Development History
Our Tree-Growing Journey
We started this journey about 50 years ago, when my son—who was around eight at the time—helped me buy a few trees from a farmer in Lancaster County, PA. He’s 58 now (pictured below), and what began as a small experiment has turned into something remarkable.
Even though the original trees were hybrids and weren’t supposed to improve genetically, we wanted to see if we could boost their growth rate and durability through a simple “survival of the fittest” approach. The original generation grew about four feet per year. Each year, we planted 20 to 30 new trees and, after two years, kept only the one that grew the tallest. We took cuttings from that single tree and removed the rest.
Over the years, we repeated this process through 38 generations—some years staggered—and the results have been astonishing. This latest generation has an incredible growth rate: many of the trees reached 14 feet in just six months from fresh cuttings, with most hitting around 12 feet. By their second year, they were topping 24 feet. Even if you cut one down to just five feet, it can grow back to about 22 feet in six months—that’s roughly three feet a month, or about 1.2 inches per day.
Family Owned Since 1975
For nearly five decades, our family has cared for and cultivated these trees with the same hands-on approach we began with in 1975. Every generation of our trees has been shaped by our own time, labor, and dedication—never outsourced, never commercialized. What started as a small family project has grown into a lifelong passion passed down across generations.
What has kept this work going for so long is the simple satisfaction of watching each new generation outperform the last. Year after year, we’ve stayed committed to the process—not because we had to, but because we truly enjoyed seeing what these trees were capable of. Even now, the excitement of each new season continues to remind us why we started in the first place.
Why We Do It
We continue this work because we genuinely enjoy seeing what these trees can become when given time, patience, and consistent care. There’s something rewarding about watching a cutting take root, push upward, and eventually outperform the tree it came from. It’s a process that keeps us connected to the land and to each other, reminding us that growth—whether in trees or traditions—comes from steady effort over many years. More than anything, the joy of discovery and the satisfaction of nurturing something to its full potential is what keeps us going.
Mission
Our mission is to cultivate strong, fast-growing trees through careful selection, honest work, and a hands-on family approach. We aim to maintain the integrity of our process while continuing to push the limits of what each new generation can achieve.
Vision
Our vision is to preserve this multi-decade tradition so future generations can continue improving and enjoying these exceptional trees. We hope to share the results of our work with others who appreciate quality, resilience, and the value of long-term dedication.