The Arborico Story:

Richard "Rico" Ford grew up where Arborico Nursery is located. At a very young age in the early 1970s, he helped his family plant thousands of Black Walnut and White Pine seedlings as part of a forestry program. As he and the trees grew, common chores became mowing, pruning, and operating equipment to care for the farm. Today, what was once 40 acres of open agricultural fields is currently a stunning tract of woodlands.  

Additional land was acquired during the late 80s and early 90s and remained rented to local farmers for a few years. Year by year, sections of land were planted into different varieties of evergreens. For several years, tree planting became an annual family hobby in early spring.

Eventually, tree plantings stopped and the remaining agricultural land was transformed from row crops into fields of native prairie plants, grasses, and tracts of native woodland trees through the support and guidance of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) of the Farm Service Agency.

In 1991, Rico found his way to Colorado where he first experienced the horticultural industry working for the Fort Collins State Nursery. Opportunity then took him east to join his brother, owner of Ford Distributing, Inc. in Marysville, Ohio.  There he spent 9 years in wholesale agricultural and industrial machinery sales and distribution.

In 2001, with strong ties to his Wisconsin roots, a passion for the outdoors, and meeting the love of his life, he seized the opportunity to return to the family farm and begin Arborico Nursery. With the inclusion of multiple pieces of equipment, the various “services” of Arborico evolved.   

Since then, as a solo entrepreneur, he continued transforming the land by planting over 9000 trees on the farm while maintaining the natural prairies and working to control the spread of invasive, non-native plant species. He’s harvested and wholesaled countless trees. In the months outside of tree harvesting and planting times, he began offering his skills off the farm. He provided equipment labor, and his land management experience to help his clients with tree and brush clearing, stump grinding, wood chipping, land grading, heavy-duty mowing, rototilling, post-hole digging, drainage improvements, and other services. 

People refer their friends to Rico due to his integrity. He is hardworking, kind, honest, and fair. Working with him is like having a trusted neighbor at your side listening to what you need and helping you achieve it quickly and reasonably. If the job is outside his scope of capabilities, he will team up with or refer you to other skilled and trusted professionals. He treats your property like his own following the axiom “first do no harm,” aiming to leave things better than he found them. 

Contact Rico and let him know how he can help. 

If you’ve been tickled, amused, or offended by anything on this website, I’ll credit (blame?) my wife, Julie, for her wordsmithing (and encouragement to “just publish it already!”) 

Check out her amazing talents here.