Branching out from the mainstream nursery business, Robert Flanigan’s new, full-root Brandywine Trees nursery is cultivating rare species of trees with rare root health for an online-only business he’s dreamed about his entire life.

“It’s always been in my blood — in my heart. I have wanted to grow trees since I was a teenager,” Flanigan said in a report for The Times Herald by Donna Rovins. “Trees are a gift of life.”

And Brandywine Trees’ growing method preserves that life. The spring-fed and drip-irrigated operation near Elverson conserves water, adheres to organic practices, and utilizes air root pruning pots to provide customers with 100 percent of the tree’s roots intact, rather than cut off.

Flanigan’s stock at Brandywine Trees is currently 12,000, and the digital marketing executive has targeted sales directly to landscapers, landscape architects, municipalities, arboretums, and parks commissions.

“We grow 120 varieties of unique, rare, and hard-to-find trees,” he said. “This includes native trees that grow in this area naturally, as well as some trees of Asian origin that are pretty special, pretty rare that tree collectors or anyone that appreciates a beautiful tree might enjoy.”

Read more about how Brandywine Trees sets itself apart in The Times Herald here.