Fall Tree Color

Fall is officially here. What happened to the Summer?

The turning of the leaves on the shade trees should get you motivated to add some trees that will give your landscape some beautiful color in the fall of the year.

I was out this sunny Sunday morning taking a few pictures of 2 types of Maples Arbor Hill Tree Farm grows & sells.
Pictured are the Fall Fiesta Sugar Maple & the Autumn Blaze Maple.

The Fall Fiesta has an orange fall color & the Autumn Blaze is red.

Both trees are considered a rounded shape tree. Both giving good shade. The color of the leaves is green in the summer.

The Autumn Blaze will grow faster than the Fall Fiesta. We are also selling a type of pyramidal Autumn Blaze called an Armstrong Maple. The Armstrong Maple will stay narrower at a mature size, but keeping the characteristics of an Autumn Blaze Maple.

Arbor Hill Tree Farm has various sizes of shade trees to select from.

Fall is also a great time to add evergreens for great color & beauty all winter.We have many evergreens to pick from. Customers can walk through our fields & hand pick from thousands.

Give us a call, e-mail us or Stop out & see us. Fall hours are Sat 8-5, Sunday 10-3 or days & evenings during week are by chance or appt.

Thanks, Jerry Knutson
Arbor Hill Tree Farm
jknut@visi.com
651-459-5026

Tree Removal & Disposal

Arbor Hill Tree Farm removes trees as well as planting new trees.

Recent storms in the Twin Cities has caused tree damage to many communities. Arbor Hill Tree Farm has the ability to remove damaged trees & replant new trees to replace damaged trees. Cost for removal of existing damaged trees depends on how large the trees are. Please contact us for an estimate.

We have a great selection of shade trees as well as evergreens to help replant & replace old trees.

Washington County Fair

Arbor Hill Tree Farm will be an exhibitor for the first time ever at the 2012 Washington County fair August 1st to the 5th in Lake Elmo, Mn. We hope to see you there. We will be displaying 5 varieties of evergreen trees that we grow & sell at our tree farm in Cottage Grove. We will also have 1 shade tree & have available our current tree specials price list & fall flier. Both items can also be accessed on my Tree specials page & my price list page.
Thankfully we have been very fortunate to be getting adequate rainfall this growing season. Other parts of the nation have not been so lucky.
As we get into later summer & fall, now is a good time to start planning your tree planting projects. We have a great supply of trees to select from.Since we are the grower of most of what we sell, you are able to walk through the fields & pick from literally thousands of trees.
I have included an interesting picture I took this spring as the evergreen trees were budding. This picture is a close up of a White Spruce. The red color is spruce cones that are forming on the tree. It almost appears as though it has Christmas decorations on it.
Hope to see you at the fair, Jerry

Abundant Evergreens

Spring at Arbor Hill Tree Farm has been very busy. The rainfall we have recieved to date has been very beneficial to the evergreeens we grow. Last fall was a very dry season, but thankfully the extremely mild winter we had prevented damage to the trees.

We want to thank all our customers for there business. This has been a record year for sales at Arbor Hill Tree Farm.

We have been busy with yearly field maintenance & pruning as well as keeping up with tree planting & installations at customers homes.

We typically are about 1 week out from the time an order is placed till we can have the trees planted in your yard.

Summer will be here in just a few days, but we continue to have a great selection of trees & can plant all summer into late fall.

Because we grow most of all our own trees, selection is always exellent. Varieties we grow include Black Hills Spruce, Colorado Blue & Green Spruce, White Pine, Austrian Pine, Balsam Fir, Tamarack, Canadian Hemlock, Fat Albert Spruce, Black Spruce, Pyramidal Techney Arborvitae & Serbian Spruce. Many sizes are available from potted, burlapped & tree spaded sizes.

Take a look at our website for Tree Specials. Also we have a page dedicated to each tree we sell if you are not familiar with the trees characteristics. Our installation methods page describes the different methods we use for planting & installing trees.

We look forward to helping you with your tree needs for your landscape project. We are typically open Saturday 8-5, Sunday 10-3, and weekdays & evenings are by appointment or chance.

Thanks, Jerry Knutson

March Tree Savings

February & March is a great time to place your Tree Orders for several reasons.
BIG SAVINGS FOR ORDERS PLACED IN FEBRUARY & MARCH.
Arbor Hill Tree Farm is discounting 5 & 6 ft Colorado & Black Hills Spruce by $70.00 each.
Also save $70.00 per tree on 6-9 ft White Pine, Balsam Fir & 3in. Diameter Autumn Blaze Maple Trees.
EARLY PLANTING DATES.
By placing your tree orders in February & March, you will get on our installation schedule & an early planting date.
GREAT SELECTION
Many of our customers like to walk through our fields & hand pick the trees they want. Coming out early for the biggest selection of trees available.
MILD WEATHER
The mild winter & lack of snow has made walking through our fields to pick out trees pleasant & easy.
WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO ORDER YOUR TREES NOW FOR THE BEST SAVINGS OF THE YEAR!
Tree orders in February & March can be placed in 2 ways:
Phone Orders-Place order now by contacting Jerry at 651-459-5026. Orders can be processed by e-mail or regular mail now & customers can come out at a later date to pick out trees. In Person- Please call ahead to set up an appointment to visit Arbor Hill Tree Farm.
All orders require a 50% deposit. Payments method by cash or checks are preferred, but we do accept visa, discover & Mastercard. THIS OFFER EXPIRES 4-1-2012.
Arbor Hill Tree Farm will be at the Minneapolis Home & Garden Show at the Minneapolis Convention Center from February 29th till March 4th. We will be at booth 1244. Please stop by and see us.

Natures Artistry

Click On Any Image To View Pictuers

This past weekend was a great opportunity to get out and enjoy some beautiful scenery made by nature.

The warm days have melted the little snow we have, adding moisture to the air. The mild nights & lack of wind made conditions ideal for frost to form on the trees. Close up it appeared as though the trees were growing fur.

I think the moisture in general should be beneficial to the trees, given the lack of moisture we had going into winter.

I walked through our fields at Arbor Hill Tree Farm & took several pictures. You can see them by clicking on the images on the right side of the page.

Imprelis Damaged Trees

Imprelis is a chemical manufactured by DuPont. It was used by lawn maintenance companies for broadleaf weed control in lawns or turf.Unfortunately Imprelis has proven to be very toxic to trees, particularly evergreen trees.
Thousands of trees have been affected by the chemical. Many of the trees have either died or are damaged enough that they will also need to be replaced.
Arbor Hill Tree Farm has had many inquiries about replacement of trees damaged by Imprelis. We have a large inventory of many sizes and varieties of evergreens growing in our fields. Typically we burlapp evergreen trees from 4-12 feet tall. This size of tree can be planted using out ASV. This machine is approximately 5 feet wide, so we can get into an area that has limited access.The ASV is equipped with a smooth rubber track , so it is very turf friendly during the tree installation process.
Evergreen trees 13 feet & larger usually require a much larger root ball, so for that size tree we use a truck mounted tree spade. Due to the large size of this equipment, we are limited to where we can plant this size tree.
Both the methods of planting trees we use can viewed by going to our Installations Methods web page.
Please contact Jerry at Arbor Hill Tree Farm for specific information on your particular site.

Mild Minnesota Winter

The holidays are behind us and a new year has begun. Just like alot of the U.S., Minnesota is having an extremely mild winter. I think the warm temperatures we are experiencing will help the trees in general weather the winter better given the lack of moisture we had in the fall of 2011.

Large Spruce TreeWhen we have an extremely dry fall followed by a winter without much snow cover the frost tends to go much deeper and that is harsher on trees. Hopefully by spring we will get out of this dry spell and back to some normal precipitation conditions.

Given the mild conditions, now is a great time to get out and do the pruning on your trees that you did not get done in the fall. The general rule for timing of pruning is if the month has an “R” in the spelling it is safe to prune. With the leaves off the shade trees, it is also easier to see the actual branching of the tree to make your decisions what to prune off.

Of course it is never too early to start thinking about and planning your spring tree planting projects. We have alot of information on our website about the trees we grow for sale at Arbor Hill Tree Farm as well as the services we offer to help you with your project.

We will also be an exhibitor at the Minneapolis Home and Garden Show at the Minneapolis Convention Center that takes place Feb. 29 – March 4th. We will be at booth 1244, so plan on stopping by to see us.

It’s Christmas time at Arbor Hill Tree Farm!

Christmas tree sales are well under way and now with snow on the ground, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We are selling Fraser Fir Christmas Trees ranging from 6 feet to 10 feet with prices starting at $59. We have transformed our pole barn into the “North Pole Barn,” where we are selling the trees!

The enclosed structures helps to keep the snow off the trees and makes the adventure of picking out the perfect tree a little more comfortable for our visitors. As people walk through the rows of trees they can enjoy the rich smell of the Frasers and hear the sounds of the season as Christmas music plays on our stereo.

The main attraction every Saturday in the “North Pole Barn,” however, has been Santa Claus! Santa arrived the Saturday after Thanksgiving and although it was wet and mucky outside he still had some young wide-eyed visitors who shared their magical Christmas wishes with him. Santa came back last Saturday and saw even more youngsters eager to get a chance to meet with the big guy.

Although he’s very busy, Santa will return one last time this Saturday, December 10, from 11am-3pm. Parents are encouraged to bring their cameras to capture the special moments. Hot cider and cookies are also provided on Saturdays to satisfy your sweet tooth and keep your soul just a littlebit warmer!

We’ve been having a lot of fun out here at the tree farm now that Christmas has fallen upon us! We’ve worked hard to make your Christmas Tree shopping experience as enjoyable as possible; along with the Christmas trees in the “North Pole Barn” we are also selling Christmas Wreaths, door sprays, mini living Christmas trees, and evergreen center pieces. So come out and see us and start a new Christmas tradition for you and your family!

Merry Christmas!

Fall Tree Care And Maintenance

Evergreen and shade trees in the late fall will benefit from watering thoroughly. The lack of moisture this fall in the Twin Cities Metro area has left many trees needing additional moisture so they will have sufficient moisture for the winter.

The best way to water your trees is a slow trickle, so the water will stay by the root ball and thoroughly saturate the entire root structure. How long you water is dependent on the size of the tree and the type of soil you have at your site.

Trunks of shade trees should also also be wrapped with a tree wrap to prevent sun scalding. Start at the base of the tree and continue up the trunk till the tree starts to branch. Fruit trees are also susceptible to rodent girdling so use a wire mesh up about two feet to prevent that. Continue reading