[CANUFNET] Sourcing Nursery Stock

Wed Mar 2 06:28:55 EST 2016

Hi Crispin!

Long time no see. I speak for but one of 19 boroughs in Montreal, Quebec, but I'd be more than happy to share our experiences with you.

My sector, along with 8 other boroughs from Montreal's pre-merger days, have a production arrangement with our own municipally-run nursery. We have a production quota of 330 caliper trees/year financed by the borough and produced by the nursery. We are exploring container and bareroot stock with our nursery as well but the majority of material ordered is b&b. I could say a little bit more, but why not let the crew there speak for themselves. Here are two videos about our beloved tree farm, established in 1948 :

http://montrealgazette.com/news/planning-planting-sapling-montreals-trees-get-their-start-at-lassomption-nursery (English)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99I07OldQcE (French with English subtitles)

Now, as with any other large city, things are not as simple. Our city has the objective to plant 70 000 additional trees (above our quotas) within 10 years as part of the City of Montreal's Canopy Action Plan. In order to keep up, boroughs must keep planting their quotas and supplement the balance with planting/supply contracts. We have been dealing with Emerald ash borer and massive removals in Southern Quebec at the same time. So we have that to manage as well.

In our borough, we do most of the planting in-house with our crews. So we will put out contracts for the supply of extra caliper trees.  All of our Capital Works projects that involve landscaping and tree planting are contracted out as well. We try to source locally as much as we can but when just one city in our area is planting over 7000 trees a year (not counting all of the other cities around us), we do have to make choices, it's part of the challenges of this industry.

When we go out to contract, we produce specifications stipulating pretty much all of the criteria that Ken mentioned. In Quebec, we follow the provincial standard NQ0605-300 on Nursery Products and Sod which can be downloaded for free here : http://www.bnq.qc.ca/fr/normalisation/horticulture/produits-de-pepinieres-et-de-gazon.html . The standards are in French only.

I have started meeting with a few local nurseries to share our objectives, needs and conditions with them. That way, they know what we're looking for and they can prepare as they see fit. As for calls for bids, all of that goes through procurement and everyone has the opportunity to bid. As a result, the law of the lowest bidder still reigns supreme. This can be a challenge sometimes. At this stage in the game, with trees being sold left and right and center, it's important to build relationships while simultaneously respecting the tendering and contracting process.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me.

All the best,

Meg

Meagan Hanna, MA.
meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca

________________________________
From: CANUFNET <canufnet-bounces at list.web.net> on behalf of GORDON MACKAY <gordon_mackay at yahoo.com>
Sent: March 1, 2016 1:39 AM
To: Canadian Urban Forest Network
Subject: Re: [CANUFNET] Sourcing Nursery Stock

Hi Crispin,

I have a really good resource on nursery stock selection, my father in Scotland has been involved in this for over twenty five years and is most likely one of the most experienced horticulturists in nursery stock selection of both open ground material and containerized nursery stock, especially rootballed trees destined for urban forestry applications.
I think you will find his specifications to find a quality nursery tree of particular interest.
He has traveled throughout the UK and Europe sourcing trees and shrubs on behalf of local municipalities, landscape architects, landscape contractors, non-profit organizations and private clients. He has also been involved in numerous contract grow systems which I'm sure he would advocate as being an excellent way to procure a quality product at a fair price for both the nursery and client.
If you would like  to contact him via email he can be reached at angus at mackayconsultants.com
Just let him know his son on Vancouver Island  passed on his details.
Even although he has not got this experience in North America I'm confident his experience and knowledge will be invaluable as he is one of the few consultants around who specializes in this area.

All the very best,

Gordon Mackay
BC

________________________________
From: Crispin Wood <crispin.wood at edmonton.ca>
To: canufnet at list.web.net
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2016 10:00 AM
Subject: [CANUFNET] Sourcing Nursery Stock

Hello All,

I am interested in knowing what processes and/or practices municipalities across Canada use to source and procure quality, caliper nursery stock to be used for street/park plantings? I am particularly interested in whether your organization produces its own caliper trees? If not, do you physically select or tag trees at the nursery prior to purchase? If you do, how far do you travel to do so?  and lastly, what criteria or specifications do you use to define a 'quality' nursery tree?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

--

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Crispin Wood | MS, Urban Forestry |
Neighbourhoods and Parks

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