Our land in Mendocino County is on a beautiful ridge-top, at 4000 feet, with sweeping views to craggy rock outcroppings and beautiful fir, pine and oak forests. Making a living 8 miles up a steep mountain dirt road, on completely undeveloped property was a challenge, but with Don's background in the Industrial Arts (carpentry, plumbing and his new skill at grafting, and mine in gardening, photography and marketing, we hoped to be able to live and work here. Our dedication to this land, to each other and to the maples turned into a marriage made in heaven, and we have been providing maples to other maple lovers, collectors, gardeners, artists and designers ever since.

We made many visits to Maplewood, J. D.'s nursery, and give him credit for teaching us the best way to graft and grow maples. He was most generous with information, demonstration, scions and advice, about maples, business and life in general. You will hear us quote him still. His one requirement of us, when he so generously handed over his mailing list, the collection and all his advise, was that we "keep the names straight". He had spent his lifetime collecting, identifying and documenting the hundreds of cultivars of Japanese Maple, so that when a gardener purchased a maple cultivar, anywhere in the world, he would know what he was buying. He wanted to be sure that those of us that followed would do our best to be sure that continues.

Mr. Vertrees taught us more than grafting technique. He taught us about the beauty of the maples, the value of the individual cultivars in the garden, and how to treat our customers. He inspired a love of all of nature, and the lifestyle that he lived, producing and selling beautiful little trees, was our inspiration.

Who We Are:

Don Fiers: Don was the one with the wisdom to buy this land in 1973, dream of living here, and make that dream a reality. He has built our home, all the nursery buildings, engineered all the electricity, plumbing and water storage here, and he is also a gifted grafter, creating grafted trees that even bonsai artists can find no fault with. Smooth transitions just above the crown of the rootstock are his specialty. Other grafters have noted that Don can graft threads, and that seems to be true. In the wake of Nancy's passing Don is now managing the nursery.

Nancy Fiers: Nancy brought to her partnership with Don a love of gardening, a gift for photography, and a family background in small business. She was working in advertising when she met Don and fell in love with him and his beautiful ridge-top land. Together they dreamed of living and working on the land, and built a home and nursery. Nancy passed away in October 2006 She was the business manager of the nursery, and also created the catalog and web site. She was also intimately involved with the maples, the bonsai and the gardens.

Patricia Symth:In 1998, our daughter, Tricia Smyth, joined us, giving Mountain Maples a dynamic new partner. She has expanded the nursery to Potter Valley, growing and shipping larger maples all over the country, and specimen trees to the Bay Area, just south of us, as well as bringing the grandchildren closer. The Potter Valley nursery is in a beautiful valley, just northeast of Ukiah, California, in the Mendocino County wine country. She has moved on to other challenges and we wish her well

Marcie Miller: In 1995, when the nursery had grown beyond our abilities, Marcie moved to the mountain to join us. She is now firmly in the Mountain Maples family. Marcie came to us from Merritt College Horticultural Department. She talks to many of you on the telephone, and her great love for the maples and her intimate knowledge of them, makes her invaluable to us and to our customers. She also keeps the orders straight, and picks the perfect tree to fill your order. In her spare time (ho ho ho), Marcie is also the office manager and bookkeeper.

Billie Cole: In 1995 Billie, who is Marcie's life partner, also came from Oakland. We soon found him invaluable around the nursery, and he has been working with us ever since. He is the one who keeps the trees watered, fertilized and weeded, and also makes sure that what you order gets to you, as he assists Don with the shipping. Billie also is our purchasing agent, making sure that we always have the supplies of fertilizer, books and other necessities, on hand and available when you need them.