medicine Hat, but it's its primary. Most favorite food source is this tree. Second to that, it's green ash. So that's why we have them all over Medicine Hat, and they're getting into people's homes over the winter and whatnot. Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. So they are very good though. And they're, they're a good tree because they grow natively here. Okay. And so how old I mean these guys are really tall. But are they also about the sick age of six years. These trees would be five years old five years. And they were all planted at the same time. So they're they're very similar in size. The box elder grows with a, it grows with a, a whimsical form. It doesn't always grow straight up. It's very susceptible to the wind influence from the wind. So you'll quite see them with a leaning trunk or a gnarly trunk, or twists and turns into them, which which adds character. So if it could be a shelter belt, then it would be does. Like, I don't want to say drought resistance, but it does better, not better. But you don't have to worry as much about water for these guys. In not instance, the green ash would be more drill tolerant than these trees. They are drill tolerant, but they do like water. Okay. Okay. And besides the Beatles, any other pests? Some folks, all maples, make us Samara. So this one's very anxious. He's making his seat. So the little helicopter seeds right for the kids. But some people don't like that. But that's. Is that the sticky? They're not sticky. That's in Poplar. So this is just a seed. So it's something that you have to clean up. But all trees all trees make a mess to a certain degree. Right, right. That's just part of having a tree. But this is not a tree for the city. This is more of a more of a rural shelter belt type tree. Okay. Yeah. We never talked about where the name Rivendell. Okay, so we are we are fans of Tolkien. It's funny because we do get asked where we hide the dwarves and stuff like this. People make fun of us. But. But Rivendell, Tolkien, he was. He was professor of English at Oxford for a long time. So he understood the meaning of words. So Rivendell means an old English river in the valley. Oh, so it was. How appropriate. Yes, it was appropriate. So how long did it take you to find that the name. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Did you pick and choose a few? Oh, Atticus, my son and I, we we toyed around a couple different ideas, but we liked that one the best. Okay. Yeah, it is a good a good name, and it definitely suits the property. It's suited. Yes. Yeah, yeah. If you look at it from above, it makes a lot of sense because it's beautiful when you come down the road and you just see all the tops of those trees and it's gorgeous. Thank you. Yeah. Thank So, Dylan, we've got two different kinds of trees here now. So what? What is this one? Okay. This is the common Karaganda. This tree comes from Russia. It was brought here a long time ago. Yeah. You can see it out in the prairies. Everywhere. Where there used to be a farmhouse. Because there's nice straight lines of Korea. Ghana's. Yeah. It is an actual quite beautiful little shrub. When it flowers, it smells amazing. They're very tough. They're very drought tolerant. They're only species that we have that's more drought tolerant than a common. Karaganda is the Russian olive. They are number one for drought tolerance. But these are excellent trees for out in the country. But even if even in the city, if you put them up nice, they're fine specimen. And there's plenty of cultivars that are based on this species that are even more showy. Okay, okay, okay. And and do you have other ones then. Then this one or this is the only one that you have of this inner potted section. We have other fancier ones. But out in the nursery only the common Karaganda. And we will see the potted ones in a while. We will go there perhaps. Yes, yes. And then what's this guy? So these big guys are Brandon Elms. Brandon Elm is a selection of an American elm that has a very particular vase shaped form, and ours grows with that vase shape. Generally speaking, American elms are very irregular in their growth habit. These are all clones of the same tree. And they're they're all they all have that same shape. So you see these? Well, the Home Depot parking lot is a perfect example of, of of seeing lots of Brandon Elms. That's a good place to go. Look at them when they're mature in front of Earls there's a very big one. So it just it goes up and spreads out. Yeah. But these are these are quite big already. We have to these are so big we have to transplant them with the 54 inch speed. But if you're looking for instant shade we can definitely accomplish that. They've got to be while they're approaching 20ft for sure. So. And again about five years old. Yes. These ones would be six actually. Yeah. These ones. And how old will they get these trees? Oh, God. And I can live for 300 years. Wow. Yeah. So again, Elms live a long time. Make sure when you're planting it that, you know, adequate space where it's going to be. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. Right. So I saw some young men working down there. Okay. You have how many employees? So right now we have a total of seven people, including Atticus and I, my son and I. Yeah. We always hire people from medicine hats. They're members of our community. And it's a big deal to us to do that there. So far, they're usually young men, guys that are willing to work hard, and everything about growing a tree and transplanting a tree is hard work. So we definitely work the wheels off these young boys, but they're exceptionally, exceptionally hardworking, good, good people. And yeah, they're down there pulling weeds and dealing with suckers right now. Great. And are you always looking for help in the summertime or what? Absolutely. We are. It's just it's it's a matter of how much work we can sustain the lineup. Okay, okay, I can, I can only I can only employ so many people, I guess, or afford to employ so many people. Yeah. Yes. So, I mean, when you started this, you were not a tree farmer. You were in a you had a different I was in the energy sector, that's all. That's how I was able to afford doing all of this. Okay. So how did you like you were sitting sitting around with Atticus one night and you're like, son, I think we should start a tree farm. Okay, well, how that came to be is it was bugging me that when we bought the farm, the land, we had some cattle over here. Had to start with my friend Reed, and then the cattle went to market. And it was bugging me that the land was sitting here not doing anything. So I've always liked trees out of kids, had an interest in trees at the time, medicine that did not have a functioning tree farm. So it made sense to us to to try to learn how to do that. And at the start it was very much an experiment. We just we bought 800 seedlings and we thought, well, let's give this a try. And it just it worked very naturally. So we expanded upon it every year. And now it's a it's absolutely out of control. And so you because you were doing both for a period of time. Yes, yes. And so you've kind of also expanded what you do here so that you can be doing this full time. So as of last spring we got so busy, I had to retire from my from my consulting gig and focus solely on the farm. So now we do tree servicing. We have arborist services, we've got a bucket truck. We can go around and prune the trees that we've sold for people. We do that all winter long. We remove great big ginormous trees that people don't want anymore, cracked trees that are that are in decline or have died. So we can we can do all that. We grind stumps. We spray trees, fertilize trees. We started to do a little bit of hard surfacing, lots of irrigation work. Quite often people will buy a substantial amount of trees from us and then need them irrigated. So we can offer those services as well. Okay. Yeah, good for you. Anything tree related? We want to help. You want to do it? Yes. Okay. So now we're looking at a tree that I have never seen before. What is this? Okay. So this is called a Northern acclaim thorn less honey locust. Okay. It's a very hardy cultivar of the honey Lucas that does well in Medicine Hat. It. We've got we've got seven winters on these trees. They're hardy, so we're very proud to offer them. To me. It reminds me of a tree that grows in Africa. It's there still. It's still leafy, you know, like, the leaves aren't fully developed, but it offers a very open, airy canopy. So it lets lots of light come through for your grass so you can grow a beautiful grass underneath it. It has a penalty compound leaf, which is just a whole bunch of little leaflets on a stem. So the actual leaf, the petal is very small, so they blow away in the fall. People really love that. And so then you have a bear. Yes. Okay. But my point is, is the leaves are so small they don't get they don't like pile up on the ground. They often just scatter. And so do they grow longer than this. Yes yes yes yes they. So each each one of these is technically a leaf. So this will extend out and then but the actual petal stays quite small. Oh really. Yes yes yes. They're super fancy. Pretty. We have what's the other one that we have the sunburst honey Locust. It's it's very nice as well but not quite as hardy. So the the Northern acclaim is definitely the toughest honey locust that we can grow in southern Alberta. Okay. And we have we have these trees up over 100mm in caliper. This one's about 80. So we even have bigger examples than this. Okay. Yeah that seems like a really nice, you know a nice size for a backyard because it's not going to take up too much space. Absolutely. But as it grows absolutely. It creates a canopy type. Yes. Yeah. And you know, you can we sell these trees in a number five pod as well. But for most folks it's a lot of work to get a number five potted tree to something this size with a nice straight stem and nice canopy. These trees don't necessarily grow the way that you see them in the nursery. We prune them all to look this way. They're shaped that way, right? So it's a lot of work to get a tree to look like this. With your help, someone can have this in a day, correct? And so when you prune it, that's an interesting comment. So when you prune it this way, now you put it in somebody's yard. Does it stay this pruned or you then help them to kind of that's a good that's a good question Ana. Young trees are very much like children. If you get them well behaved when they're young they'll they tend to stay well behaved when they're older. Yeah. This tree will still need a visit from your local arborist or us if it's our client to help it along as it ages. But if we were to plant this tree in someone's yard, I would. I would say for five years, it'll be just fine on its own. Okay. And if you if you have any even remotely amateur gardening skills, most of it you can accomplish on your own. Once it's basic structure has been established, the tree will just grow. Okay. Sometimes. Sorry. So again, you will though help people if you plant the tree absolutely will follow up with them. And yes, that's that's how we keep her busy or people busy in the winter. That's something that we very much like to do. We don't, we don't. Of course it doesn't have to be us, any any arborist. There's lots of good arborists in Medicine Hat, but we're definitely happy to help. Okay, so if you were to again talk to somebody who's purchased a new home, they're thinking about, you know, their landscaping, what's the environmental benefits of trees, shrubs? Oh, God. Well, instinctually, humans are attracted to treed areas. Okay. Most people don't realize this, but but there's all kinds of studies on it. People. People psychologically prefer an area that has nice, beautiful trees. Were drawn to it. Right? It's a it's a survival mechanism that we've evolved to have. So trees provide shelter. They're usually an indication of water, food, prey, animals and such. So any community that has big lovely trees is a happier community with with more pleasant people. Property values go up, so there's plenty there's all kinds of benefits to planting trees and having big, lovely trees in your yard, even just your property value. There's all kinds of stats on that, like it's a substantial difference if you have a nicely landscaped yard with with plenty of trees versus bare Bear or in Medicine Hat, we have this, this horrible trend of yards that are just gravel. Yeah. So it looks like you're living on the moon. That's it's low maintenance. Yeah, people like that. But it does not provide a calming space to come and relax in. And I think too, it's still people say, well it's low maintenance, but you're still going to get weeds. You're still still going. Weeds are inevitable. You're going to have to do. And now you've got to dig through all the rock correct, to get to the roots of. And eventually those rocks fill up with blowing dirt. Yeah. And it becomes a nasty bed of weeds and whatever else. Nastiness. Yes. Okay, Now we're standing beside a tree that actually has flowers on it. What kind of a tree is this? So this is Honeycrisp apple tree. So this tree makes the same apples that you buy in the grocery store. They do very well here. It's plenty hardy enough for Medicine Hat. And it will make a big, juicy Honeycrisp apple. Awesome. Absolutely. Yes. The flowers are pretty. The flowers are always pretty on fruit trees. They they they're very showy that you can get about a week out of them. This one's already starting to go in decline, but there's some new fresh flowers. But yeah, apple trees are beautiful trees. So how old does an apple tree have to be before it starts producing the actual apple? Oh, you know, if the tree is fertilized, they do make apples when they're very young. Like, even when the trunk as half as big as that. It's not the best for the tree because it's too much weight for the branches. But this tree is definitely capable of making enough apples to fill your apple bowl on your kitchen island. And so when does it start? So after the flowering. Well, after the flowers. So now now the bees are going around and cross pollinating all the trees. So it has to get pollinated from an another apple tree. And then shortly thereafter it will start forming the palm. So you'll see a little ball on there on the spur. And it'll just get bigger and bigger up until fall. And I'll start later on in the summer, and I'll start turning red from, from yellow or green from green, rather. And then, yeah, after apples are always best. After a little bit of a frost, they tend to sweep and sweeten up quite a bit. But the different species do ripen at different points, different times of the fall, early or late summer rather. The hardest part about apple trees for Medicine Hat is keeping the wasps off of your apples, because as soon as the apples start to sweeten up, the wasp will be on them. They'll dig in there because they're a food supply, right? So you always want to have some wasp traps around your around your apple tree. So do you have to plant two apple trees then to have produce the you have to have another apple tree within a couple blocks to get cross pollinated. You don't have to have it in your yard like let's say three three doors down. Your neighbor has a crabapple tree. That's plenty sufficient. Okay. You will get higher yields with the more apple trees you have in a small area, but it's not necessary if you're out in the country and you don't have a neighbor for miles away, you better have two. Yes, Okay. So this is gorgeous. What is this tree? This is an Ohio buckeye. This is a somewhat rare, but becoming more and more popular tree for medicine hat. It's exceptionally hardy. It's almost indestructible. It has a brilliant display of spring flowers. The flowers are actually. These flowers are just starting to open up so they will get more colorful. Another good thing about the Ohio Buckeye is the leaves. When you crush them up, they kind of have an onion garlic y order, which the deer don't like. So the deer tend to stay away from these nice, supple leaves. Yeah. It's called the Ohio buckeye because the nuts the nuts resemble a box I o. That's why it's called the Buckeye. Look at that. Yes, yes. So it does make a fairly big nuts that's surrounded by a spiky husk. It's one way to identify the tree. And so we recommend having a mulched area underneath these trees. And just let the nuts fall into that mulch and just leave it be. Just just let it go natural. And they're not going to start up more trees. Right. They're actually very good germinated. So if they get anywhere that's in a down period, they probably will germinate. But yeah. Yeah, the tree is is really quite beautiful. So. And this is, is this is a really large type of tree isn't it. I would describe the Ohio Buckeye as a medium sized tree. So how how tall. I couldn't give you the exact number. I know, but it doesn't get anywhere nearly near as big as an American elm or a green ash on the on the near the hospital. On the hill. The biggest trees that I know of in Medicine Hat live there, and they're hardly over the rooftop of the of the home of the house. So medium sized. Okay. They have a very they grow with a very round habit. They often look like a soccer ball on top of a post. That's that's just their growth habit. Just like this tree. History. This one been pruned? This hasn't been shaped at all. We would have just cleaned off the bottom branches. But like on on the crown of the tree, we did not shape it at all. Okay, so this is a very typical shape of Ferneyhough Buckeye. And I bet you lots of trees and birds love them. The birds would love us. Yes, absolutely. The bees are. The bees are. It's full of bees right now. So this tree Aina is a snowbird. Hawthorn. It puts on a very beautiful display of flowers. This particular hawthorn is much tougher, in our opinion, than the Toba hawthorn. This tree was developed in Morton, Manitoba. So it's made in Canada, so to speak. It's a cultivar of the, the hawthorn for which there's many different varieties of hawthorn. But this one does well and it has a beautiful flower. They say it it's thorn less, but it does have a pretty vicious. It lives up to its name. Let's just say it that way. So when you're gardening around this tree, you have to watch over. Be careful, which is beautiful. It is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. And so that one two is it pruned or it kind of naturally grows. Hawthorns kind of grow very wild like, so they have to get pruned if you want to keep it in a nice shape. They have very bad growth habits. So they do need a lot of maintenance. Okay. So is there any trees that you would say not to plant in Medicine Hat or area. Yes. We have two trees that we're not big fans of. One is the Siberian Elm, which it's almost impossible to find now, but in the old days it was widely distributed by the government as shelter belt trees. The tree is highly problematic. It gets big clusters of dieback and just doesn't look nice. There's still a lot on the hill and we spend a lot of time removing those trees. The other tree we don't really recommend to anybody is the hybrid poplar, and the only reason for that is after 2025 years, the tree starts to go into decline and loses big branches. The top of the tree will just die back. But by that time, their massive trees and it costs a lot of money to remove them. So we definitely prefer the plains cottonwood, the sergeant cottonwood, the native cottonwood or poplar that grows here in Madison at over any hybrid poplar because they can live for well over 150 years and be healthy and be healthy. Yeah, it will require maintenance, but the whole tree is not going to be dead in 40 years. Right. And the Russian olive. So Alice thought that the Russian novel was a shrub, but it's really not. It's a tree as well. It's definitely a tree. I might get some flock for saying this, but we're big fans of the Russian olive. There's a movement trying to have it declared an invasive species. Yeah, and granted, it is invasive, especially if there's water. It does outcompete every other tree. But we're proponents of trees. I'd rather have trees than have nothing. And it smells beautiful. It without a doubt in flower. The Russian olive is the nicest smelling tree that we have on the nursery. It smells better than anything else, hands down. Yeah, it's very, very sweet and pungent. It's very much like. Like a lady's perfume. I mean it like it's. It's, well, way sweeter than that. Yeah. You can, you can smell it from, like, a long ways away. Yeah. It doesn't flower long. And the flowers are just petite. They're so small. But the scent is amazing. But that tree, that tree is by far the hardiest tree that grows in this. In this climate. Okay, okay. What's your most rewarding thing that has happened on the tree farm? The most proud of. Oh, well, we we like to help people build beautiful yards and make our communities more verdant and have nice green areas. That's like, this is semi-arid desert again. So having trees is a good thing. That's that's what we're here to do. Okay. All right. Okay. You do a good job of it. Thank you. Beautiful. All right, so now we're in the potted area of the tree farm. So Dylan, because they're plotted, does that mean that they're younger? Okay, so in a lot of cases for our clients, we can't get, let's say, the skid steer into their backyard because of fences. So we try to offer large trees that are in pots that we can carry in by hand. So these are all trees that are bigger than what's commonly found at the big box stores. So we have we have options for folks. So we put them in these big AirPods. These pots actually come from Italy. And Graham is as big as we can. Usually they sell before I can get them to the size that I want them to. But we're expanding every year trying to get more and more stuff. Okay. So these are actually our second biggest pot. But that trees that tree is already close to 40mm in calipers. So that's a that's a big honey locust. Yeah. Beside it beside it is a is a tulip tree believe it or not. And again next to it that the genco is just starting to. But out now. Very little tree too. There's a little bit of. Yeah. And the flower will look like a tulip. It does. They're absolutely phenomenal trees but they don't. They're not like I can't think of one single tulip tree in Medicine Hat. Yeah, yeah, I, I don't know of any Ginkgo is neither that we haven't planted. And then this is a maple here. These are all maples here. So they're at different. These these particular this particular maple came from Manitoba. So it's a little bit behind this tree. Spent the winter at our farm. So it's just starting to wake up. So they these trees are still they're still developing their leaves. So somebody comes out. They want to buy a tree from you. Okay. Take us through. Kind of like the steps then. Of what? What you do. Well, if they have not been to our website, I will invite them out to the farm to have a look at the different trees that we have, depending on what size they want. So first we'll start with the asking for a conifer tree or a tree with leaves a deciduous tree. So they want a fruit tree a flowering tree, big tree, small tree. We'll ask those basic questions and hone in on on what they're actually looking for. Quite often, though, once they walk through the farm, they've totally changed their mind and they like that tree. So we just offer a lot of different options. And you, we say jokingly, the tree will call to you, the tree that you're looking for will call to you. But it's kind of funny because it seems that that's actually how it works. Okay. On the website, there is a lot of resources we're trying to add to it as fast as we can to help people decide, like they want to know how big the tree is, what its full color is. So we have a lot of information there. So then they pick their tree, you then take the tree to their house, or if it's like this, they can take the tree to their home. So there's there's a lot of options there, Ina, sometimes the client will want to do it themselves. Sometimes they'll just will, will load up this tree, put it in their truck, and we'll never see him again. Okay. Sometimes their landscaper will come to the farm and pick up the trees. Sometimes they'll hire us to bring the tree to their home and they'll plant it. Sometimes we do all the work. So we we do prefer to plant our own trees to to just ensure that it's done proper. And the tree has the best chance of surviving. But we'll work. We work with the client whenever they want, but in actuality, like a tree this big, that's beyond the means of most people. Like they don't want to dig that hole. Correct? Then they can't carry the tree neither. They don't. They don't want to. And it won't fit in a regular pickup truck. So. Yeah. So we'll we'll help in any way that's that's necessary. Same with the caliper trees. We have country folks with access to tractors and skid steers and they'll do it all themselves. But for most people like the trees way 500 pounds. So you can't you can't realistically do it without equipment. Yeah. So we're here to help and whatever is required. And it starts with selecting the tree. The, the the planting process is dependent on the tree that you pick okay. Okay. So what's your vision like. This is I feel huge. What's your vision for the tree farm. Are you happy where you're at? What are you. Oh, no. We're very much still in a state of growth. We have to get our tree numbers up and we're developing people. So we're we're on a trajectory that is heading the way we want to be, but basically we want to be a one stop shop for trees and tree service work. So if you're looking for a tree in southeastern Alberta, we want to help you make that decision on which tree is best for your yard, how many trees to plant and how to plant them. So we want to do we want to be able to offer all of those services to people and develop a beautiful yard. We definitely want to specialize in a large trees. We want to be able to bring trees to to people's yards that are already 20ft tall and up to 120mm in caliber. So like a big tree five times as big as that tree, we want to be able to do that. And we're we're on our we're on our well on our way to be able being able to accomplish that. We took a tree to the medicine at golf course last night. That was an American element, 120mm in caliber. It's a big tree. Right. And they that's what they want. They don't want to start with the little tree like this. Yeah. What else can I say about that? The arborist work is definitely picking up. We were busy this winter, so we were very, very happy about that. And very pleased to be helping folks prune their trees, remove their trees, grind the stumps and get ready for replacement tree in the spring. So that's that's awesome. So it's a real seasonal like it's a it's a year long job, but very specific jobs at specific seasons. That is correct. That is very much correct. Ina a lot of the pruning can get done year round, but some of it it's best to do when the tree is dormant. We plant trees all summer long. That said, spring and fall are usually the best time. Some of the some of the trees actually prefer to be dug in the fall rather than in the spring. So there's there's different stages, just like the seasons. There's different jobs for different parts of the year. So you talked about your the inventory and people going to your website. What is your website? You can find us at Rivendell Tree Farm to okay. You can give me a call. It's just me answering the phone. Sometimes that's a bit of a problem, but when we're busy working, I'm still very much with the crews getting the work done, so I can't always answer the phone. So it's it's for a customer to reach out. Check out our website. There's a contact form on there with their email address. Or you can call. And then this time of the year, we have clients come out to the farm in the evening or weekends or best. I try to stay at the farm on the weekends so we can show folks all the trees and help them decide what's best for them. Okay, Well, where are you located? How do people find the farm? So again, on our website I've got a nice map with directions, but basically we're two turns past echo Dale. Park down the wholesome road. Go past echo Dale, take your second right hand turn and head north down to the river and you can't miss us. So a lot of people know the Range Road 70 as the wider road. It used to be called the wider road. So that's where we are. We're at. Yes. We are so fortunate to have such a beautiful tree farm so close to town, I love it. Thank you for your time. I think those lilacs need to get swift current. Yes, we got to get on. Get them on. Okay. Thanks so much. Thanks. Thank you. Up.