This past week I have been on a quest of sorts to locate a white oak tree, or "Quercus alba," here in New Zealand. One will be planted in Ohio to honour my sister Beth, so I thought we would do the same halfway across the world here at Struan Farm. The tree symbolises peace and serenity.
I quickly learnt that this might be easier said than done after starting to check around a few of our usual sources for trees. But something rather amazing happened.
I emailed Appletons Tree Nursery, a commercial supplier and family owned business located outside of Nelson, explaining my desire to purchase one white oak tree and the reason behind it. The next day I was contacted by Keith Appleton, a seriously lovely man. It turns out that they too love American Oaks, particularly Quercus alba, but it is quite rare here in New Zealand. They have propagated seedling trees from two trees that are in the country. One produced rather unattractive progeny, but the second produced beautiful trees. All of those raised by Appletons had been sold a year or so ago to another nursery, Harrisons, in Feilding here on the North Island. By coincidence, Appletons was in the process of having those trees shipped back to them so they could plant them and propagate more. However, Keith had been in touch with Harrisons on my behalf, and had arranged for them to sell me one of the trees. I rang Harrisons and the tree will be delivered to Piopio in early July when they do their tree deliveries in the region.
I am seriously touched by the kindness of these tree people. They didn't know me, but they've helped me acquire this special tree to honour my sister. Given what white oaks represent, can I just say that we should all be planting them! When the tree arrives here for planting I will share that with you. In the meantime we need to figure out where it is going to go. It will need to be a special place. John's got just a few trees to plant (and fence) this winter...
Great news!
Posted by: Katherine Scott | 06/01/2019 at 11:18 AM