Comisac's - a Great Place to Buy Trees
It's no secret that I love trees - all kinds of trees - and that I love planting and watching trees grow at my farm. About a year ago, I learned about Comisac Nursery in nearby Bedford Hills, New York. I like to think of this place as a pop-up venture that provides the public with a very special product. Mike Comisac explained to me that they have tree farms in Pennsylvania and New York State, where they grow large specimen trees. They wanted to supply the area where I live with these trees, selling them direct from the growers. In fact, Comisac is the only wholesale yard in the area that sells directly to the public. I recently went there and purchased seventeen beautiful trees, which are in the process of being planted right now. Comisac is also known for the auctions that they hold during the year. This Sunday, May 2nd, they will be auctioning off approximately 1,000 amazing trees. This is a really fun event to attend and a chance to get really good buys on mature trees, shrubs, and bushes. Maybe I'll see you there!
1 This is Mike Comisac standing next to quite a large copper beech, which was just delivered to his nursery from Pennsylvania.
2 The sign at the entrance
3 Mike has about 2.5 acres here.
4 A bronze Kwanzan cherry - a spectacular flowering tree
5 Yellow Wood - another gorgeous flowering specimen
6 Comisac specializes in Norway Spruce - this one is 30-feet tall.
7 Jacquemonti birch
8 Beautiful white bark
9 A nicely shaped redbud
10 A spectacular columnar English oak
11 Mike is pointing to a 35-40-foot tall sycamore.
12 A hard to find fern leaf beech
13 Its serrated leaves are just beginning to unfurl.
14 A group of compact burning bush
15 These are purple leaf plum
16 And a corkscrew willow
17 I love the corkscrew branches.
18 A flatbed of Norway Spruce being delivered to Shelter Island, out on the east end of Long Island
19 This is the list of trees I bought - Because the London Plane trees are quite large, I agreed to have a team from Comisac come and plant them.
20 The seventeen trees I purchased were delivered with this flatbed. That's Shaun up there with the driver.
21 Chhiring used the Hi-Lo to move the trees.
22 The trees were quite heavy to upright.
23 The fork of the Hi-Lo is positioned on either side of the root ball.
24 Wilmer holds the tree while moving.
25 Positioning the trees in the general planting area
26 Some trees were placed on the dump truck to go elsewhere on the farm.
27 This is one of four London Plane trees delivered for planting. The most striking feature of this tree is its flaking bark that peels to reveal a lighter colored bark beneath.
28 That's Mike Comisac in the gray sweater supervising his crew.
29 The tree is lowered into the hole.
30 Bolt cutters are used to remove wire frame.
31 Filling in the hole - Notice how red with clay the root ball is compared to my Bedford soil. And notice the mottled bark.
32 We like to use Bio-tone Starter http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/biotone_overview.html when planting trees. It is an all natural product proven to help transplants establish faster by increasing root mass to avoid transplant loss.
33 Which tree is it?
34 This London plane will grow beautifully here.
Every tree looks fabulous. Do you have shade trees that you use for relaxing beneath?
Posted by: http://twitter.com/Geotravel | April 30th, 2010 at 1:30 am
you bought really beautiful trees ... I'm sure they're going to blend very well with the rest of your trees, creating even more dramatic landscape at your farm. Thanks for sharing the 'journey'. Can't wait to see how these trees transform in Autumn.
Posted by: ian yusof | April 30th, 2010 at 2:12 am
Hi Martha!
Would you do a blog entry about your cats, please? Whatever happened to the himalayans Snow and Frost, that you adopted January 2009? They were shy back then, and you said you'd post more pictures when they got acclimated, but I don't remember reading about them again.
And, we need updates on Princess Peony and Empress Tang and Bartok, Verdi, Vivaldi, and Mozart.
Posted by: Glenda | April 30th, 2010 at 2:58 am
Beauitful selection of trees! Good luck Martha
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | April 30th, 2010 at 7:32 am
Hi Martha,
Trees are great. I don't know how you keep track of all the varieties you have and where they are planted because your property is so large. We are looking for trees (not palms) to put out front that don't shed their leaves and don't resemble the common ground area too much. It would be great if a tree nursery down here had an auction so we could at least see the varieties and maybe learn some of the names. I know Pine! Your London Plane tree is quite nice with the lighter bark and four of them will definitely make a statement. Enjoy your weekend! Trish
Posted by: Trish | April 30th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Hi Martha,
The trees are beautiful. I too would like an update on all the cats. Just wanted you to know how much I enjoy Everyday Food magazine. May issue I made the Potato And Zucchini Hash. It was a hit with my family and will go in my folder of our favorite recipes. Thanks for such a great magazine!
Joan
Hilton New York
Posted by: joan vogt | April 30th, 2010 at 9:34 am
I have to say I've never heard of a tree auction! Sounds like fun though. I love trees.
Posted by: Alyzabeth | April 30th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Off topic, but, I just viewed Martha's Chanel modeling photos posted on Huffington Post. WOW!
Posted by: Dr Rand Pink | April 30th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Wow, what an incredible project Martha. You send a little bit like Capability Brown taking on the landscape. Good luck with your planting.
Posted by: Catharine Howard | May 1st, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Nice trees! You do such a great job supporting local and national businesses!
Posted by: Kandy Maharas | May 2nd, 2010 at 11:24 pm
.
You mentioned having no pear trees, at one time. Any reason they're not on your property?
.
Posted by: Andrea and the Weimaraners | May 3rd, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Hi Martha, How lucky you are to live so close to such a great tree nursery as Comisac. I love your photos of the wonderful trees you purchased there. The planting of such large trees certainly takes a hardy crew and a great supervisor. I'm sure those trees and all of the others on your farm will do extremely well because you have a fantastic crew who really cares about all things that grow there. Hope you had fun on Sunday at he tree auction. Did you buy any more different trees? Love, Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | May 3rd, 2010 at 4:21 pm
i love it here! beautiful
Posted by: Alia | May 6th, 2010 at 8:26 am
What an incredible place.Close enough for me to visit! Thanks for the info!!
Posted by: Cynthia | October 23rd, 2010 at 9:53 pm
I've purchased for clients, a few hundred trees from Mike Comisac. The Copper beech on the trailer is one of them. Great trees, very knowledgable.
Posted by: Tim Cerniglia Jr. | April 7th, 2011 at 9:43 pm