Harbers Greenhouses and Forestry is the latest Nursery Partner to join the Maple Leaves Forever program! Owner Tyler Harbers tells us about their operation:
Harbers Greenhouses and Forestry began in 2017, at the time focusing primarily on hanging baskets and perennials for the local wholesale market. Since then we have grown and shifted to focusing on native species, primarily trees and shrubs for conservation efforts as well as rural and urban landowners. We prioritize growing with locally sourced seed and rely on a fantastic network of friends, family members, and colleagues to help us collect and plant nearly 15,000 trees with a new greenhouse expansion soon to bring us closer to 80,000 trees annually. We grow and sell native species from 1 year old reforestation plugs, all the way to 45 gallon container trees for landscape and construction projects.
MLF: What made you want to be in the nursery/plant growing business?
Being in the nursery and greenhouse business has been a lifelong goal for me, and with the help of an incredibly supportive network of friends and family my wife and I have been able to make that dream come true. The satisfaction of growing thousands of healthy trees every year that keep our region diverse and healthy from an ecological standpoint is what drives us to continually grow our business.
MLF: What is your favourite part of your work?
First startup of the greenhouse in February. It is always exciting to melt the snow off the greenhouses and start planting, contrasting the stark winter weather of Eastern Ontario with the green of emerging seedlings of maple, oak, and hickory!
MLF: Do you have a favourite tree/plant? Why is it your favourite?
Hands-down favourite tree is a shagbark hickory, mostly because it requires so much patience to grow a shagbark hickory from seed through to a saleable size and because they are so uncommon in our area but are so important to the ecology of Ontario’s forests.
Harbers Greenhouses and Forestry
www.harbersgreenhouses.com
4229 County Rd. 11, Chesterville ON K0C 1H0
Tyler Harber: 613 551 8384
harbersgreenhouses@gmail.com
Instagram: harbersgreenhouses
