We know how frustrating it can be trying to find reasonably priced, good quality trees to start your own perennial venture. That was one reason we started our own tree nursery here at Red Fern Farm. We grew trees to meet our own needs. We ended up selling the surplus trees and eventually developed it into a full time business. In 2023 we happily laid down our tree nursery business so we could concentrate on other parts of the farm.
There are now other good nurseries offering good tree stock. Canopy has taken the bulk of the work and offers great trees in numbers and varieties we could not match. Other, smaller nurseries are available too:
Canopy Farm Management with locations in Illinois and Wisconsin. You will see links to this nursery on our website. Canopy offers the service of tree planting, their care, harvest support and help with marketing crops. They also have a large nursery. We have been involved in helping them develop good nursery practices and providing good genetics for their trees. They offer potted and bare-root trees. https://CanopyNursery.com/
Olivia’s Orchard is located near Parnell, Iowa and run by Elana Gingerich. This small nursery offers chestnut, pawpaw and other fruit trees. Her website is at
https://www.oliviasorchard.org/ . We are proud of the excellent trees that Gingerich now offers, especially her pawpaws. She sources much of her seed from our farm but has also developed some of her own unique varieties.
LOLA’S NURSERY is located in Muscatine, Iowa. It is a small nursery specializing in chestnut trees. The manager, Drew Westberg, learned from us good nursery practices. You can call him at 319-350-2105 to check on availability.
Plate Specialty Seedlings is located in Grinnell, Iowa and managed by Andy Plate. This nursery specializes in high quality potted chestnut seedlings. You can call 641-990-7350, email andy@plateseedlings.com or visit the website at https://www.plateseedlings.com/
Route 9 Cooperative Located in Ohio and managed by Greg and Amy Miller, father and daughter. They offer excellent genetics with their chestnuts trees. Do be cautious as they are in an area with Chestnut Gall Wasp and Chestnut weevils. https://route9cooperative.com/
Honeyberry USA in Minnesota is an excellent source of good quality honeyberry plants or Haskap and information on this wonderful crop. This is the nursery where we order all our honeyberry plants from. They are very nice people to work with. http://www.honeyberryusa.com/
Oklahoma Chestnut, Fruit & Nut LLC with Steve Lucas. He is selling beautiful looking chestnuts down in Oklahoma. Reach out to him via his facebook page. An Oklahoma Chestnut, Fruit & Nut LLC
Other nurseries we use for hard to find plants or seeds:
Richters Herbs, Canada (seeds only) https://www.richters.com/
There are a lot of other fine nurseries, but these are the ones we are familiar with and can vouch for.