Important news about England's Nursery for 2021 and 2022

From England’s Facebook page:

With Much sorrow I write this

We have not updated the website since Last Spring, and We have not grown any trees this year for to sell or for the Nursery Trade

Something you need to know about us, I can attach some Documents that will help you in your quest for quality trees and we still answer the phones and answer the technical questions.

We will have Jujubes trees in late winter to early Spring 2022 but for Pick up Only and no Persimmons or Pawpaw, Almonds or Pear or any other trees for that matter this is all due to the 4 cm of Ice March of 2021 and the Polar vortex’s wrath May 9th, 2020, where the temps dropped to 25 degrees F after the trees was in flower, in the 3 orchards and the Effects of covid on the Economy.

Plus, to be very Honest I have suffered a Stroke the last week of May 2021 that has left me a little off my Game :wink: and Short sided on Memory but slowly recovering and mostly back to my self but with some brain fog and memory issues

Sorry you must find out this way, but My Wife has closed the nursery to Retail sales of trees for a few year and will not return in the near future anyway because of the condition the trees in the Orchards tree are in, and from the Freezing of 2020 and 4 cm of ice that was on the trees in the early spring 2021

Plus, if that is not bad enough, we are down a few good men Jonathan England our son will be returning to his line of study physiology and Biology for employment, So that Leaves Mrs. Kum Hui England and I along with hopefully some PT labor in the future

So, 2022 Fall we will have very limited amounts of anything, but it will be for pick up only

We will have scion wood / cuttings and seed available as usual of many species, and I can attach a list of the trees on the 3 farms that contains about 70% of the total trees planted and we did an overall inventory of the Farms of Parts of the farm on certain blocks for scion wood that may be needed by many customers that do their own grafting

However, we will have Scion wood / cuttings of many species for the trade this this fall as most of the Berries that can be rooted or Grafted by the purchaser

I can attach a list of trees that we have in the Orchards if Emailed or thru Messenger just look it over and if we can be of assistance just let me know , the list is pretty in depth and there is some Persimmons but the list has been color coded to make what you want easier to find

If we can be of assistance in any way just let us know

And again, I am so sorry about the inconveniences

Thank you

Clifford and Kum Hui England

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That is disappointing… But its so wonderful what all Mr Cliff has done to advance fruit growing. Yeah and it shows how important it is for us to spread/share, graft and preserve all of these amazing fruits! Mr Cliff has done amazing things for us all!! I sure hope he can get back to good health for many years to come and enjoy his trees!! :smiley:

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I used to live in that area… I went to Berea College which isnt very far from his orchard.

If he would be up to the thought of college interns… i think that would solve and possibly impact the future of his work.

I bet that a lecture from him would be amazing.

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You would have to find the right interns in the proper field of study with a passion for growing things. But yes, that is a great idea.

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@disc4tw

No doubt about that. His orchard is very close to Berea, EKU and UK… so i figure some where in there are students or perhaps grad students that share the same passion.

He should think about reaching out to the botany or agriculture professors and offering a field trip… i have read where he is a wonderful guy and loves to share his knowledge…so maybe it will be a win win.

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Nothing but respect for Cliff. He’s a great guy who’s very generous with his time and has made lots of excellent contributions to fruit and nut growing. Hopefully this winter and spring are kinder on his orchard.

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It seems more and more of those old traditional farms and nurseries get closed. And replaced with the larger growers who can do tissue culture etc. on a larger scales. I guess it is not easy to make $$ the old way. Same with smaller farmers.

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I think Cliff will be back in a few years. I hope he starts publishing and spreading his knowledge. He is a resource that should be carried on to future generations. I learned a lot from him and hope to learn a lot more. Several times, when ordering, I would ask him for suggestions and always went with what he recommended.

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Losing Oikos and England’s in the same year…

I hate to seem selfish, but are there any other reliable sources for JT-02 or Chinebuli persimmons? Cliff was also the only source for many pawpaw varieties as well…

Truly a great loss…

If I were closer, I’d volunteer to help him on weekends as the kids will all be gone as of next summer…

Scott

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Just putting this out there…

Its 2021- soon to be 2022… i think most of us in this forum have read many other forums… and no doubt alot of us are into Youtube for learning visually. Heck there are FB videos…

I am a big fan of The Permaculture Orchard… and a few other channels. 30 years of knowledge? Yes please.

Someone needs to document Englands and other orchards like his. Capture their knowledge and spread it over the world. Can you imagine Lehman and Claypools knowledge? Oikos? There are legends all around us… but most are lost to the written word.

Ive seen the ‘Fruit Hunters’ doc. and i belong to many facebook groups of fruit explorers… there are alot of people out there interested in these things.

If not for youtube, forums, and FB groups i probably wouldnt have given a second thought to some of the great ideas, tips, and considerations for plants and trees…

As a kid my cousins and I would walk back streets at my grandmothers house. There were Persimmons, Pawpaws and Crab Apples. The older kids would be eating a ripe persimmon and have a few unripe ones in their pockets for us. Us younger kids would fall for the trick every time… mouths were sucked dry of every sensation.

Up until this year i have hated the thought of a persimmon… such bad memories. I happened to want something from Cliffs Nursery and he changed my whole outlook. I had no idea that there were ‘good’ persimmons. However he cannot sell me plants…but the knowledge was priceless. And my persimmon journey begins.

I would watch hours of him on youtube if i could… perhaps someone will take this idea and run with it… an orchard explorer that documents and shares knowlege from the legends that are still alive.

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You can get some scions from Cliff and graft them.

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England’s like so many other nurseries is a reminder your the next generation of fruit growers. It’s up to each of you to be 1000x better orchardist than people like we are. England’s will be a hard act to follow he was the real thing. A true fruit grower. His vast array of different varities will be hard to match but my advice is try and do so quickly while you have a great orchardist like England’s still among us to buy scion wood and a little free advice from. @tonyOmahaz5 has mentioned the good experience he has had with this nursery over the years. We will all get sick , we will all get to a point where we can’t do it but try to pass on all the knowledge and varities you can. @39thparallel grows many varities from my collection including my experiments. Much of the knowledge has been documented here on this website. Cliff is politely telling us he is doing his best and if you want some scions order them and I’m listening. Orchardists like him were pioneers in this field. Much of what he grows you can only get from him.

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Isnt the name of this thread kind of rude? It seems like this guy has poured his heart and his soul into his business and after the last two really harsh years where most businesses were closed for a large portion of the year what Cliff is doing is focusing on his health and the long term success of his land.

It would probably be impossible to service customers, take care of his health and regrow the orchard and honestly the american customer base has been horrible to its small businesses. Taking out all of their frustrations on said businesses who got no relief or help and patronizing people who take away their rights and get paid their tax dollars.

I wish those of us on here could land Cliff a hand instead of kind of bad mouth his business or make it harder for him to re open next year. I feel that he deserves a bit better treatment and making all of his scion wood available seems extremely generous and something i would do if i was staying in business.

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From what i gather the name or the jist of the thread isnt rude at all. The guy lost his whole nursery and parts of his orchard to weather i think two years straight.

I think i saw where he couldnt get good help either…

I know for sure that i couldnt do what he does by myself. Let alone with health issues and age.

Its totally amazing that he offers scions however that is not where he could make the most money… in my opinion.

I have no idea the size of the greenhouse or plot that would be needed, but if he had 2 people grafting 10 hours per day… that still wouldnt be enough for the potential for online sales.

I couldnt manage the orchard/answer emails, phone calls/graft/give tours/manage a website/ship product/sell fruit… etc etc etc. No one human could…

I see it as a call to action. But in the end its up to him how he wants to carry it onward.

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I think this falls under the “you can’t help others if you can’t help yourself” category. Cliff is doing what he needs to do to get himself rehabilitated and in good shape. I wish him all the best in his recovery and hope that he will be doing what is best for his own health and well being, regardless of if that is returning to operations as normal or adapting his business model.

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No one on here is bashing cliff, at least I didn’t take it that way. I took it as everyone understands that circumstances have changed the way that Cliff is moving forward, at least temporarily.

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I am just sharing information direct from Cliff. That is verbatim from his Facebook account.

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I agree, let’s ask @Olpea to edit the thread name, I’m sure the creator did not intend the negative connotation! Cliff deserves much better
Dennis
Kent, wa

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Sorry to hear about what happened to cliff. I hope he will get better soon

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I edited the title to (Important news about England’s Nursery for 2021 and 2022) to try to convey the importance of the news and remain as positive as possible. I think any member interested in Cliff England’s nursery will still click on the new title to read the scoop.

Btw, any level 3 member can edit a title. Please just be responsible when doing so.

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