Shin-Boku Nurseries

JOJG readers often contact us with "Where can I get such-and-such?" type questions. All too often we've had to comment that the object of their query can be found in Japan but isn't available in the West. In the case of Japanese garden specimen trees there hasn't been much available in the West other than "poodle" trees and other low-quality ball-on-a-stick options. This situation has started to change, however, with the establishment of a few Japanese garden specimen nurseries. The most exciting among them is most definitely Shin-boku Nursery, located in the heart of New Hampshire's White Mountains in the small town of Wentworth.

Started a few years ago by Palmer and Debbie Koelb, Shin-boku Nursery has about 500 carefully groomed specimen trees in stock. Most are 20-25 years old and 2-4 meters in height. About half of the trees are Scots, White, or Jack Pine. The other half is a mix of weeping hemlock, spruce, and other cold-hardy conifer cultivars. Each tree is grown in its own container and painstakingly groomed year after year with the goal of creating the distinctive shapes seen in the gardens of Japan.

The idea for Shin-boku Nursery first took root almost 50 years ago when Mr. Koelb (rhymes with "kelp") visited Japan for the first time when he was on leave from his duties in Hawaii with a U.S. Army Band. As a young nursery-man in the 1960s he knew instinctively that he wanted to create the same kind of beauty that he witnessed in Japan. From the mid 1960s he owned and operated a series of nurseries, first in Weston, Massachusetts, then in Salisbury, New Hampshire, and then finally in Wentworth, where he stills owns and operates Baker Valley Nursery. Shin-boku's plant stock comes from grafted conifers that he first propagated decades ago at his other nurseries.

Each Shin-boku tree is treated as a distinct individual. The trees are labeled and the nursery keeps a record of each tree's history as well as the plans for its development. Each tree is groomed at least twice each year, and at that time the tree pruner has a clear idea about how to proceed. Some trees are trained to grow into tall forms. Other trees are grown as mid-size specimens. Still others are intended to cascade over water.

That kind of careful grooming, combined with nature's irregularity, means that each tree develops its own distinct character. The trees are then marketed as such. At Shin-boku each tree in the nursery has its own nickname. And each "individual" is ready to be shipped anywhere in North America where it will someday play a role in a Japanese garden, perhaps your own.

JOJG readers will no doubt be interested to take a look at Shin-boku Nursery's website or perhaps even visit the nursery in person. For experienced pruners there will also be a JOJG-sponsored pruning workshop held there this September.