Appletons' Tree Nursery is a family-owned wholesale tree nursery at 160 State Highway 6 in Wakefield, Tasman, with two sites in the region. Its seedlings go to farm forestry, the nursery trade, native regeneration and riparian restoration, as well as to the public. It has grown plants for more than 50 years and offers over 350 deciduous, native and evergreen species, from 20cm to 1.5m, as one or two year seedlings and two year old transplants.
Most trees are grown in open-ground seedbeds and lifted bare-rooted in winter, when they are dormant. Evergreens and conifers are grown in Swedish side-slit cells, which the website says suit difficult-to-transplant species on drought-prone sites. The Forestry Nursery, on 45 hectares near the Mt Heslington foothills, grows radiata pine, Douglas fir and redwoods. Appletons Arboretum, on 150 hectares, was set up as a seed source and a trial ground, with 6,500 trees from 1,000 species. The nursery employs over 20 full-time staff, with about 25 more seasonal workers during the winter packing season.