View of our front yard from our roof. The trees are taking over.
Welcome!
Welcome to Sherwood's Forests Tree Farm
We grow and sell hardy trees for the Canadian Prairies.
What are you looking for?
I have an acreage or farm, and want to block the wind. Start with Shelterbelts
I have a city lot, and I’m tired of living in a goldfish bowl. Two options: Skinny Trees or Hedges
I want to grow some of my own food; to take steps toward self sufficiency Make your yard productive. Start with Edible Landscaping
I have a lake lot, and all the bush is dying. What can I do? This one is messy and depends in part on how much room you have. But start here: Poplar Forest Rejuvination
The world is all yellow in the fall and white and grey in the winter. I’m looking for more colour! Try Fall Colour and Winter Interest
I’ve got 5 acres of grass, and don’t know what to do. Start here:Design but you have a lot to learn, and won’t do it in a single year. For this year think shelterbelts around the edges (see above).
I want as close to zero maintenance as possible. It won’t be zero, but you can minimize it by using what already grows here. Naturalization
What kinds of trees?
Lots! Over a hundred species and cultivars. Here’s an overview:
Types
- Conifers -- pines, spruces, firs, larches, cedars, junipers.
- Ornamentals -- These come in larger sizes, usually 6-10 feet tall in a 7-15 gallon pot. If you ask in fall I can often find something for you to plant the following spring. I bring in 10 of this and 20 of that. Birches, crabs, maples, oaks, walnut, poplars, willows, flowering plums, roses, lilacs, ninebarks
- Fruits -- Apples, plums, pears, cherries, and, for the adventurous, apricots. We also carry a variety of berry bushes: raspberry, blueberry, saskatoons, currants, gooseberries, buckthorn, nanny berries, high bush cranberries.
Uses
- Shelterbelts Willow, poplar, spruce and pine.
- Naturalization Thirty species native to at least parts of Alberta.
- Xeriscaping -- Low Maintenance Close to plant and forget. Tried and tested here on the prairies.
- Landscaping Specimen trees, hedges, privacy trees, shade trees, winter interest, fall colour...
Sizes
- Seedlings. Tiny. 4-12 inches tall. Cheap. Easy to plant. Hard to care for. Only available in the first few weeks of spring. Start here. Now. Today. Ordering
- 1 liter to 6 liter pots. Small, 16 inches to 4 feet tall. Affordable. Plant with a shovel. Miss with the mower.
- 15 liter to 40 liter pots. Midsize. 3 to 10 feet tall. Cheaper than most. 2 wheelbarrow hole, but if you’re doing a lot of them get a 2 foot auger.
Who buys from us?
- Acreage owners whose dreams and visions are larger than their budget, and need to start with young trees.
- Farmers who are getting tired of "The winds sure do blow cold a way out there"* and want to at least slow down the wind.
- Edible landscape fans who want to make their yards work for a living and put a dent in the grocery bill.
- Reclamation contractors who need trees that are larger than seedlings, but smaller than conventional garden centre trees.
- City dwellers looking for a special tree; either an unusual specimen tree or a privacy barrier.
- Municipalities So far we have sold to County of Leduc, St. Albert, City of Edmonton. Your town could be next.
If you want to come for a visit, phone us first. Otherwise you may have ask the cat where I am. His command of English is poor, and he's got a thick accent.
In this section
This is the Home section.
The SFTF Advantage Why our trees are special.
What We Sell An overview of the types and sizes of what we have.
Prices An overview of typical prices. Not exact, but you can see if a project is possible.
How To Buy How to order and buy from us.
Warranty How we stand behind our product.
Site Map A way to find anything if you remember that you saw it once, but can’t remember just where.
In the other sections
About Us
Who we are, a (mercifully brief) story of our origin, how to contact us by almost any method but smoke signal and carrier pigeon, and how to get here.
Ideas
Start here. These are a bunch of common issues that come up. It will give you background, and help you come up with a plan.
Trees
Descriptions and pictures of the trees we sell. What I know about the tree, its preferences for soil, light, and water, how fast it grows, shape.
Ordering
This maybe should be 'Pre-Ordering' or 'What's available this year' This is mostly for people who know what they want, and want to get their dibs in early.
Care
Tips on planting, watering, and so on.
Mountain Pine
Our Forests
Pictures and text describing my forests, and how they change with the seasons and the years.
Almanac
On any other site this would be called 'blog'. What an ugly word! I prefer Almanac, which captures the flow of seasons. Notes about what I'm doing, and seeing on the farm. My way of sharing a bit of the beauty and magic of my world.
Links
Sites and places I've found useful. Some are quite technical, some are links to suppliers with stuff that's hard to find.
Site Navigation
Navigation here is a hierarchy, much like the folders on your computer. General stuff near the top level. Specific stuff a few layers deep. At any point, the menu items in white show you where you are in the directory.
If you have questions, comments, suggestions, rants, or raves; if you want to be emailed with my current inventory when it becomes available; if you just want to know when major updates have happened, drop me a line.
Sherwood Botsford
Sherwood's Forests Tree Farm