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TREE OWNERS NEWS
Fall 1997
Sherry and I are very proud
to introduce to you our new Premium Mixture, a precious collection of fourteen select
species of some of the finest and most beautiful tropical hardwoods that grow in this part
of the world, all hand-planted and carefully groomed in a professionally designed mixed
planting. Seven of these species we have never made available to tree owners before.
We have worked for the last
several years to develop this precious mixture of beautiful and increasingly scarce
tropical hardwood species. And today we are very happy to make this collection of precious
hardwood trees available to you.
Our new Premium Mixture
includes fourteen of the most beautiful tropical hardwood species in the world - Mahogany,
Cocobolo, Primavera or White Mahogany, Trebol or Macacauba, Brazilian Cherry, Bocote,
Purpleheart, Goncalo Alves, Ipe or Lapacho, Peroba Rosa, Roble, Santa Maria, Madero Negro,
and Wild Tambran.
Leonardo, Beto and Steve with Premium Mixture seedlings
These exquisitely beautiful
tropical hardwoods are sought-after for fine furniture, high-end cabinetry, musical
instruments, fine decorative and figured veneers, joinery and turnery, and many other
beautiful custom and specialty items.
The benefits of growing
these species in a mixture are several. First, our Premium Mixture provides a unique means
to diversify, to own a wide variety of precious tropical hardwoods. Another is that
earlier test plantings by others have suggested that tropical hardwood trees planted in a
mixture may grow a bit faster than trees planted in pure plantings.
Another very important
benefit is that by planting a mixture of species, we can make mahogany, one of the finest
and most sought-after woods in the world, available to you as part of the mixture. As we
mentioned in an earlier newsletter, mahogany planted in a pure stand tends to have a
problem with a little shoot-tip borer moth. But growing in the natural forest, or planted
in among other trees, the odors of the surrounding vegetation tend to foil the little
moths' ability to locate the mahogany trees.
And planting trees in a
mixture is more natural. The trees are still hand-planted in neat rows and will be pruned
and groomed for harvest just the same as all of our trees. But having a mixture of species
in the same field is more natural and inviting to the birds and animals.
Our Premium Mixture
was planted this planting season and is now in the field and growing! The fourteen species
were planted in a repeating pattern in the field that evenly distributes all of the
species throughout the field. Each owner of Premium Mixture trees will receive
approximately equal quantities of each of these fourteen precious species.
We invite you to join us in
owning some of these beautiful, precious trees.
Our principal criteria in
selecting the species for our Premium Mixture were that, to fit with our overall
objectives, all of the species in the mixture had to be fine, beautiful tropical hardwood
trees, and they all had to have growth characteristics and care requirements sufficiently
similar that they could be grown and managed together in a mixed planting. They also had
to be species that thrive in the area of our farms, and that we already have several
years' experience in planting and growing.
We added a third criterion
that a significant percentage of the species had to be leguminous or nitrogen-fixing
species. Sherry and I have seen first-hand that trees and plants growing near leguminous
trees grow better and faster, and we wanted this same benefit for our Premium Mixture.
This additional requirement made our job a bit more difficult, but Sherry and I both
believe that in doing anything, we should do the very best we can.
The result of our quest is
our Premium Mixture, a collection of fourteen of the finest tropical hardwoods from this
part of the world, all incredibly beautiful, and all becoming increasingly scarce.
Sherry and I hope that as
you read more below about the species in our new Premium Mixture, you will be as excited
as we are.
- Mahogany Considered by many to be
the world's premier wood for fine cabinetry and fine furniture, mahogany is becoming
increasingly scarce as loggers go deeper and deeper into the natural forest to find these
precious trees.
- Cocobolo One of the true tropical
rosewoods, cocobolo is an extremely beautiful, heavy oily wood that has become so scarce
in parts of its original range that it is sometimes sold by the pound.
- Primavera Also called white mahogany
because of its beauty and similarity in appearance to mahogany, only lighter in color,
primavera is a premium blonde wood sought for fine furniture and cabinetry.
- Trebol or Macacauba A beautiful
red to red-brown hardwood sought for fine furniture and cabinetry, trebol is nearing
extinction in many parts of its original range.
- Brazilian Cherry Prized for its
beauty and sought for fine furniture, cabinetry and flooring, Brazilian cherry has been
harvested nearly out of existence outside of parks and reserves.
- Bocote A particularly beautiful
hardwood, bocote is light to golden brown. Used for fine cabinetry, fine furniture and
boat decking, bocote is becoming scarce in many parts of its original range.
- Purpleheart A uniquely beautiful
purple wood, prized for inlay work and fine furniture and cabinetry, purpleheart is
nearing extinction in many parts of its original range.
- Goncalo Alves Sought for its
outstanding honey-brown striped wood for fine furniture, cabinetry, and beautiful turned
bowls, goncalo alves is becoming increasingly scarce outside of parks and reserves.
- Ipe or Lapacho This beautiful
olive-brown wood is used for furniture and flooring, and also for boardwalks because of
its durability. Ipe is becoming increasingly scarce in many parts of its original range.
- Peroba Rosa Heavily exploited in
the past because of its durability, and now for its beautiful pinkish wood, peroba rosa is
now very rare in parts of its original range.
- Roble Roble's beautiful
chestnut-brown wood is used for boat building and for fine furniture and cabinetry. Roble
is becoming increasingly scarce outside of the protection of parks and reserves.
- Santa Maria Pinkish to
reddish-brown, Santa Maria is sought for beautiful cabinetry and veneers. Santa Maria is
listed as occasional to rare, even in parks and reserves.
- Madero Negro This beautiful flecked
dark brown to black wood is not yet well known in the U.S. Madero negro used to be used
for its durability, but now is sought for furniture, cabinetry and artisanry, and now
occurs only occasionally naturally.
- Wild Tambran Wild tambran's
excellent, dark reddish-brown wood is sought for furniture, cabinetry and figured veneers.
Wild tambran is now increasingly rare outside of parks and reserves.
A few of you
have asked how El Niño influences our weather here on the farms. Historically, when the
warm El Niño current is in close to the Pacific coast of South America, as it is now, the
western part of Costa Rica receives less rain than when El Niño is out farther in the
Pacific. In our area of Costa Rica, that means that we will still have plenty of rain
during the rainy season, but somewhat less than when El Niño is out, and the dry season
may begin a bit earlier. So far this rainy season, each day normally begins with a sunny
morning, and nearly every afternoon or evening the clouds come in and it rains. All of the
trees are fine and everything is a beautiful, lush green.
As you think about gifts
for the holidays, please consider a timeless gift of tropical trees. Family members,
valued employees, customers or clients, your church or university - all would appreciate
your unique and very generous gift for the next 25 years.
If you would like to give a
gift of trees for this holiday season, we can have your display tree certificates to you
in time for the holidays if we receive your order by December 5.
Also, as we near the end of
1997, now would be a good time to review your tax situation. Would you benefit from
setting up an IRA? Or if you already have one or more IRA's, is it time to make a
contribution? Under the newest tax laws, can you save taxes by making increased
contributions? Would owning tropical hardwood trees, or more trees, in your IRA better
achieve your retirement objectives? If you would like to own trees, or increase the number
of trees, in your IRA, please let us know and we will be very happy to send you the forms.
Sherry and I want to thank
all of you again for your continued interest and enthusiasm. It is all of you who make
possible everything we are doing. We thank you all very, very much!! |
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