Our Nursery

In Holland, we got a call...

While we were still completing our apprenticeship in Holland, we got a call from Dr. Beattie. He had bittersweet news. He was diagnosed with colon cancer (the bitter part) and was offering us the nursery at a gift price (the sweet part) so that he could scale back on his work hours and enjoy his time. We flew home for a long weekend and settled the deal, gave Dr. Beattie a hug and went back to Holland.

We returned home and started planning......

In the winter of 2002 we returned home to Pennsylvania. Our dear friends and adopted family, the Cohn's, took us into their basement apartment and we began writing our business plan. Dr. Beattie gave us an operating loan for the first year or two and away we went.

First we rented at the Lower George's Valley Road property...

Since we didn't have the credit background or the capital to buy a place, we rented land at Dr. Beattie's place for the first several years. The agreement was that we would get off as quickly as possible (you'd have to know Dr. Beattie to understand that that was funny). 

Then we found 553 Old Fort Road, then 119 Sinking Creek Road...

We looked for land all the time and finally found a an 8 acre parcel with a bank barn that was once used for dairy cattle production and hay storage by Doc Meyers. At first we werent sure if it was the right location or the right fit, but following life signs as we do, a friend made a passing statement that it was "the" place and the sale was done. We worked tirelessly to clean out the barn and retrofit the property to be a perennial nursery. Profits from the first several years paid for a well, an irrigation system, a greenhouse, a shade hall and shale base for the nusery pad. in 2004, the house across the road from the nursery became available and although it was beyond our means (and still is to an extent!), family helped us to close that deal. We moved in in August 2004 and made it a home.

We shifted our focus from a May to October schedule and became a year round nursery...

Dr. Beattie's business plan was quite simple (and in hindsight, brilliant). In the Fall, he would arrange orders and sales for the following year. In the winter, he placed orders for pots, trays, soil and plant materials to fill those orders. He spent the growing season growing the plants and then shipped them out in the fall. The nursery was nearly bare over winter and the process would repeat. We did this for the first two or three years, but it became apparent if we were going to make this a full-time income, we needed to extend ourselves. Slowly we retained more and more plant material over winter and would divide the plants for propagation stock each year. 

Astible ruled, and then we added little by littled...

We reached out to new customers, continue to serve our current customers and were trying to expand the plant line from just Astibles to a wider variety of shade perennials. Slowly we added Cimicifuga, Polyganatum, Dicentra, Epimedium, Hosta, Heuchera, Ligularia, etc. 

Then we met Creek Hill....

In 2009, we established a partnership with Creek Hill Nursery in Leola, PA to act as a contract grower for their shade perennials. Under Ron Strasko's direction, we continue to broaden our scope, our abilities and our reach. We've learned alot of hard lessons over the years and continue to do so, but we press ahead.