Press Release
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(603) 271-3136 | shelly.angers@dncr.nh.gov
NH State Forest Nursery has been a ‘Buy Local’ resource for more than 100 years
While visions of sugarplums dance in the heads of many at this time of year, others are dreaming – with the 2022 NH State Forest Nursery catalog in hand – of making their wishes come true by planting seedlings from the Nursery next spring.
Whether they are planning to add some landscaping details to a yard, undertaking a major forestry project or something in between, customers will need to place orders quickly before stock sells out.
Last year, sales of Christmas tree species, specifically balsam and Fraser fir, sold out by the end of December and early January. By the end of January 2021, sales were up more than 50 percent compared to the same time in 2020, and back-to-back record sales years in 2020 and 2021 resulted in a 31 percent increase in sales since the 2019 season.
While Christmas tree species may be what comes to mind when thinking of what the N.H. State Forest Nursery offers, they are only 20 percent of seedlings sold there. Fifty different species of tree and shrub seedlings are available, including several varieties of fir, spruce, pine, cedar, oak and maple as well as black walnut and hemlock. More than a dozen conservation species, from aronia berry to wetland rose, are also grown at and sold by the Nursery.
Seedlings are sold as bare-root stock, not in pots, and are packaged in sets of 10, 25, 100 or more, depending on the species ordered.
This year, a new specialty package of pollinator species is available, joining more than seven popular packages that include species designed to support songbirds/wildlife, screening/windbreaks and wetlands, a Christmas tree sampler and more. Each specialty package includes five seedlings of five different species that are color-coded for easy identification.
The State Forest Nursery, located in Boscawen, has been providing seedlings since 1910, growing them from seed, on site, in 16 acres of irrigated, outdoor seedbeds. Because seedlings are not imported or transplanted from other sources, they are well adapted to New Hampshire’s climate.
More than 95 percent of the seed planted at the Nursery comes from local sources, ensuring that seedlings are well-adapted to the New Hampshire climate; two-thirds of the species sold are native to New Hampshire.
To download the 2021 New Hampshire State Forest Nursery catalog, visit nh.gov/nhnursery.
Established in 1910, the NH State Forest Nursery’s mission is to grow and distribute quality, bare-root seedlings for forestry, conservation and education purposes. The Nursery facility and program are administered by the NH Division of Forests and Lands, which is part of the N.H. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. For more information, visit nh.gov/nhdfl.