Does anyone know where to get this tree? I've phoned some of the local nurseries but no luck. Any help would be much appreciated.
Specimen Trees is a wholesale grower in Pitt Meadows. They have some in stock, but you have to be a nursery or landscaping company to order and purchase them. I think your local nursery staff are being lazy or they don't want to have to purchase a single tree for you that they don't have in stock. It took me five seconds to locate a major supplier.
Don't know if it is the case here at all but these days people mentioning "nurseries" on the web are often talking about big box store plant departments rather than actual full service independently owned and operated garden centers or grower outlets. Even at these latter sources deciduous shade trees tend to be a field-grown item that is sent to sales yards once per year. What they are going to have for the whole season comes from each grower one time. An exception would be if a container growing operation is being re-ordered from through the spring and summer, happens to also be growing the desired tree - in pots. Then it might be possible to have a single specimen included in a shipment that is coming anyway to a vendor you are favoring with your custom.