There are many great nurseries just over the border in NJ. You could contact Princeton Nurseries in Allentown. Their wholesale yard is huge. You can also go and tag field grown trees which they will dig. Another good tree source is in Tuckahoe Nurseries in Tuckahoe NJ. Either will fax you an availability list. Princeton will deliver--I'm not sure about Tuckahoe. Good luck!

CarrieB: what is a 'largish' tree to you? And, how many trees are you looking for?

If you have a large quantity of trees, you may want to consider a bareroot tree grower - there are many excellent growers in Oregon (J Frank Schmidt, Bailey Nurseries, Robinson Nursery, Speer and Sons, etc etc), as well as growers in Tennesee (some good quality, some not - I am not an expert on Tennesee growers). You can buy trees as whips (these are generally without branches) up into branched grades. You would need a nursery license to buy from growers like this, and would have to place an order that would meet their minimum dollar order, but if you have a large quantity, it is an economical way to buy trees.

You can also buy larger, balled and burlapped trees from many excellent B&B growers out there on the East Coast. These will cost more money, and certainly weigh a lot more than a bareroot tree. I'll bet there are some folks here on the GardenWeb that can point you to some bareroot tree growers on the east coast.

There are also container tree growers across this country that do an excellent job, and that may be an option.

Have you considered joining your state nursery association and attending a winter meeting? You may find it eye-opening to go to a large trade show - PANTS in Pennsylvania, MANTS in Baltimore are two excellent shows coming up soon. You'll find large trade shows with lots of wholesale growers of trees there. You may also find some excellent seminars as well.

hope this helps . . .
PP

Thanks Susan, on your suggestion, I've contancted both Princeton and Tuckahoe nurseries to get their availability list.

P-princess, good questions, all! I emailed my client asking what "largish" means. Don't know why I didn't ask him that in the first place. I also asked him how many trees he wants. I'm assuming my client would want B & B trees, probably around 6' tall, and that he'll want anywhere from 3-6 of each type, but I'm not sure. I'm learning that learning what questions to ask is sometimes the biggest step!

I hope you asked both to mail you catalogs as well. Their catalogs are among my most often used reference materials. If you want to bump it up and look for sources and resources, the MANTS (MidAtlantic Nursery Trade Show) is next week in Baltimore and the NJNLA (NJ Nursery and Landscape Association) trade show is the 19th and 20th of January. MANTS is huge and NJNLA is small. They are both great places to learn.

Thanks, again.

I asked the client about sizes and quantities. Here's what he wants:

Size: up to 1 " caliper would be good, and acouple of larger if afordable ok. I have had to settle for seedkings in the past so anything larger/older is an improvement.

Quantity: I guess 5 to 20 each depending on size/cost/age. I have bought hundreds if seedlings when that was the minimum order.

If any of this information changes your advice, or if you have more, I'd love to hear it!

Happy New Year all,

CarrieB

Plant & Supply Locator a monthly wholesale buyers guide. I use the southeast edition, I assume they have a northeast edition. www.plantlocator.net.
The back of American Nurseryman Magazine , the 'plant & supplies' section.
You might want to google and find your states professional nursery organization they would certainly have a list of local tree nurseries that could help you out.
P

Here is a link that might be useful: American Nurseryman Magazine