True Root Nursery
Sweetgum Seedling
Sweetgum Seedling
Species: Liquidambar styraciflua
History: Native to the eastern and southern United States and parts of Mexico and Central America, the gum and resin produced by the tree have long been used by indigenous peoples where the tree grows. It first became known to the Western world in 1517 when the Mayans presented some in a form akin to incense as a gift to the Cuban minister's nephew. The tree itself was then described in 1615 in a work by Spanish naturalist Francisco Hernández that was published after his death. The tree remains an important source of lumber in the US and has a wide variety of uses.
Why We Grow It: Sweetgum has a wide array of uses with its lumber, resin, and gum. On top of that, it is an appealing tree to have planted in the yard with its star-shaped leaves that turn a lovely shade of red in the fall. Since this tree often grows in warmer climates, consider planting it in a sheltered area.
Fruit Specs
Fruit Specs
Recommended Use:
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Growing Specs
Growing Specs
Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5
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Shipping vs. Pick Up
Shipping vs. Pick Up
CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.
Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.
Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.
Size at Purchase
Size at Purchase
Our ungrafted fruit tree seedlings, nut tree seedlings, berries, and other miscellaneous plants are categorized into the following sizes excluding the roots:
- 5-15cm
- 15cm+
- 30cm+
- 60cm+
- 90cm+
All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).
Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.
Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.
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