Monthly Archives: March 2013

Spring is in the air…NOT!!

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Last year (2012) at this time on this day March 22 – it was 24 degrees Celsius and sunny.  I was wearing short sleeves and outside soaking up the much needed sun and snapping pictures of the ever changing landscape here.  This year (2013) – March 22 – it is 2 degrees Celsius and overcast with the occasional sun popping out – which I guess is better than the past week with snow flurries and grey days.  I have not been taking pictures cause everything is covered with snow and it has been windy to boot.  Who wants to trudge outside in that?  Having said that the sun has come out and I stepped out to take some pictures of the nursery as the snow slowly fades away.  It is cold and windy and the only one who enjoyed it was my dog! Spring is in the trees – the buds are there – just waiting to pop.  I couldn’t get into the fields as they are frozen and snowy.  However – it will change soon and then all of a sudden we will be a bustle of activity.  There will be alot of changing around here this year and it makes me kind of sad – which was I haven’t been blogging lately (that and the internet was down for a week).  We are moving our nursery this Spring which will make for lots of impromptu sales and liquidation offerings as well as getting our new facility under way – which will be exciting.  We will sell, move, transplant over 30,000 trees – which to my knowledge has never been done.  And this is exciting – cause I don’t know how we are going to do it!  But as with everything here at PAO we manage to get the job done.  The crews are out planting some 20 foot pines today and the phones have started to ring – so here we go…..

The lower yard where the smaller plant material goes

The lower yard where the smaller plant material goes…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shade house and the loading dock

The shade house and the loading area (and my dog)

The healin bed

The healin bed

Evergreens in the island bed

Evergreens in the island bed

Entrance to the tree blocks and the the field

Entrances to the tree blocks and the fields

The island bed

The island bed

A large Dawn Redwood ready to be moved

A large Dawn Redwood ready to be moved

More of the tree blocks

More of the tree blocks…

Evergreens in the laneway

Evergreens in the laneway

Large White Pine in specimen box

Large White Pine in specimen box

Even the rock bridge has to be moved

Even the rock bridge has to be moved!

My dog not looking to me to come into the office

My dog not listening to me to come back into the office!

Goderich Tree Tagging

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I have returned to the world of blogging – finally!  The winter has been busy planning for Spring 2013 as well as wrapping up some of our last years installations.  We have had two months to prepare and we are no where near ready.  If we have an early March like last year it is going to be crazy.  The hiatus from blogging is not because I haven’t been working on it is that I had to change my platform due to the amount of pictures that I put on my blog.  But that’s what my blog is all about – pictures of the ever changing scenery around here.  As we specialize in rare and unique products and rare and unique installations – they need to be photographed!.  We spent most of November and December and into January doing a large installation of huge trees in the town of Goderich.  On August 21, 2011 an F3 tornado ripped through this pretty little town.  The winds were up to 360 kilometers per hour and it lasted only 12 seconds.  In that short time it killed one man and destroyed homes and businesses and changed the lives of the people of Goderich forever.  The pictures are quite devastating.  The Courthouse Square Park is in the centre of town and is the hub of the town and is where people came to gather.  It was a beautiful spot with lots of big trees for people to sit under in the summer.  That is where the tornado whipped through and destroyed all the trees.  Thus with all re-building going on the people of the town wanted the park to be re-built as well.  That’s where we came in.  We were approached by the Town to help re-build the park with large trees.  And that we did.  Fifty foot trees came back to the centre of the town!  It is started with a huge parade of trees coming into the town – escorted by fire trucks and police cars.  It was nice to see people gathered for the first tree being put into the ground, Some people were actually crying.  So for the months of November and December we trekked back and forth to Goderich with more trees.  176 of them to be exact.  It was unique and very satisfying project that made us feel good about helping re-build the town.  The townsfolk were wonderful and very supportive.  The Town of Goderich with whom I had to deal with were just as wonderful as well.  In an attempt to some up the past few months work and a repeat visit in the Spring I will put a gallery of pictures together.  I took thousands of pictures from the beginning of this project until the end.  It will be quite exciting to go back in the Spring and take pictures of the final project.