Ruth and Rick Boyd are running out of room to take in orphans.
The Boyds own Arrow Tree, a business that specializes in planting and transplanting large trees. Their half-acre property in Orton, north of Guelph, is planted with a number of trees that clients have removed to make space for a pool, deck or addition to the house.
“We don’t like to just throw them out,” Rick explained. “It’s pointless to cut a tree if you don’t have to.”
However, their backyard is quickly running out of space and the Boyds are looking to move to a larger property closer to Elmira, where they’ll be able to give castoff trees a good home. They also use their property to showcase unique species like tricoloured beech, harlequin maple and gingko biloba.
The Boyds bought Arrow Tree from David and Betty Huck of West Montrose in April 2008. The business specializes in selling, planting and transplanting large trees with a spade.
The Hucks started Arrow Tree in 1991. David, a truck owner-operator, wanted to get out of the trucking business, so he had the sleeper removed from his truck and an 80-inch spade mounted on it.
A few years ago, Rick found himself in the same position: a truck owner-operator for 25 years, he was looking for a career change that would let him spend more time outdoors and be closer to his family as his twin daughters entered their teens. He’d always loved landscaping, so he and Ruth decided to take over the business.
David worked alongside Rick for the first two seasons, offering invaluable help and guidance. Rick had done a lot of landscaping around their home in Orton, but there was a steep learning curve when it came to working with a spade and mature trees, as well as running his own business.
People call Arrow Tree when they have large trees that need to be transplanted or want to get a jump on landscaping around a new house. Planting mature trees can blur some of the raw edges and make a new house look like it’s been there for years.
A lot of their customers come to Arrow Tree knowing exactly what they want, Rick said, and in many cases, they’re looking for trees they grew up with. Rick himself grew up in the city but he has fond memories of collecting acorns from the giant oaks that grew around his grandparents’ home.
In the past four or five years, there’s been more emphasis on planting native trees, which grow faster and are more resistant to disease.
The first season the Boyds owned Arrow Tree was a busy one. Things slowed down in the fall of 2008 and stayed slow through 2009, through a combination of the economic downturn and a cool, wet summer.
Rick is hoping that business will pick up this season now that the economy seems to have stabilized. The Boyds are looking forward to hiring their first student this summer, and are looking for an arboriculture student from Niagara College or an agriculture student from the University of Guelph. Rick also plans to put daughters Amy and Amber to work this summer doing lighter tasks like mulching.
While he’d like to see the business grow, Rick isn’t interested in owning a fleet of trucks and sending out crews of employees. The vast majority of Arrow Tree’s business comes from private homeowners and he likes to be personally involved in planting their trees.
“That’s the way the business was built – the personal touch – and that’s how it’s going to continue.”
