# Japanese Maples for $14,000; also walnut trees for $15,000



## husky46cc (Mar 22, 2012)

Today I was talking to an arborist employed by a local university. He has a friend whose father began planting dwarf Japanese maples 60-70 years ago. Today the trees are 18-20 feet high with a 20 ft wide canopy. I don't know much about these trees, but that's apparently enormous. He now has a business where he will come to your house and install one of these trees for a mere $14,000! And he has customers who pay it! I believe this story because the university arborist I spoke with is a well-respected long-time professional and he had no reason to make up such a story.

On the same topic of trees as investments, there's a wealthy alumnus of Blackburn College in Illinios who gave them money to plant 100,000 walnut trees as an investment for the future. Yep. One hundred thousand trees. The college owned 400 acres of farmland that they could use for the purpose so they didn't have to buy any land.

The walnut donor says that when he was a kid, a walnut tree was worth $500. Now they're $2,500. He figures in 60 years, they'll be $15,000. If my math is right, that's one hundred fifty million dollars.

Wish I had planted some walnut trees when my twins were born!


----------



## Walt41 (Mar 22, 2012)

Wow! I thought I did good on a couple of nursery auctions but that is some serious coin! I put in over 5,000 landscape plants when the economy took a dump and every now and then my landscape buddy needs a couple of perfect large ones for a big dollar job and we both make money but nothing like that!


----------



## husky46cc (Mar 22, 2012)

Walt41 said:


> Wow! I thought I did good on a couple of nursery auctions but that is some serious coin! I put in over 5,000 landscape plants when the economy took a dump and every now and then my landscape buddy needs a couple of perfect large ones for a big dollar job and we both make money but nothing like that!



You were smart to make your move when you did. It's all about timing, I guess. One thing that will loom larger and larger in the future is the availability of water to nurseries during drought. Our town is prone to drought and the town council has occasionally issued mandatory water restrictions. They wouldn't let a local nursery water their inventory one year! The owner was going to lose everything. He told me he would sell me some Leyland cypress trees, 7 feet tall, normally $50 or so, for $10 or something like that. I bought several. I felt bad for the guy.


----------



## stihl362 (Mar 25, 2012)

thats great news i own 6 japanese maples that are the same size you mentioned and a few are larger. How would one find someone to buy these trees? i would sell them for that price any day


----------

