Chapter 4 – Hiorth's Nursery

“A wide variety gives experience, but not money.”

— Gunnar James Hiorth

Gunnar Hiorth was involved in forestry and graduated from the State Forestry School in 1914. He later studied forestry at the Norwegian Agricultural School and began working as a forester in Jøssingfjord in 1921.

He led large-scale reforestation efforts and started a nursery to provide forest plants for the company he worked for and other similar companies.

When the company closed in 1927, he bought the entire plant collection and moved to Håskog where he ran a nursery for the rest of his life in collaboration with his son Gunnar Hiorth Jr. The area and property were initially not suitable for a nursery business, but with indomitable perseverance, miles of ditches and long-term effort, it paid off, and the facility eventually became very beautiful by the standards of the time.

Initially, forest plants accounted for the largest share of production, but later he gradually switched to more ornamental plants and fruit trees, and rare plants and plants unusual for Norway.

This is confirmed by Per T. Ellingsen, who was an apprentice in the early 1950s. Gunnar senior later handled the purchasing and testing of seeds, while Gunnar junior was responsible for the daily operation of the kindergarten.