Since the opening of the nursery in 1981, we have focused on finding plants that will successfully grow in the challenging climate of Western Oklahoma and the surrounding areas. We select plants not only for their beauty, but also for hardiness.

Successful plants must be cold and heat tolerant, be able to withstand windy and dry conditions, be adaptive to various soil types (including high alkalinity), be insect and disease resistant, and of course, they must be beautiful as well!

In order to find such plants, we have traveled extensively across the US, and Steve has traveled to China and Tibet looking for new species. We collect plants from arboretums, other nurseries, and from the wild. Then our plants are nursery propagated for sale.

In addition to our nursery enterprise, we are doing ongoing plant research. We have been researching woody plants for the last 18 years. We propagate and establish many trees, shrubs and flowers on the grounds of the arboretum and evaluate them for ornamental character, disease and insect resistance, and tolerance to the environmental conditions of the Great Plains. In many cases, you can see mature specimens in the arboretum. We have a special interest in the Ulmacea family and have accumulated a large collection of elms.

In addition to the new plant introductions that we have made, we have carefully looked at the native plants of the area and selected ones that perform especially well.

We produce most of what we sell. All of our seeds and stock plants are selected from known, proven sources. We use propagation methods that produce superior container plants that will thrive in the landscape. All of our trees are grown using an air-root-pruning method that produces a fibrous root system and an exceptional tree.