Bare-root seedlings are raised at the nursery for wildlife food and cover on state game lands. The nursery has been producing and distributing 2 to 8 million seedlings annually for wildlife food and cover since 1954. The goal of Howard Nursery is to provide the finest tree seedlings available of those species that best provide for the various needs of wildlife, including food and shelter. All of our stock is inspected annually by the state Department of Agriculture and certified to be disease-free.
Howard Nursery grows tree and shrub seedlings for state game land use, participating Hunter Access cooperators, the Seedlings for Schools program and our conservation partners. Any remaining surplus is available to Pennsylvania residents for purchase for wildlife food and cover, watershed protection, soil erosion control, and for reclamation of disturbed areas, such as surface mine site and utility right-of-ways. The selection of seedlings changes from year to year due to available seed, seedling germination, or growing conditions.
In addition to making arrangements for landowners to pick up their seedling orders, the nursery also ships via United Parcel Service (UPS) for an additional fee. Orders are shipped Monday thru Wednesday to assure that your packages will not sit in an unrefrigerated warehouse over the weekend. Most orders are received the day after they are shipped. Generally, seedlings ship in the month of April. Please keep in mind that due to conditions beyond our control, such as ice and snow, wet weather, and frozen ground, we may not be able to ship trees as early as we would like. We will do everything we can do at the nursery to ensure timely shipping and arrival of trees.
