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 Nursey Grower of the year specializes in people-proof trees A third-generation nurseryman, Flemer's dad gave us the Princeton elm By Gina Zechiel Princeton Packet Special Writer Wednesday, February 24, 1999 If you are patient, it is not difficult to grow a tree. You plant a seed in the ground, and 10 or 15 years later you have a tree — almost anybody can do it. It is not easy, however, to grow a really great tree, a beauty that will withstand harsh urban growing conditions, pollution, drought, disease, insects, and all the ills that hobble trees. For this you need a large nursery, specialized knowledge, and a sharp eye — all the property of William Flemer III, a third-generation nurseryman whose new plant introductions are grown worldwide. His 2,800 acre wholesale nursery in Allentown sells some 100,000 trees a year, and employs from 130 to 185 people, depending on the season. Winner of numerous medals and awards, including the Nursery Management and Production 1998 Nursery Grower of the Year, Mr. Flemer is a member of the advisory council for the U.S. National Arboretum and the White House Grounds Committee. He has spent his career producing improved cultivars of shade and ornamental trees and shrubs. Mr. Flemer, a Yale graduate in botany and forestry, grew up in the nursery industry and holds patents on more than 45 trees, shrubs and vines, including the Shademaster locust, the Greenspire linden, the October Glory red maple, and the Green Mountain sugar maple. Durability, beauty, and resistance to disease are trademarks of the hundreds of new tree and plant varieties introduced by Mr. Flemer at his nursery, Princeton Nursery, now in Allentown. His father, William Flemer Jr., was the donor of the double row of elm trees that were planted along Washington Road in 1932. Almost 70 years later, these shapely vigorous trees (named the "Princeton" Elm) are still there, only about 6 percent having died from various causes. They have never been sprayed, and appear to be largely immune to Dutch elm disease. Fellow nurseryman Peter Costich said of Mr. Flemer's business: "Princeton Nurseries introductions are much more uniform, require less pruning, and are much more disease and insect resistant. As a single company, this nursery has probably introduced a higher percentage of trees currently in the trade, than all other companies put together." The nursery's most successful introduction was also one of the earliest, the October Glory red maple patented in 1950. These flourish locally at the Princeton Shopping Center — and are also doing very well in Australia and New Zealand, as well as Europe. "The color is not as brilliant in Europe, due to climatic differences," said Mr. Flemer. Last spring he was granted two new patents — Clethra alnifolia "September Beauty," a sweet pepper bush that blooms later than average, and Maakia amurensis "Starburst." "This is a very tough tree, with big clusters of blooms in late summer," he said of the later. "We need more trees that grow well in difficult inner-city conditions, where trees have trouble surviving. Not in suburbia, but inner cities — Fifth Avenue in New York City, for example." Two of Princeton Nursery's trees that thrive in the city are the Shademaster locust ("It can take terrible abuse!" said Mr. Flemer) and the Goldspire and Princeton Sentry gingkos. The gingko, an ancient tree that no longer grows wild anywhere in the world, was preserved for hundreds of years in Chinese and Japanese temples, and is tolerant of city pollution, resistant to drought, and has no insect pests. City planners like the New York Parks Department keep lists of especially hardy trees, and are always looking for good performers. Mr. Flemer, who has lectured widely on nursery management, plant propagation, woody plant breeding, and shade tree selection and use, explained the process of tree development and selection. "Trees are bred from crosses between your two best varieties," he said. "The flower is cross-pollinated, and then you plant the resulting seed. It will germinate in the spring, and you "grow it on" — it may be two years in the seed bed. Then you transplant your seedlings into field, and grow them on again. You may get a number of crosses — sister seedlings — and then you pick the best of them. It could be seven years before a plant is ready for evaluation." "Each selection is then grafted onto appropriate seedling stock, and out of several rows of grafted plants, you pick the ones that look promising. Grow them along for maybe 10 years, and then you make a final selection. It is then be named, and introduced to the nursery trade as a good performer. In the United States you can patent a new tree or plant, and your rights are protected for 17 years, after which the plant goes into the public domain." Once a tree or plant patent is obtained, it can be licensed to other growers, and an owner can collect royalties ranging from 50 cents to $1 per plant. Acquiring a patent can take as long as three years, and requires a precise botanical description of every possible aspect. Leaves, bark, growth habits, colors of flowers and fruit — every detail is described, and color-coded to an internationally recognized color chart containing just about every color shade known in nature. There are many more patents on herbaceous plants, like roses, chrysanthemums and carnations, than for shade and ornamental trees. In the United States, there are only about 100 patents for shade and ornamental trees, and about 150 for fruit trees, and of course, hundreds of patents have expired. A new aspect of the business is container production, with seedlings being planted in various sized plastic containers. "This has a lot of advantages," said Mr. Flemer. "You can plant at any time of the year, because the pots sit on the ground. In the winter you put the young trees down on their sides, and cover them with plastic. It has become a big part of nursery production." The bulk of production at the Allentown nursery goes to landscape contractors. The city of Princeton is a regular customer. They also supply growers who buy small trees to develop themselves, in the ongoing effort to produce ever more beautiful, trouble-free trees. If they succeed, the wait will have been worth it. |
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