Newton Citizen

Photo by Tori Boone

COVINGTON -- Cold weather is the perfect time to plant trees, and the Georgia Forestry Commission has seedlings for sale in a variety of species.

The GFC sells seedlings from its Flint River Nursery through the last week in February. Seedlings available include red cedars, Virginia pines, swamp chestnut oaks, red maples, red buds, sawtooth oaks, water oaks and wild plum trees.

"It's critical that we sell all of our seedlings or the nursery won't be there. It has to be self-sustaining," said Mike Sapp, chief ranger for the GFC's DeKalb/Henry/Newton/Rockdale unit. The Flint River Nursery is in danger of closing due to lack of revenues. Located in Byromville, the nursery grows 15 million to 20 million seedlings a year. Rangers gather acorns from local trees and send them to the nursery for planting.

"We feel ours are the best for Georgia because they come from Georgia stock. You can get pine trees from anywhere in the U.S., but they may not grow well in our soil," Sapp said.

The nursery sells bare-root seedlings, resulting in cheaper prices, Sapp said, noting that the smallest pack of seedlings offered, a quantity of 10, costs $27. Packages of up to 1,000 trees are available.

"Our prices are very reasonable. These are bare root seedlings, not the kind you buy at Home Depot with the balled burlap. Any land owner can afford to buy a small pack of 20 trees for their yard," he said.

A price list and more information is available at www.gatrees.org. Orders can also be placed on the website or by calling 800-GA-TREES.