History

In 1947, Richard (Dick) Jaynes planted his first Christmas trees, obtained as a prize from the state for his 4-H poultry project. Those first trees, planted in and eventually replacing an apple orchard, led to a thriving Christmas tree farm on over 20 acres in Hamden, CT. Initially run as a tagging operation where customers would pick their tree weeks or months before Christmas, the sales are now conducted as Choose and Cut.

 

 

The nursery part of the business started in 1984, establishing Broken Arrow Nursery as a full time business venture for Dick and Sally Jaynes. Building on Dick's 25 years of research with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Broken Arrow first specialized in Kalmia latifolia, Mountain Laurel, the state flower of Connecticut.

 

In 1990 the nursery hired it's first full time employee Andy Brand (on right in above picture).  During his time at the nursery Andy was instrumental in helping broaden the diversity of plants offered including many selections from our native flora and herbaceous perennials.  Andy's most notable selection during his time at Broken Arrow was Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'.  Under Andy's management the selection broadened to more than 1,500 different types of plants being offered.  In 2018 Andy moved on to new horizons in Maine leaving the nursery management in the capable hands of the team of employees he helped build.

 

   

Mark Marenholz (leftmost in above picture), started working at the nursery as a high school student at age 15! He continued to work part-time through college and joined full time after graduating from UConn. Mark influenced all aspects of the nursery, from caring for specimen trees and shrubs to pruning Christmas trees to fixing broken machinery. And every November and December, he created his wreath masterpieces along with leading our extremely popular wreath making workshops. In 2020, after twenty-five years at the nursery more recently as Field Production Manager, Mark shifted gears to raise his newborn baby girl. He came back to help make wreaths this winter and we hope he continues to make special appearances throughout the year.

   

 

Today, the nursery is one of the few retail nurseries in Connecticut that propagate and grow most of the plants sold. As with the evolution of the Christmas tree business, growing nursery sales led to more acreage being used for plants (currently about 8 acres). The business now occupies two pieces of farmland, one on Evergreen Avenue and one on Broken Arrow Road, both in Hamden. All nursery sales occur at Broken Arrow Road, while Christmas tree sales are conducted at both sites.