This is the time of year when Robert Hoadley’s business barks at him seven days a week.
Hoadley owns Lakeview Nursery and Hoadley’s Wholesale Nursery on 140-plus acres of land in Auburn, N.Y., some 30 miles west of Syracuse.
It’s a tree farm, the 34-year-old’s baby, really. He bought the business from his parents some seven years ago, and sharpened its focus to growing trees right there.
And now’s the time to get the Digging Spade into the ground to free the trees he planted from bare root and whips three or four years ago, to get them planted for customers or into mulch for sale down the line.
Hoadley explains that this is the best time of year to dig trees out, because they don’t have a lot of leaves to stress them, and to put them back in, because then they’ll have the whole wet spring to to flourish.
I wrote about Hoadley for my weekly Mark It Up community column for Syracuse Public Media site waer.org. You can read it and see more photos by clicking the link below.
http://waer.org/post/lakeview-nursery-its-time-dig-trees#stream/0
Hoadley works his business from the seat of his customized pick-up truck, on land that’s been in his family since his grandparents ran it as a poultry farm. A car accident in 2003 left him without the use of his legs. He certainly doesn’t let that define his life. He’s expanded the tree-growing a thousand-fold, and he’s too busy making sure he stays on top of his ever-changing field of work and traveling the world when the nursery slows down for seasonal swings.
Hover over any gallery photo for a description. Click on the bottom right photo in any gallery for an enlarged slide show.
If you recall, last spring my dear wife Karen and I put in Cherry Cherry at the Little Bitty in the Eastwood neighborhood of the city of Syracuse.
Have you added a tree on your property, and if so, what variety and in what season? Did it flourish or perish, and what did you learn from the experience? Have you traveled abroad, and if so, what countries gave you the most interesting experiences, and why? Which is your favorite photo, andy why?
This was quite entertaining and like the owner of the tree farm photo and the nursery photos, best, Mark!!
LikeLike
Thanks, Robin. It was a great place to visit.
LikeLike
Wow, what an amazing young man.
LikeLike
I think you would find a great tree for your yard grown by Robert, Dora. 🙂
LikeLike
I love this story, and it’s growing legacy. We did plant a tree this year MBM. A wee bitty thing of a pine variety. It isn’t the size of a bush yet. And won’t get enormous, but add to the feel of the cabin in the back. 🙂
LikeLike
That’s very cool, adding to the environment around the cabin. Great job, MBC. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome Mark! Love nurseries – I used to haul quite a bit out of nurseries all around the country.
LikeLike
I bet you did some great tree hauling, Paul. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha! Live trees and Christmas trees Mark. We hauled live trees in temperature controlled trailers with the little ones up front and the tall ones at the rear. I had a colleague who used to say that he dreaded each customs crossing as he was afraid the branches would part and a gorilla would peer out at the officers. Ha!
LikeLike
No monkeying around with the tree deliveries across the border, Paul’s friend. Ha!
LikeLike
That dude lost the use of his legs and he runs a tree farm? What a fucking whiner I am. I’m ashamed of myself. I don’t suppose that’s what I was supposed to get out of this post but that’s how it hit me.
LikeLike
That was a subtext, Mark, because Robert doesn’t center on that in his life anymore. He just does what he loves. It does add a perspective, though. I’m with you.
LikeLike
Well, gobsmack me with subtext this morning. I’ve spent the better part of that last two weeks feeling sorry for myself as I stride around on two good, strong legs. It feeds on itself. Realizing you’re nothing but a sniveling whiner doesn’t exactly make things better.
LikeLike
You’re a good man, Mark. Don’t forget that, ever.
LikeLike
Punny title Mark! Love that tree farm and I sure do remember Cherry Cherry! How’s Cherry Cherry doing, anyway? ❤
Diana xo
LikeLike
Thanks, Diana. Sometimes I can’t help myself with the puns. And Cherry Cherry is dancing straight and strong, knock on wood. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀 !
LikeLike
I have planted a red maple (turned out to be a regular maple which is thriving very well). I have planted other trees (too many to list) and they didn’t thrive. I guess the southwest isn’t the best environment for trees.
LikeLike
I’m glad your maple is thriving, PJ. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Mark!
LikeLike
i’m always amazed by these tree whisperers. any time i’ve tried to plant small trees, they tend to die. they just planted a bunch on our playground and i was in awe of them –
LikeLike
Yay for the tree whisperer, Beth. What a great way to put it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a beautiful tree farm and given his circumstances, it’s even more extraordinarily beautiful and impressive.
LikeLike
I think so, too, Me Who. Thanks for your lovely comment.
LikeLike
That looks like a really awesome nursery.
I’ve planted a whole bunch of trees this year, discovering I’ve had a relatively green thumb (so far). To date, I’ve planted: 4 hazelnut trees, 2 almond trees, 2 pear trees, 3 apple trees, and 2 fig trees. Some have been received from nurseries in the mail, the pear and apple trees were from Lowe’s, and the fig trees were from a friend of the family. All are still alive somehow.
Most were added in the early Spring, while we took a chance on the apple and pear trees and planted them in the Summer. I think we put in those trees because they were on sale for really cheap, and there wasn’t much drawback if the trees didn’t survive.
How’s the cherry tree doing?
LikeLike
I love the work you did this year, my friend! Awesome gardening. And Cherry Cherry is flourishing, thanks for asking. Knock on wood (not its trunk).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indigenous swaying Palms and Magnolias here Terp! Gatorette
LikeLike
That’s plenty to dig there, Gatorette! Nice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It must be terrific being able to do something like that for a living. What rewarding work!
LikeLike
I know. I can tell how much he’s into it, Marissa.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh, I love nurseries! What a wonderful business to run!
Sassy brought home a tulip tree two falls ago. We planted it, but it died despite our best efforts. I wonder how long school had it before they gave it out…
LikeLike
Yes, there was some negligence likely before the tulip tree reached you guys. Dagnabbit, Joey. That would have been a great memory beween you and Sassy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Right? Thanks, Mark. Our neighbor has a tulip tree, so for now, we enjoy his 😉
LikeLike
We had a pear tree put in a number of years ago, and I believe we had it planted in the spring. It was a 2-year-old baby, barely 6 feet tall. Now it’s probably 15 feet or more, and develops hundreds of pears every year. I actually did a post referring to my pear tree, for those of your readers who might have missed it: http://cordeliasmomstill.com/2014/12/04/its-not-a-windstorm-its-just-the-trees-getting-it-on/
The post is only a little bit racy.
LikeLike
(BTW, that post also refers to lost socks [yes, you’ll have to read it to find out how trees and socks tie in] – I didn’t think to link it to your recent post on that subject!)
LikeLike
Amazing timing, CM. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great advertisement for luscious pears, CM. 🙂
LikeLike
Ha! Never thought of it that way.
LikeLike
And I was quite pleased to rediscover that I’d read and liked and commented on this one in the Wayback, CM.
LikeLike
I knew you had, but I never miss an opportunity to self-promote. Thanks for allowing it, Mark. I’ll be glad to reciprocate if the opportunity arises.
LikeLike
OK, I’ll have a link I want to share sometime, I’m sure. Thanks, CM. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Mark. It looks like a beautiful nursery. I like the first picture the most (of the nursery). I guess I never thought about the nurseries on your side of the country closing in the winter, but now that I think about it, there really is not any reason to stay open. I have not planted one blasted thing this year, or last year. I have a Japanese Maple that seeded itself, I put it in a pot to take care of it. It is now about 6 feet tall. The rest of our trees are looking really, really awful – awful enough to make me think even if we have a rainy season this winter, I am not sure they will make it.
LikeLike
I am sending my best green thoughts out to your backyard trees, SD. I want them to make it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They only have leaves at the very top, a most pathetic site indeed. Thank-you for the green thoughts. I wish South Carolina could send us some of their unasked for water.
LikeLike
Yes, equal distribution of H2O would be wonderful, SD.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are clouds in the sky. Hoping, hoping. Fingers crossed!!!! (Does that qualify as a Haiku?)
LikeLike
I qualify it, SD. No syllable counting for me, either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Trees, trees, the more we plant, the better we feel
LikeLike
I agree, whole-heartedly, Martha.
LikeLike