Which Greening Nursery Stock Varieties Have the Best Prospects
Which greening nursery stock varieties have the best prospects in the future: Since the second half of last year, the greening nursery stock market in most parts of the country has begun to stabilize and rise, with prices for small greening seedlings, medium-specification engineering seedlings, and large-specification nursery stock all showing increases of varying degrees. Especially at the beginning of this year, reports about rising nursery stock prices across the country have been commonplace, making the development of nursery stock a hot topic, sweeping away the sluggish market situation of previous years and ushering in a new round of dawn for industry development. Which nursery stock products will have the best prospects in China's greening nursery stock industry in the coming years or even decades?
A careful analysis of the development of the Sichuan greening nursery stock market reveals that many of the best-selling items are still traditional nursery stock. For nursery stock growers, the cultivation risk of traditional nursery stock is relatively small. However, from a long-term development perspective, the nursery stock market needs to continuously introduce new nursery stock varieties and inject new blood, so that landscape gardening can continuously innovate and create more beautiful garden scenery.
Optimistic about standard seedlings and shaped seedlings
Greening is a process of continuous upgrading. With the improvement of economic conditions and living standards, people have put forward higher requirements for the varieties, specifications and quality of landscape greening nursery stock. As greening deepens further, nursery stock will develop in the direction of refinement and personalization. In my view, standardized nursery stock and shaped seedlings will have broad prospects in the coming years.
First is standardized nursery stock. This type of nursery stock has uniform specifications and a high survival rate. Reasonable density is adopted during the planting process, and there are relatively high requirements for diameter at breast height, crown width, plant shape, etc., which can produce good ornamental effects. This type of nursery stock can be used for public greening and is also suitable for courtyard planting. Another category is new, unusual and special shaped seedlings, such as crape myrtle, cherry blossom, ginkgo, osmanthus, and Buddhist pine. Their cultivation requires shaping according to the tree's characteristics, involves high technical content and a long cultivation period, and has attracted much attention in recent years, with relatively high ornamental value and deep symbolic meaning. Examples include multi-layer grafting of Sophora japonica 'Pendula', high grafting of Euonymus japonicus, high grafting of Sabina vulgaris, and the cultivation of shaped nursery stock of Sabina chinensis. They are mainly used for villas, high-end residential communities, large tourist attractions, and municipal greening.
At present, the value of many varieties in the greening market is still underestimated. Magnolia denudata, Euonymus japonicus, Chaenomeles speciosa, and wintersweet are all very good landscape greening varieties, but their selling prices are relatively low in most greening markets. For example, a Magnolia denudata with a diameter at breast height of 8 cm, in my view, could sell for two to three hundred, but in reality it only sells for a few dozen yuan. For such underestimated varieties, they should be developed through multiple channels. Take Elaeocarpus sylvestris, for instance: in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area the volume is large and the price is low, but if introduced to Guizhou for planting, a reasonable price can be obtained.
Large trees suitable for northern growing will strengthen. For a long time, the trees used in the north have been very monotonous. In recent years, with introduction and development, many tree species have been discovered and will play an increasingly important role.
Among deciduous trees, I am optimistic about Euonymus bungeanus. It has strong adaptability, resistance to cold, tolerance of waterlogging, drought and saline-alkali conditions, and can be planted from Northeast China to Northwest China. The Three-North Shelterbelt Command has designated it as a main afforestation tree species, and it is expected to be in great demand in the coming years. Euonymus bungeanus can also be grafted with evergreen tree species such as Euonymus japonicus 'Hokkaido', Euonymus japonicus, and Euonymus fortunei. Its price has already risen; a seedling with a diameter at breast height of 5 cm costs 60 yuan, but there is still large room for increase.
Next is Cercidiphyllum japonicum. Practice has proven that it can overwinter safely in Beijing. At present, the Cercidiphyllum japonicum planted in the Beijing Botanical Garden is growing very well. This tree species is a tall tree, with very beautiful tree form and leaves, and good wood as well. It can serve as a street tree in the north, and is also a national first-class protected tree species, very precious.
Aesculus chinensis is also one of the good choices. It is a world-famous street tree, and there are now a small number of applications in Beijing with good growth. However, at present there is very little large-specification Aesculus chinensis with a diameter at breast height of 10 cm or more on the market, while nurseries hold large quantities with a diameter at breast height of 7 to 8 cm. The price difference between Aesculus chinensis with a diameter at breast height of 9 cm and 10 cm is nearly double. By next year, Henan will have 50,000 Aesculus chinensis with a diameter at breast height of 10 cm entering the market, but it is expected that demand will still exceed supply. Besides Aesculus chinensis, large-specification trees such as Ilex purpurea and Chukrasia tabularis have all been proven to grow well in Beijing, and there will be relatively large demand in the coming years, with prices gradually rising as well.
Five types of trees have broad prospects
This year, with the increase in engineering volume, Northeast China's greening has a great demand for nursery stock. Among them, I believe five varieties have the broadest prospects. First, native tree species. Many native tree species in Northeast China are often ignored because they grow slowly and are difficult to propagate. Some urban construction departments blindly introduce exotic tree species, which leads them even further into greening mistakes. Nowadays, many people are beginning to turn their attention to native tree species, such as Celtis koraiensis, Celtis bungeana, Quercus liaotungensis, Quercus mongolica, and some native varieties of the Aceraceae family. These tree species have strong adaptability and will play the leading role in greening.
Second, flowering small shrubs and fruit-ornamental nursery stock. For a city to truly become beautiful, it cannot do without flowering plants for embellishment. Small trees with long flowering periods such as Prunus davidiana, Prunus sibirica, Pyrus ussuriensis, and Crataegus pinnatifida are indispensable in the greening market. And if some fruit-ornamental tree varieties such as Lonicera are appropriately applied, the greening effect will be even richer.
Third, colored-leaf trees. Golden-leaf ash has golden-yellow leaves in spring, turning yellow-green in summer, and golden-yellow during the leaf-falling period in autumn, with brilliant leaf color throughout the growing season. It has broad application prospects in urban leisure parks.
Fourth, shade-tolerant tree species. Nowadays cities are full of high-rise buildings, and cities urgently need shade-tolerant tree species, such as Viburnum and Euonymus verrucosus.
Fifth, precious tree species, such as Taxus cuspidata, ginkgo, and Pinus armandii. Most of these tree species are high-priced and slow-growing, but have high ornamental value and play an accent role in urban parks. With native tree species as the mainstay in cities, introducing three to four exotic precious varieties can better demonstrate the level of greening.
Colored-leaf tree species will have great potential
I have always understood the concept of a good seedling this way: adaptable, well-formed crown, many roots, reasonable price. As urban greening deepens further, people have higher requirements for greening, and many cities will increasingly need the embellishment of colored-leaf plants. Chinese people speak of spring flowers and autumn fruits. Spring is a symbol of vitality, and its representative color is green; autumn is the embodiment of maturity and success, requiring colors such as orange, yellow, red, and brown. The application of rich colored-leaf tree species can better reflect a city's splendor, grandeur, and sense of antiquity.
Among colored-leaf trees, I am relatively optimistic about maple varieties. China is the country richest in maple resources, with about 164 species. The natural and ingenious combination of maple leaf shape and leaf color, together with its unique winged fruit, gives it unique ornamental value and has long been favored by literati and landscape designers. In recent years, varieties in the Aceraceae family such as Acer pubipalmatum, Acer cordatum, and Acer cinnamomifolium have been developed, mostly used for block planting, group planting, and specimen planting to display landscape and express atmosphere. Their ornamental characteristics and cultural connotations have also attracted the attention of many people in the landscape greening field and urban construction.
In recent years, many companies have begun trying to introduce colored-leaf tree species of the Aceraceae family. It can be predicted that such tree species will have very broad prospects in the future.
On the other hand, I believe standardized street trees and personalized tree species will increasingly be favored by the market. For example, Pseudolarix amabilis has a graceful tree posture and golden-yellow autumn leaves, can relatively well express seasonal changes, and its tree name also caters to the Chinese habit of seeking good luck.
Great demand for deciduous trees
In Wuhan, Hubei, people used to prefer choosing some evergreen tree species as street trees, making urban greening monotonous, and residents easily developed aesthetic fatigue. In recent years, people have become increasingly aware of the importance of using deciduous trees as street trees. Hubei has no heating supply in winter, so planting more deciduous trees allows sunlight to shine through in winter, which not only helps with lighting but also increases ground temperature. From the current situation, the production of deciduous trees is far from meeting market demand. In the coming years, there will still be a relatively large gap in the supply of large deciduous trees, and there is also great room for price increases.
Judging from the application effects in recent years, deciduous trees suitable for local street tree planting include Koelreuteria paniculata and Koelreuteria bipinnata. Because demand for large-specification seedlings is great in various places, the national greening market is very short of them. There are also some varieties such as Celtis julianae, which has a good shading effect and tolerates transplanting; Bischofia polycarpa, whose branches are vertical and tree form is beautiful; and Sapindus mukorossi and Choerospondias axillaris, which are all excellent varieties suitable for local conditions, but because they were developed little in the past, market volume is small and prices are high.
Among these tree species, some are not only suitable for use as street trees but can also be planted in courtyards, especially tree species with color phases in different seasons, such as Sapindus mukorossi, Celtis julianae, and colored-leaf trees of the Aceraceae family, which will be hot varieties in the future market. For varieties that are little used in the market and underestimated, multiple channels must be used to increase their added value. For example, for some fast-growing tree species, attention should be paid to pruning and shaping, with two to three years of maintenance; for those with a low transplant survival rate, container seedling cultivation should be carried out.
For ordinary nursery stock growers, the introduction and cultivation of new varieties is a long process, unlike planting conventional tree species where benefits can be seen quickly. Moreover, from cultivation to market acceptance of a new variety, a great deal of manpower, material resources and financial resources must be spent. Therefore, many small nurseries are unwilling to do such work, and only those large nurseries with certain strength are willing to cultivate and develop new varieties. However, in fact, although the early cultivation work costs more effort, when this greening nursery stock is accepted by the market, these enterprises that cultivate the nursery stock often benefit from it.