Field Notes – June at Spring Grove Nursery

We are kicking off the month of June with our crews split between pruning, staking, and weeding. The weather this season has been beautiful so far! In the next few weeks, the main focus of our crew will be pruning Oaks. We start by un-staking 2nd & 3rd year trees, letting them “flop” around a bit, pruning the tops to reduce canopy weight, re-staking as needed. Because of these extra steps, Oaks take the most time of any genus we grow. Here is a link to some videos & posts from previous seasons about our Oak pruning process:

Pruning Oaks

Growing Oaks at SGN Trees

Our Oak blocks always look AMAZING once this process is complete, and it’s one of our favorite spots in the nursery! Now is the time of year we can really see what’s shaping up in the field, what’s growing great, and what needs a little extra attention with pruning and staking. We couldn’t be happier with the crops we have coming on for the next few seasons. Here are a few video clips of our staking machine in action over the last few years. Becky’s Dad built this custom staking add-on to our tractor. It has staked thousands of trees over the years for us and works perfectly for what we need!

Staking SGN Oaks Video 2023

Staking SGN Oaks Video 2022

For more videos throughout the year, check out our Instagram page @springgrovenursery

Besides working on Oaks, we will be busy pruning and staking in other tree blocks as well, like Maples, Honeylocust, Crabapples, Baldcypress, and Elms. Eventually every tree in the nursery will get some special attention. And since it is June, the “Juneberries” (AKA serviceberries) are going to be ripe & delicious in just a few weeks! We have enjoyed snacking on them while out and about in the nursery over the years. We are looking forward to harvesting a basket or two to make some yummy serviceberry crisp and jam! Here is a fascinating blog post Maggie put together about this important tree in our landscape:

The History of Serviceberry Trees

We are also excited to host TWO events to celebrate the Solstice:

• Friday, June 19th from 6-8pm we are hosting our Leaf by Leaf Book Club where we’ll be reflecting on Walden by Henry David Thoreau
• Saturday, June 20th from 6-8pm we will have a Summer Solstice Yoga and Meditation in the trees with local yoga instructor Abby Jackman!

You can add these events to your calendar and RSVP through the links above!

And before the month of June ends, we are excited to celebrate Pollinator Week from June 22-28th. You can read more about Pollinator Week and look through some beautiful photos of our trees in bloom here on our blog!

In between field work & Serviceberry snacking, and community events we are loading and shipping out trees daily.  We have gorgeous B&B and container native, shade, ornamental, evergreen, and fruit trees available above-ground for planting projects, and they all look healthy and fresh on drip irrigation – ready to plant & grow!