Meet our Staff at Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery

We asked our staff below what they do with Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery and also what their favourite fruit trees are.

Greg

What is your job at Daleys Nursery?

I have done most jobs here at Daleys over the past 30 years, but now  I seem to be chained to the office chair, balancing the books, planning and researching. But I still am very passionate about growing fruit trees to find homes across Australia, a very satisfying job.

What are your favourite three fruit trees in order?

Definitely Lychee is my favourite, lying in my hammick with a bowl of chilled lychees on a hot summers afternoon is heaven
Coming in 2nd is a tree ripened White Adriatic Fig picked fresh off the tree and peeled to expose the lush red juicy flesh. Another heavenly experience.
No 3 is my favourite Citrus, a tree ripened Navelina Orange picked in June. The juicy and sweet flesh is superb.
There are my favourite Summer, Autumn and Winter fruits.  I cannot let Spring escape so if I was to pick my favourite Spring fruit, yes it has to be a tree ripened Apricot.

What made you passionate about fruit trees?

I have always had a passion for things earthy, but I would have to say cycling  around New Zealand 30 years ago fruit picking and devouring sometimes more fruit than I should, made me think what a wonderful food we have in fruit. And realising just how many different flavours, sizes, colours and variety there are in fruit trees. 

Pauline

What do you do at Daleys Nursery?

I started at Daley’s in 2009 and these days, I co-ordinate our fantastic sales team. We dispatch plants straight to your door, we run our Outlet Store, and, collectively, we solve all the brain bending problems that arise during the day. All the while, focussing on getting our best possible plants to you. It's hard not to enjoy working with a team that's so passionate about what we do, growing fruit trees and plants for a better world. We share knowledge and experience. A highlight is the different fruits coming into season in our production orchard and sharing the tastes of those. Besides eating fruit, I keep all the back of house admin work running smoothly, communicating with customers, researching and updating plant information, stocktaking, and contributing to reporting and planning.

What are your Favourite Fruit Trees in order?

1. Jakfruit - can one fruit feed a village? Jakfruit comes close. Cook them up green as a vegie or wait until their arils are fragrant and sweet. I love the more intense flavours of the soft aril varieties.

2. Canistel - Creamy, custardy golden gems.

3. Any fruit that's in season basically! I love discovering and rediscovering tastes and textures.

Why am I passionate about growing trees?

Every time a seedling emerges from the earth it's like seeing it for the first time - fresh and new and extraordinary - each species distinguishable from the next by just these first 2 leaves. Then watching and waiting and helping it grow to produce delicious, unique fruit for me, my family, friends, workmates, the birds, bats and possums too, is so rewarding. On a tiny little blue-green orb. Amazing

Correy

 

What do you do at Daleys Nursery?

I look after the technology in our business with a big emphasis on our website.

What are your favourite 3 Fruit Trees in Order?

1. Dwarf Coffee Trees (Catui) - The desire to achieve the perfect cup of coffee has given me a love for the coffee tree. I have 8 growing in pots and my older ones have beans on them. They are a lush evergreen tree and when they flower it is spectacular and the smell is overwhelming like a frangapani. It is amazing how such a small tree can produce so many beans even after 2 years. They are definitely a talking point for me.

2. Black Sapote or Chocolate Pudding Fruit - This fruit is a bit bigger then an orange but it is action packed. The ones I have eaten had no seeds and the insides are thick and creamy. The taste is splended and yes in my opinion there is definitely a chocolate pudding flavour especially if you mix it with coconut to give the milky flavour of chocolate. I now have 2 varieties that I am growing in pots the bernicker and the ricks late black sapotes.

3. Mango Tree - I am most proud of my mango tree that I am growing in a pot. Most people who see it can't believe that such a small tree can produce huge mangoes. I have the Glenn variety however most people like to grow the Dwarf Irwin Mango Tree in pots. The Glen has the best flavour though.

Why am I passionate about growing Trees?

The joy I experience from growing fruit trees has made it one of the best hobbies I have ever had. It is so rewarding to watch the fruit trees mature and to apply the tricks of the trade to get your fruit trees to produce. Keeping pests at bay is all part of the fun. Having your own mini orchard is a reward in and of itself. 

Caleb

What do you do at Daleys Nursery?

I am the Dispatch manager here at Daley's, so I spend my days with the team here collecting and dressing your plants, sorting and packing your orders and ensuring that they reach you in top condition. I am also involved in stocktaking our range for sale and you can frequently catch up with me in the retail store.

What are your favourite 3 Fruit Trees in Order?

1. Lilly Pilly's! Native, and such a diverse range under one common name! Used so often as a street tree, it is an adventure on every outing with my kids; a lucky dip as to whether they will be beautifully tangy or warhead sour, perfect for cooking!
2. Persimmons! The astringent varieties are best eaten sitting under the tree, as an incredibly sweet ball of jelly, juice dripping down your face. It brings out the child in everybody.
3. Star Apple! These are some of the most beautiful fruiting trees I have ever seen. It is incredible to stand in the centre of a mature, spreading, golden canopy, with a bronze glow in the air, and cut open the purple fruit to find the star hidden inside. Star apples deserve a feature status in any ornamental garden.

Why am I passionate about growing Trees?

Food comes from plants. Animals eat the plants, sometimes people eat the animals, and most people eat plants. Growing your own food is an incredibly satisfying experience. Learning about the plants to appreciate the cornucopia of food that is already there and reaching that next layer of understanding to see past the wall of green, it is truly intoxicating.

Rick

What is your job at Daleys Nursery?

Rick knows lots about water management and also grafting. If there is a big project to be done then Rick will often team up with his Twin Rod and step by step the job will be finished. He also spends a lot of time grafting and preparing a lot of the scion woods for grafting.

What is your favourite 3 Fruit Trees in order?

1. Persimmon

2. Lychee

3. Jaboticaba

Why are you passionate about growing trees?

It's challenging.  At the end of the day I can see that I've been there and you can watch the plants growing.  It's interesting why plants behave the way they do.

Rod

What is your job at Daleys Nursery?

Rod is Daleys everything man. If you want something designed you ask Rod and and he will make it happen. His ability to work with his twin Rick is a sight to watch. They communicate quickly and in no time a hard job has been welded together or a new construction appears.

What is your favourite 3 Fruit Trees in order?

1. Pecan - A beautiful shade tree with its lime green foliage and you receive great nuts.

2. Black sapote - Bronze green foliage, its shape and you receive chocolate mousse

3. Gulf Gold Plum - You get a large amount of great tasting plums.

Why are you passionate about growing trees?

Because I am doing something that has a variety of activities,  Growing plants has a positive effect on the environment (I hope that's the effect) It is a challenge to grow a variety of plants under much the same environment and condition.

Dave

What are your favourite 3 fruit trees in order?

1. Bowen mango - There is nothing better to come in a room of ripe mangoes. The taste is sweet with underlying hints of sourness and pine also having a tropical floral taste.

2. Avocado - Simply put, avocado is a super food with a great source of vitamins c,e,k and B-6.   They also provide lutein, beta-carotene, and omega-3 fatty acids. Avocado on toast with garlic and salt on top is amazing

3. Macadamia nut - The creamy delicious nut is something to die for. I love to roast them in the shell. This gives them a unique taste. Try stopping at one.

Michelle

Works in our busy production team potting up plants at the right time and making sure they are growing in the nursery, happy and healthy. With so many plant varieties at Daleys we need someone who has experience but also the knack of knowing what are the important jobs. Michelle has this knack and in one day she can often get done more than most can in a whole week or month.

What are your favourite 3 Fruit Trees?

Macadamia Trees - I forgive them for their prickly leaves

Pecan Trees - Yum and easy to open.

Avocado Trees - Great on toast.

Wilko

What are your favourite 3 Fruit Trees in Order?

Green Pigeon mandarin

Carambola Star Fruit Trees

Sandpaper Fig (makes the BEST jam💚)

Why am I passionate about growing Trees?

I'm passionate about doing my bit in reforesting the planet while providing food for my family as well as habit for wildlife.

Eliot

I work in dispatch, selecting and sending out your precious fruit trees. I look after customers in our shop and also help to answer any questions you might have online and I do bits and pieces of maintenance around the nursery.

3 Favourite Fruit Trees

Mango Fruit Trees

Because you could easily argue that it is the epitome of a truly tropical fruit and it grows here in the subtropics!

The whole experience of eating a perfectly ripe mango: the scent, the luxurious soft flesh and brimming with sweet juice that runs down your chin.

So many varieties, from trusty old Bowens towering over suburban backyards - to the new mango varieties with a myriad of complex flavour combinations currently being developed in the US - to spicy wild Mangoes growing in humid jungles in far off equatorial lands.

Citrus Fruit Trees

Such a long culinary history of cultivation and trade by humans and so many uses today in the kitchen… or pick it fresh, simply sit under the tree in the shade, slowly peel and enjoy that tantalisingly tart and juicy Tangelo.

I also love sampling the rugged Bush lemons hanging over people's back fences and growing stoically by the roadside, all subtly different in form and flavour and all with a unique story to tell.

Banana Plants

Bananas because they are such a prolific, delicious, pre-packaged snack-bar-of-a-fruit and my
breakfast of choice. I love the growing them because they create an almost instant canopy to protect
and nurture other young trees around them, create heaps of useful mulch and give a tropical feel to
any landscape they feature in.

Why am I passionate about growing fruit trees?

The trial and error, the frustration, the observation and the inevitable reward are all so much more engaging than filling a basket at the supermarket.

I’m currently (slowly) working to create a playful, diverse and resilient forest garden on my property near Kyogle and can often be found wandering the hills with a mattock and a Kelpie.

Paning

 

What is your job at Daleys Nursery?

My job at Daley's Nursery is a nursery hand, especially cuttings of different types of fruits trees.

What is your favourite 3 Fruit Trees in Order?

1. Cherries
2. Langsat or Lanzones
3. Mango Trees

Why are you passionate about growing trees?

I'm passionate about growing trees because I love to see them grow and I like gardening.

 

Jenny

What is your Job at Daleys Nursery?

I work in dispatch, it is my job to make sure that all the plants we send to our customers are beautiful. I also work in the office taking orders over the phone and helping with customer inquiries. Over the years that I have worked at Daleys Nursery I have been able to plant out an exciting home orchard and many native plants in my garden which I love.

What are your favourite 3 Fruit Trees in Order?

Having grown up in Queensland the mango has to be one of my favourites, a Bowen or more recently the Nam Doc Mai.
Freshly picked figs are delicious and the trees grow and produce very quickly.
Being a cherry lover, I discovered the grumichama a few years ago.  This is a great alternative and the tree is beautiful.

Why are you passionate about growing fruit trees?

The satisfaction of planting, nurturing and watching nature work its magic is truly encouraging and inspiring to continue planting.

Lainie

What is your Job at Daleys Nursery?

I create and upload posts to socials, highlighting our products that we have in stock. I also design graphics for the Daley's website.

What are your favourite 3 Fruit Trees in Order?

1. Mango Fruit Trees

2. Babaco Fruit Trees

3. Apple Trees

Dan

What is your Job at Daleys Nursery?

Dan works in our propagation and maintenance department