MEMBER PROFILE 



''Snow is Important. " 



SUPPOSE New Hampshire 

 had always been a part of Palmer 

 Koelb's life His father was an archi- 

 tect specializing in the design ot fac- 

 tories and industrial buildings For 

 two years — |Q56 and |058 — a factory 

 designed by him won mention by 

 Fadory Mfl^flziMf as one of the ten 

 best built in the United States 

 Both are in New Hampshire — one is 

 the Split Ball Bearing Plant in Keene 

 and the other, the Miniature Preci- 

 sion Ball Bearing Plant in Lebanon 

 Ownership has changed, but both 

 are still standing and whenever 

 Koelb drives by Miniature Preci- 

 sion's serpentine wall, he thinks of 

 his father and realizes that his con- 

 nection to New Hampshire was there 

 long before he moved here himself 



He's been in the nursery business 

 32 years, first in Weston. Massachu- 

 setts He sold the business there in 

 1070 to move north to New Hamp- 

 shire — to Salisbury, north of Con- 

 cord When he sold Salisbury Nurs- 

 ery in IQ87, it was — with 26 aces in 

 production — the largest in the state 

 Again moving northward ( "I figure by 

 the time I retire. III be located 

 somewhere near the Arctic circle"! 

 with two acres of grafted material, he 

 settled in Wentworth, 17 miles north- 

 west of Plymouth 



He owns the land on which he 

 built his home and another piece 

 ■for retirement," but for his nursery, 

 he leased ten acres of bottom land 

 on the Baker River The two acres 

 of material planted out to four He s 

 done no propagating since he's been 

 up here, buying in what he grows, 

 and today there are ten acres of 

 neat rows six feet apart leading the 

 eye toward the Baker River Beyond 



the river is the ridge line formed by 

 Carr Mountain and Ames Mountain 

 and Currier Hill 12,000 feet is re- 

 quired to qualify as an official moun- 

 tain — Currier didn't make it| This 

 land on which his nursery grows was 

 chosen precisely because of size 

 limitations — "so I can't work myself 

 to death " 



He grows 00% of what he sells; he 

 prefers conifers — "up here we have 

 seven months of winter and conifers 

 seem most useful in the landscape " 

 Winter over, Baker Valley's "in full 

 swing by mid-May |he wholesales 

 throughout New England) and stays 

 that way well into October " 



He concentrates on dwarf, "dwarf" 

 being "any cultivar substantially 

 smaller than the normal species," 

 "substantially smaller"" being 5-10 % 

 of its genetic potential "Dwarf" is 

 always relative — a dwarf white pine 

 can be 20 feet tall, but this is small 

 compared with a 200-foot pine in the 

 woods 



Theres strong interest in dwarf 

 conifers right now, but many of the 

 nurseries producing them are in the 

 Northwest and the cost of shipping 

 is often more than the price of the 

 plant So it's a good time to be 

 growing them right here 



The work is straight-forward he 

 top dresses in the spring, he 

 mulches liner beds and some of the 

 stock still adapting to the climate 

 (mulch duplicates forest floor litter, 

 keeps weeds down, and moderates 

 soil temperature"!, but most of the 

 nursery is kept clean ("to keep mice 

 out"). 



He irrigates; water is pumped 

 from the river through a three-inch 

 pipe and then through a series of 

 valves to an overhead system, the 

 timer? "When the pump runs out of 

 gas " 



Mountain Ash is ""a magnet for 

 borers" and sometimes Japanese 

 beetles require spot spraying, but in 

 general, insect problems are rare 



He root prunes every three or 

 four years — cutting back roots pro- 

 duces more roots, more roots makes 

 a stronger plant 



And there's some shearing-he 

 gives the White and Red Pine a 

 more cone-like shape and the 

 Tanyosho Pine (Pinus densiflora 



Umbraculifera), 

 gardens, is cut 

 table-like top 

 In the fall, he 



used in lapanese 

 to accent the 



plants field oats 



Inot winter rye) between the rows as 

 a cover crop Rye "comes back in 

 the spring with a vengeance," while 

 oats die at 20F (last winter it 

 reached -45F! The cover crop re- 

 tards erosion and the dead stalks 

 hold snow — and snow is insulation 

 ("the more snow the better") 



THE NUMBER of plants grown seems 

 extensive the list includes five 

 types of hemlock, seven of fir, 24 of 

 spruce, 20 of pine 



Dwarf pinus strohus varieties in- 

 clude "Blue Shag,' Nana,' and 

 Horsford Dwarf;' he grows Pkea abies 

 Conica' (Dwarf Alberta Spruce) and 

 claims those grown in the East are 

 better — fuller at the base (up to 

 three and a half feet wide) — than 

 those grown in the Northwest (18"). 

 The growing season is shorter here, 

 causing the trees to grow more 

 slowly and fully A favorite is Pkea 

 ahies 'Gregoryana Parsonii,' a dwarf 

 dense irregular mound with tufts 



The smallest dwarf he grows is a 

 Norway spruce {Picea abies Witch's 

 Brood ) that grows about an inch a 

 year, in 30, it'll reach maturity — 30 

 inches high and about as wide 



Not everything's in his catalog 

 Some are two few (three mature 

 Dwarf Hemlock {Tsuga canadensis 

 ■prostrata) — 18 years old, for ex- 

 ample, are not listed) or too new 

 (he's usually trying out new material, 

 but won't list it until he's satisfied it 

 will do well) Dimensions given in 

 the catalog are the average heights 

 and widths after ten years" growth 

 Because most dwarfs grow so 

 slowly-Huss Twiggy Hemlock {Tsuga 



16 



The Planlsman 



