Everyone has their spring rituals: tossing open the windows to welcome crisp spring air, uncovering the canoe, chasing the mice out of the garden shed, and oiling and setting
out the garden furniture.

The crew at Horsford’s has a spring ritual that dates back 111 years. With sharpened spades and bundles of twine & burlap tossed into the back of a pickup, we head out to the growing fields. Viburnums, daphne, lilacs, euonymous and arborvitae are hand dug, the ball nestled onto a burlap square and secured with twine. We work hard and fast. Nature determines our digging season. As soon as the weather warms and buds swell we have to stop.

Thanks to modern machinery, we are able to get help digging the big trees. Our tree spade arrives and in no time hundreds of trees are magically lifted out of the ground.

During the month of April and maybe the first week or two of May, we invite fellow gardeners to join us at Horsford’s spring ritual. (Fear not, we don’t actually give you a spade.) Armed with a map, an availability list, a new Horsford Catalog, and bundles of “Sold” tags, we send you out to the fields to hand select the best plants for your yards and gardens. Ralph FitzGerald, our field manager, determines the digging order. When your plants are dug Jo-Ann or Eileen will phone you. You arrange to pick them up within a week’s time. Most likely they are moved to our holding area/loading dock or tucked under the massive chestnut tree located on the west side of the greenhouse. Large trees are dug and loaded from their location in the field.

At 30% off regular retail prices, this is the best sale of the year. You are essentially getting first dibs on some of the best plant material in Vermont. By selecting our locally grown plants from our fields, you are choosing hardy, healthy, and vigorous plants verses plants that may be suffering due to their days on a paved nursery yard. We suggest that you get your material planted as soon as possible. If you must delay, at least untie the branches and water daily. Keep them in a cool area with light shade. You don’t want the roots to cook. Given judicious care during their first season in your yard, your success rate should be 100%.