Page 26 - Georgia Forestry - Issue 4 - Fall 2024

Planting Time
for ‘Pretty’
How GFC Considers Aesthetics in Seedling Distribution
By Stasia Kelly
Georgia’s forests are valued for scores of indus- trial and economic reasons. One benefit that may occasionally get overlooked is sheer beauty. Per- haps it’s because accolades are often inadequate when admiring a stand of flowing longleaf pines
or a quilted forest vista. The impressions we capture from those experiences land in a more personal space. Can you quantify the joyful sound of kids leaping into a raked pile of crunchy autumn leaves? Priceless.
Since early July, when the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) opened its online seedling store, the agency’s Reforesta- tion Department has been busy. Staffers have shifted from pine- cone and acorn collections to processing and distribution. The focus now is ensuring delivery of healthy crops to GFC seedling coordinators and customers statewide.
A little-known fact is that sales from GFC’s nursery seedlings fund work being done in GFC orchards. As a member of two Tree Improvement Cooperatives, GFC does breeding and testing with genetically improved germplasm, essential to the production of straighter, faster-growing and more disease-resistant pine trees. That work is valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars and is vital to ensuring productive, healthy forests for generations to come.
While those genetically improved pine seedlings and other
Bald cypress
pine varieties get lots of attention, GFC’s selection of attractive ornamentals, along with fruit and flowering trees, is popular as well. Buyers say they’re happy to plant pollinators and appreciate species that benefit wildlife. Aesthetics are also a major draw for landowners and homeowners.
“The smaller, non-industrial landowners market has grown since we’ve gone to online ordering,” said GFC Reforestation Chief Jeff Fields. “Our 10- and 50-plus packs are very popular in the suburbs and with garden clubs. People realize that we offer a very economical choice for very high-quality seedlings, espe- cially the hardwood varieties. Many of our buyers split orders with their neighbors.”
GFC Region 2 Seedling Coordinator Ezra Bortner said he likes helping home or business owners who come to GFC for their spe- cial project materials. And he enjoys dealing with smaller orders.
“People are elated to discover that we offer this,” Bortner said. “They’re happy about the value and not having to haul a tree with a five-gallon root ball.”
Seedlings produced by GFC range in size from one to four- and-a-half feet in height. All seedlings are lifted directly from the field and are “bare root,” as opposed to containerized at this time. Plans are in the works, however, to establish a con- tainerized option for some species at GFC’s Flint River facility.
24 | GEORGIA FORESTRY