The Prairie Hardy Nursery Story

Growing hardy fruit and nuts for the Canadian Prairies

We are thrilled you are here, and excited to share our story with you.

We're grateful to grow, work, and live on Treaty 6 territory: a traditional meeting ground, gathering place, and travelling route for the Cree, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Métis, Dene, and Nakota Sioux. We honour the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit whose footsteps have marked these lands for generations, and we're thankful for the chance to tend this ground today.

We are a truly unique nursery, in operation since 2017. We specialize in delicious (truly!) hardy and unique trees for our cold Canadian climate. Our focus is simple: finding, growing and sharing exceptional food-producing plants that can thrive in the challenging climates of the Canadian Prairies.

We are an independent, family-run nursery owned and operated by partners in life and co-owners Kurt and Kristel. For nearly a decade, we have been building a unique collection of hardy and unusual cultivars for gardeners, orchardists, homesteaders and fruit enthusiasts across Canada. Each spring, we ship many thousands of trees all over the country, and our trees are sought after by passionate fruit and nut tree enthusiasts from coast to coast.

But Prairie Hardy Nursery is so much more than simply growing trees! Grab a warm bevy, we would love to share more with you.

Like a Little Walnut, Prairie Hardy Nursery Sprouted

Prairie Hardy Nursery sprouted from a desire to start our own hardy orchard and food forest right here in Two Hills County, Alberta, in Canadian Hardiness Zone 3.

We discovered was a lot of misinformation, trees grown in warmer zones and plants being incorrectly labelled as “hardy”. Trees sent by mail, but not packed with care causing them to struggle. It became our mission to test cultivars ourselves, and we became obsessed! Our passion and mission grew into sharing rare and unique cultivars with you.

Like a little walnut seed, Prairie Hardy Nursery sprouted up in 2017! The hardy walnut became our logo. 

Over the years, we have sought out rare cultivars and unique genetics from across Canada and beyond. We are incredibly proud to have commercially introduced many rare and unique cultivars to the Canadian market that were previously unavailable here, and we have become known for bringing unusual and hard-to-find fruit and nut varieties to Canadian gardeners.

We work hard to ensure trees are true to type and have the correct genetics. We research whether information published online reflects the actual experience of local growers, keep track of what we learn, update our information and do our best to bring true and honest, lived experience to Canadian growers.

We are proud of that work, and have documented many of these introductions in our cultivar discoveries article.

Finding Unique Trees

We travel throughout the Prairies to discover unusual and exceptional trees. We seek out old and rare specimens, talk to the people who know their history, taste their fruit and evaluate their health, productivity and potential.

When we find genetics worth preserving, we collect scionwood or seed and bring that material into our growing program for propagation and evaluation.

For nut trees, we personally seek out healthy, productive mother trees and collect seed from carefully selected sources. We are interested in preserving genetics from trees that have already demonstrated their ability to grow and produce in prairie conditions.

This kind of hands-on exploration is a big part of what makes Prairie Hardy Nursery unique. We are also incredibly grateful to the wonderful folks who have contacted us with information about rare and delicious species. We are always interested in helping to preserve old and unusual varieties and, where possible, saving them from extinction.

Experimental Orchards

We maintain experimental orchards and growing areas where we trial cultivars and observe how they perform in our climate.

Hardiness is important, but it is only part of the picture. We also want to know about fruit quality, flavour, productivity, ripening time, growth habit and overall performance.

Our goal is not simply to find plants that survive. We want to find plants that are worth growing.

Growing in Zone 3 is not for the faint of heart

It takes true grit and patience. It takes planning and shared knowledge from local experts.

There is an important distinction between selling a plant that is rated for Zone 3 and actually growing that plant in Zone 3. There are so many nuances that nurseries in warmer climates simply do not experience. This is what makes us unique: our lived experience.

Our trees and shrubs are grown in our prairie climate, where they experience our cold winters, short growing seasons, prairie winds and unpredictable weather.

We believe that growing plants in the same conditions as the people who will ultimately plant them is a great benefit, even though operating a nursery in our climate is often not an easy choice. We would not be where we are today without dedication, patience, grit and, above all, true passion.

We take the information behind our catalogue seriously

Our cultivar descriptions are written by us, based on extensive research and our own observations. We consult horticultural references, compare information from different sources, speak with local growers and experts, and continue to learn as our plants mature.

We also take all of our own cultivar photographs. Kristel photographs our trees, flowers and fruit so that customers can see the actual cultivars we grow rather than relying on generic stock photography.

Please note that all of our original photographs and written content are protected by copyright.

A great deal of work goes into every cultivar we offer, long before it appears on our website. We try to go above and beyond, fuelled by our passion for delicious fruit, healthy crops and vigorous roots.

Grateful for our mentors

We have had the privilege of learning from many knowledgeable people along the way. Horticultural experts, researchers, breeders, growers, homesteaders and enthusiastic fruit growers from across the Canadian Prairies and beyond have shared their knowledge, experience, genetics and advice with us over the years.

Some have introduced us to cultivars we would never otherwise have encountered. Others have shared observations from their own growing experiences or helped us understand the history and potential of a particular plant.

We are proud of what we have learned, and we are equally proud of the people who have helped us learn it. We would not be where we are today without them.

& our wonderful team

Prairie Hardy Nursery has grown over the years, and today we are fortunate to have a wonderful team working alongside us.

There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into growing, preparing and shipping thousands of plants each spring, and we could not do it without them.

We are grateful not only for their hard work, but also for the laughter, camaraderie and good humour they bring to the farm. They keep us in check, keep things moving and make the long days a whole lot more enjoyable.

We truly could not do this without our team.

Respect for the land

Prairie Hardy Nursery is located on our family farm in Two Hills County, Alberta. Our orchards and growing areas are surrounded by rewilded land and native vegetation that provides habitat for pollinators, birds and other wildlife.

We grow using organic practices and incorporate permaculture and old-world growing techniques into our work.

Our goal is to grow productive, healthy plants while building and maintaining a diverse, living landscape around them.

Grown with curiosity

After nearly a decade, we are still looking.

There are always more cultivars to investigate, more old trees to find, more genetics to preserve and more questions to answer.

That curiosity is a big part of who we are.

We are serious about our plants and the information we provide, but we also have a lot of fun doing what we do. We enjoy discovering something new, sharing it with other plant enthusiasts and watching a cultivar we've been working with for years finally produce its first crop.

That is what keeps this work interesting.

Why Prairie Hardy Nursery?

We are a Canadian, Zone 3 grown nursery focused specifically on cold hardy fruit and nut plants.

We search for unusual genetics. We trial cultivars ourselves. We propagate plants that excite us. We travel to find exceptional trees. We collect seed from carefully selected mother trees. We photograph our own cultivars. We research and write our own information. And we continue learning from the many horticultural experts and enthusiasts who have helped shape our work.

We are proud to be a Canadian nursery pushing the boundaries of what can be grown here, and helping gardeners discover just how much is possible.

Thank you for supporting our little corner of the Canadian fruit-growing community.

We're so glad you're here. Kristel, Kurt and our most wonderful Prairie Hardy Team!