About

Shin-Boku Nursery has its roots about 1965 in Weston, Massachusetts on some of the original Weston Nurseries property. Palmer Koelb started an eight-acre Nursery on that land, growing a general line of nursery plants, about five acres of in-ground plantings, and an acre of containerized plants. As time went on, the original Nursery "outgrew" this site and the nursery moved to Salisbury, NH.

This new location allowed for the establishment of Salisbury Nursery and the development and planting of about 40 acres of land. Salisbury Nursery grew, prospered to become one of the largest nurseries in New Hampshire, and was sold in 1986. At that time, Palmer moved north to Wentworth, NH and established Baker Valley Nursery, Inc. At a much smaller ten acres, most of the production now focused on dwarf, weeping, and less common needled evergreens.

The early plantings at Baker Valley were grafted conifers that were propagated in the early 1980s in Salisbury. The nursery sales, landscape design, and landscaping projects allowed financing and cultivating the trees that are now the hallmark of Shin-Boku Nursery. These Japanese Garden Trees are grown for a few years in the ground, periodically transplanted or root pruned, and then planted into large containers, some up to 5 feet in diameter. The trees of Shin-Boku Nursery are painstakingly trimmed to produce a shape and personality consistent with the finest trimmed trees found in Japanese gardens. Most of the larger trees at the Nursery are at least 25 years old.

Because Wentworth is substantially colder than most of Japan, only the more hardy trees can be successfully grown here. The Japanese Black Pine is and has been the primary Pine species used in Japan for trimming into Japanese Garden Trees. Japanese Black Pine cannot withstand the cold temperatures of NH; consequently, other trees which are hardy and suitable in this climate are being grown in their place. Shin-Boku Nursery has experienced -50 degrees, so you can be sure that these trees have really been cold-tested!

The trees raised at this Nursery have been carefully selected for their growth, characteristics, appearance, and suitability for use in fine gardens.

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