Rooted in Reliability

When Chris Uhland founded Harmony Hill Nursery in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, the timing couldn't have been more challenging. The year was 2009, the economy was in recession, demand for landscape trees was slow, and building a business from the ground up required plenty of patience and perseverance.

Launching a new business during an economic recession meant every investment had to deliver value. As business began to rebound, Uhland invested in New Holland equipment, a decision that continues to pay dividends today.

"Once things started picking up, we began reinvesting in the business," says Uhland. "We looked at several brands of equipment. New Holland proved itself through its reliability, versatility and overall quality. The equipment works the way we need it to work, and that's helped us build our business."

Today, Harmony Hill Nursery has grown from a single 75-acre field into a thriving wholesale nursery with nearly 150 acres across two locations, more than 100 varieties of ornamental trees and shrubs, and customers stretching from Washington, D.C., to Toronto, Chicagoland and the New England coast.

Growing nursery stock requires equipment that performs every day, in every season. From preparing fields and transplanting young trees to harvesting, loading and shipping mature specimens, Harmony Hill depends on machines that can handle a wide range of tasks without sacrificing productivity.

Harmony Hill's fleet includes New Holland skid steers, compact track loaders and tractors, all working together with specialized attachments to tackle the unique demands of nursery production.

The company's wheeled skid steers handle loading operations around the yard, while compact track loaders work in the fields where the tree holes left after harvesting can make travel difficult.

"The track machines glide right over the tree holes,” says Uhland. "The wheeled machines are perfect for loading customer trucks and trailers. Each machine has its place, and together they keep our operation moving."

One of the newest additions to the Harmony Hill fleet is their New Holland C314 compact track loader. Its smaller footprint allows operators to work in tighter row spacing, helping maximize the number of trees grown per acre. "The more plants we can grow per acre, the more productive we become," says Uhland.

Versatility is one of the biggest advantages Harmony Hill sees in its New Holland equipment.

Using tree spades, nursery jaws, rototillers, backhoes, buckets and other specialized attachments, a single machine can perform multiple jobs.

"When labor is your biggest challenge, versatility becomes extremely important," Uhland explains. "Instead of having dedicated machines for every task, we can change attachments and keep working."

That flexibility allows the nursery to maximize equipment utilization while minimizing downtime and labor costs.

Loading mature trees onto trucks requires precision, reach and lifting capacity, especially when shipping large wholesale orders. For Uhland, New Holland's patented SuperBoom® vertical lift design provides a clear advantage.

Depending on the order, Harmony Hill may load just a few trees into a truck for a local landscape contractor or more than 100 trees onto a tractor-trailer bed headed hundreds of miles away.

"The lift design makes loading much easier," he says. "Instead of the boom coming up and back, it lifts up and out. That lets us reach farther into the truck or trailer, which is a huge advantage when you're loading trees."

Combined with excellent visibility from the operator's seat, SuperBoom technology helps operators work confidently and efficiently while reducing the risk of damaging valuable nursery stock priced as much as $1,000 per specimen.

"The sight lines are excellent," says Uhland. "You can see exactly what you're doing."

Nursery work doesn't stop when temperatures soar or spring mornings turn cold. That's why Uhland values operator comfort.

"The enclosed cab is one of my favorite features," Uhland says. "When our employees are comfortable, they're more productive. They can work safely and efficiently through more days of the year.”

For Harmony Hill, keeping experienced operators comfortable also helps with employee satisfaction and retention, an increasingly important consideration in today's competitive labor market.

For wholesale nurseries, timing is everything. Many trees must be harvested during a narrow seasonal window in March and April before leaves emerge. Any unexpected equipment downtime can delay shipments, disrupt schedules and impact customer satisfaction.

"Our harvest window is short," Uhland explains. "If a machine goes down during that time, it can cost us a day's production. That's something we simply can't afford."

New Holland's dependable performance and easy service access help keep Harmony Hill operating when every hour matters.

"We do some maintenance ourselves," says Uhland. "Being able to easily access service points saves time and gets us back to work faster."

Harmony Hill recently expanded by acquiring a second nursery, nearly doubling its production capacity. As the business continues to grow, New Holland equipment provides the consistency and flexibility needed to support multiple locations.

Standardized controls across the fleet allow operators to transition easily between machines, while attachments can be moved from one farm to another as seasonal workloads change.

"We're still growing," says Uhland. "Having equipment we can count on gives us confidence as we continue to expand."

For Harmony Hill Nursery, dependable equipment isn't simply another tool: it's an investment that supports productivity and customer satisfaction every day.

And as the nursery continues putting down new roots for the future, New Holland will remain an important part of its growth story.