our roots

My grandfather (Pop Pop), Leroy Clymer, was a stone mason who lived in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. As a child of the depression, he worked incredibly hard to make a living. He started growing Japanese maples more than 30 years ago as a hobby and for supplemental income. I can remember as a kid going to my grandparents house every summer, and because they had cable television and we didn't at home, I spent a lot of time in front of the TV. Occasionally I could be pulled out from under the television’s glow to go outside for walks. His yard was filled with Japanese maple trees and conifers that he had either grown from seed, or grafted. I always admired all of his trees and felt a sense of peace walking amongst them. Every one seemed just a little different from the next.  

My Pop Pop’s passion for the outdoors certainly rubbed off on my dad, who has worked as a forester for over 40 years and is able to be outdoors most days. My brother is also following this outdoors passion and is currently running a pick-your-own fruit farm, Threefold Farm, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.    

As I’ve grown older, gone to college, lived in different places, seen a lot of the country, I’ve realized how fortunate I was to have a wonderful family with such earnest interests. My Pop Pop’s passion for growing Japanese maples has rubbed off on me, and after he passed away, I decided that I’d like to learn to cultivate Japanese maples and conifers as well. For the past few years I have been fortunate to have learned from some very generous nurserymen and growers about techniques for cultivating different types of plants. I’m experimenting with these methods to see what works for our region, and for small-scale growers like me.