2025 - a year in review!

Hello, passionate fruit and nut tree grower!

Thank you for following our journey here at Prairie Hardy Nursery. 2025 was another great year at our cold climate nursery, located in hardiness zone 3 near Two Hills, Alberta. During this cold and dark time of year, around the winter solstice, we enjoy looking back at the year we've had: our accomplishments, our new additions (cherries and many more!). Each year we grow a little more, expand our offerings, and add new amazing team members. 

We've picked some of our favourite snaps from last year... join us in looking back and seeing what life is like behind the scenes of our artisanal nursery!

*Top photo courtesy of Chep Good Food Inc.

We celebrated the arrival of spring in March by attending the yearly Seedy Sunday event in Saskatoon, Seedy Saturday in Calgary, and Seedy Sunday in Edmonton! As a mail order nursery, we don't always get the chance to meet you in person, and these events offer an opportunity to meet some of you and put a face to your name! We truly enjoy that. We also stock up on seeds from our local seed companies: we have found that locally adapted seeds perform the best for our climate.

As soon as the snow melted in April, we dug up our stock and transferred them carefully to our cold storage. This effort really took all hands on deck, and everyone pitched in to get it all done. Of course, we loved to crack a joke, share stories, and enjoy good company to make the hard work joyful! Each tree and shrub was handled by tending hands.

We packed your orders and shipped them all over Canada from mid-April to around mid-May. In 2025, there was a looming Canada Post strike, and our team ensured all packages were delivered in time before the possible interruptions. A huge relief and win! Each package was packed with great care, and all they all arrived safe and sound. We always love hearing your feedback and planting stories, check out our testimonial page to read some too!

After the intense busyness that was May: shipping all your orders, grafting up a storm for the next season, planting the grafted trees, propagating new shrubs, making compost teas, adding mulch... (I'm probably forgetting a task or ten 😅) - we held our annual Local Potted Tree Sale! We offered delivery to pick-up locations in Sherwood Park and Calgary, which allowed us to extend our offerings for summer planting and meet some of you in person. However, if there's anything specific you're looking for, mail order is still the best way to ensure you won't miss out!

*Photos by the amazing Holly Jane Photography

Last July, Kristel had the honour to present at Wild Roses Festival, the largest gathering of women in all of Canada, held in Central Alberta. After quite some rain, the clouds parted and she found herself in an aspen grove sharing insights about food forest principles, the challenges, and tips for growing in our cold yet abundant growing zone. It was a true pleasure and so much fun!

Each season has its perks and beauty, but nothing made us feel better (and healthier!) than harvest season. When you plant different trees and plants, you can harvest fruits and berries throughout the growing season. When those fresh antioxidants hit your belly, you can feel the energy!

We are passionately committed to understanding growing in cold hardiness zones 2, 3 and 4. We don't just grow these trees, we LIVE in our cold zone 3 climate alongside them. We grow, experiment, observe through our harsh winters and short, dry summers. We exchange knowledge with fellow passionate growers who truly understand our climate and challenges. This lived experience is at the heart of everything we do. We're truly humbled to serve as a trusted source of knowledge and quality specimens for growers who share our love of this challenging but rewarding climate.

Behind the scenes, we always have new offerings and experiments growing, and 2025 brought some exciting reveals we could hardly keep secret! We added Sour Cherries as a brand new category to our catalogue, an exciting milestone for prairie fruit growers. We also introduced exclusive and rare apples including Lucky Jack, Festive Treat, and Orange Pumpkin, plus several beloved heritage varieties: Calgary Mac, Manitoba Spy, Harcourt, Zaychuck, Trail, and Norland. Rounding out our new additions were Hackberry, Balsor Hardy Blackberry, and Siberian Crabapple.

Each one tested, tried, and true for our challenging but abundant zone!

You'll often hear us mumble, "THIS is my favourite, so so good!" when eating the first haskaps, raspberries, currants, plums, pears, apples... and that list goes on. Why? Because a perfectly ripe fruit, fresh off the tree, wiped on your pants, is (by far) the most delicious fruit you'll ever taste!

Most of our photography is done by Kristel, and she had a blast taking new shots this year. Of course, this meant she had to cut open, arrange, photograph, and oh, what a hardship taste-test all this beautiful fruit to make sure it was camera-ready. Truly the toughest part of running a nursery... but hey, someone's got to do it, right?! 😋

Pears! 2025 was a PEAR-fect pear year... We harvested baskets full, and what a feast we had! Planting bareroot trees is the superior way to establish a healthy orchard or food forest. The roots develop freely in the soil, forming natural symbiotic relationships with beneficial fungi and bacteria from the start. Of course, the trade-off is a few years of waiting before those abundant harvests begin. Patience and loving care for your young trees are essential! But when that first bumper crop arrives, it will feel incredibly rewarding!

If you've read this far, thank you! Our aim is to serve, grow healthy roots in healthy living soil, give back to our surroundings, and be proudly Prairie Hardy. This photo was taken during a walk on the 2025 summer solstice and serves as a good reminder that we live life with the seasons. 

Thank you for following us, reading our newsletters, checking us out on social media, leaving us testimonials, and purchasing our Prairie Hardy shrubs and trees. It's our honour and truly a dream come true. Kristel & Kurt 🌳

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