Visiting the "Go Native Tree Farm" in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

I'm in Philadelphia visiting with my daughter and I suggested we go visit the Go Native Tree Farm in Manheim, PA (Lancaster County).

Traffic around Philadelphia is murderously miserable but we finally got out of town heading towards Amish country. It was Sunday so nothing was open, but we drove through some lovely scenery on the way to the tree farm.

Hans Rosenfeld is the proud proprietor of Go Native. He's a young man who's been interested in native species of trees for many years and showed us his robust assortment of hard-to-find native trees. I wanted to get some sassafras trees, which used to be common through North Carolina but now have been eaten away by the deer.

I came away with 4 sassafras trees and:

• A blight-resistant American Chestnut (Castenea dentata) from stock Hans collected himself;
  
• A couple pretty little Allegheny Chinquapins (Castanea pumila);
  
• A hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) - I bought one that did quite well a few years ago, but Jethro ate it...
  
• A persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) to keep the one I had already company;
  
• An American beech (Fagus grandifolia);
  
• A mulberry (Morus rubra)

Hans is very gung ho about hickorie trees ("how can you have the classic East Coast oak and hickory forest without hickories?) and has developed a way to grow them without mangling or stunting their long tap roots. Their native tree price list makes for happy browsing. You can like Go Native Tree Farm on Facebook. The farm, which has been in the family for four generations, is at 678 South Chiques Road in Manheim, PA; call for an appointment.