Heartwood Nursery

About Us

Heartwood Nursery is a small-scale bare root fruit and nut tree nursery. Our trees are grown sustainably, propagated by hand, with love in Port Townsend, Washington.
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Bare Root Basics
No plastic pots means we sell our trees “bare root”. At Heartwood Nursery, trees are grown in deeply mulched permanent beds. These require zero plastic pots and dramatically less water to stay happy. Deep mulch also transforms into vibrantly rich soil that feeds the plants.

Bare root trees can only be dug and sold during the dormant season (late fall to early spring). This is when the trees are asleep and can be transplanted with the least disruption possible. Trees planted this way are less prone to transplant shock. They will have a better start in their first season, being watered in with winter rains before waking up in their new home. Bare root trees require us to deliberately plan our plantings around the dormant season.

Plants available December 2023 - April 2024, or until sold out.

Growing & Operating Practices

This nursery is small-scale, or human-scale. For Heartwood, this means it’s manageable with one or two people. I interact with each plant and have time for careful and thoughtful observations. Being small allows us the time to maintain a personal relationship with the plants, animals, soil, and soil organisms that live within the nursery.

Small-scale empowers us to use low-tech management practices. Using appropriate technology, means using hand tools and very limited to no power tools. Beds are prepped with broadforks and mulched with wheelbarrows; Trees are grafted by hand with single bevel knives; Dormant trees are dug with a spade. Minimizing soil disturbance through low-tech practices encourages microbial life and healthy trees.