Colorado State Forest Service Nursery

12/09/2021

Last weekend we hosted Boy Scout troop 191 from Fort Collins.

As part of a service day, they helped us seed and learned about our forests. They seeded 14,000 trees total!

It is crucial for our youth to learn about the problems our ecosystems face in a changing world. We love educating the next generation and getting them involved with reforestation!

Thank you to the Boy Scouts and chaperones that came out!

11/05/2021

Recently we hosted a group of Brentwood Middle Schoolers from Greely! It was exciting to teach about our forests and share the experience of planting and taking care of trees with the next generation.
These students alone seeded 12,000 trees that will one day be planted for reforestation!
A big thank you to all the teachers and helpers that organized this, the staff who guided the students, and to all the students who participated.

11/01/2021

Happy November! 🍂

Our featured plant today is slender cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis):

Potentilla is a Colorado native perennial flower that blooms yellow flowers in early summer. These flowers are drought tolerant and have excellent winter hardiness.
Today we worked on isolating seeds from the dried seed pods. These tiny seeds need to be stratified before being planted, which is why we have to seperate them from the pod!

09/01/2021

The first zone of our greenhouse is filled with new seedlings 🌱

An important accomplishment each year is filling up the greenhouse with newly seeded trees. Last year's seedlings were unloaded, weeded, and set outside to acclimate to outdoor life after a year of growing in the greenhouse.

This first greenhouse was seeded with species including ponderosa, colorado blue spruce, golden current, and choke cherry. It will take some time to get the remaining zones of the greenhouse filled, but we are proud to see these new seedlings thriving!

07/07/2021

Recently we had the privilege of hosting our first group of volunteers since the pandemic began! Our volunteers were students from the Poudre School District; we were overjoyed to teach them about reforestation and have them take part in weeding the seedlings from the greenhouse!

Via state guidelines, we are now able to give tours and host volunteers. DM us for more information!

02/24/2020

DID YOU KNOW?
The CSFS Nursery produces roughly 500,000 plants per year in our Large Tube Sized Containers.
If we purchase new containers each year, that ends up being $80,000 spent on new tubes annually!
This does not include costs for the Extra Large Size, or the trays, which hold the tubes as we grow the plants out!
The good news is that the tubes are reusable, so we do not always need to purchase these new each year!
We do however need your help in getting any unused containers returned to us after you finish planting our trees. If you have ordered trees though a cooperating office, please check with that office, as many of them will take the containers back and hold them until we are able to come pick them up.
If you purchase directly at the nursery during our late season clearance, we would be happy to take back the containers once you are finished with them as well!

02/03/2020

We've been getting many questions regarding the sizes of plants we offer, and since a picture is worth 1,000 words, we snapped a few examples to help everyone get a better idea of what they can expect when placing an order for any of our plant stock.

Due to different rates of growth from one species to a next, there is going to be some variance in size even if two species are grown in the same sized container. We therefore aim to provide a minimum height for any species in each size, but you may receive ones which exceed that minimum size. More importantly than the height of any seedling we sell, we look for good root development to help ensure the young seedlings have the best chances for success after being planted.

See the captions on each photo for a detailed description of the sizes being shown, and feel free to contact the nursery office at 970-491-8429 or via email at [email protected] if you have any additional questions!

01/10/2020

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK: GABRIEL CORDOVA
Gabriel Cordova is a Biology/Chemistry major at CSU, with a concentration in Botany. In the 8 months he has worked on the tree farm, Gabe has enlightened the crew with many tips for cultivating a successful bonsai and has contributed his witty sense of humor to the work environment. His studio apartment is filled with 40+ plants and, in his words, “It’s getting out of hand”. We’re very lucky to have Gabe ☀️🌿

01/09/2020

Seedling ordering season is in full swing!

If you're in the Golden, CO area, check out the Jefferson County 4H's Seedling Program for details on how to place your order for this coming spring.

If you don't happen to live near Golden, CO, not to worry! We have partners throughout Colorado and surrounding states who can help.

To find the nearest participating location to you, visit the nursery's website at:
https://csfs.colostate.edu/seedling-tree-nursery/buying-seedlings/

WELCOME...

We are Jefferson County 4-H Trees, a program of the Jefferson County 4-H Council, working on behalf of the boys and girls who are members of 4-H Clubs in Jefferson County. We offer seedling trees, shrubs, and perennial flower to the public in the Denver-metro area and adjoining counties.

The trees are grown by the Colorado State Forest Service at their nursery outside Fort Collins and are sold at nominal prices in fulfillment of the state forest service’s mandate to promote conservation practices in our rural and urban forests.

You may order beginning November 1, 2019 and until April 1, 2020.

Payment must be made when the order is placed and cancellations are not permitted.

http://4htrees.org/?fbclid=IwAR3GSEi1cF_sld2qnw-AhOl1KqDbaPV6-AliY789d4cUA6iqpDI3-lMDE1M

12/20/2019

Happy Holidays from the Colorado State Forest Service Nursery!

Just an FYI, our office will be closed beginning Monday, December 23rd, and we will resume normal office hours beginning Thursday, January 2nd.

At that time, we will be ready to begin accepting direct orders for plants to be shipped to individuals via UPS. So if you're seeking plant material to enhance wildlife habitat, to enhance or create new windbreaks, or living snow fences, or for any of you other conservation/restoration needs, feel free to give us a call or send us an email for information.

Please keep in mind that UPS orders do carry additional costs for shipping, are subject to minimum quantities, and that not all of our product can be shipped in this fashion.

All of our cooperating offices are able to place orders with the nursery until 2 weeks prior to their delivery, and so anyone interested in purchasing our plant material are highly encouraged to work with their nearest office in order to take full advantage of all of the products we offer.

To find your nearest cooperating office, please visit our website at:
https://csfs.colostate.edu/seedling-tree-nursery/buying-seedlings/