The retail nursery and gift shop will reopen May 4, 2024.
About the Nursery, Display Gardens and Greenhouse
Rachel Kane established the nursery in 1980 for the purpose of collecting and growing heirloom flowering plants and herbs from the 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th century. While this aspect remains a specialty, we also grow a respectable number of perennials of a more recent vintage, a rather good selection of culinary and medicinal herbs, and one of the largest collections of phlox to be found anywhere in the country. In the shrub yard we offer a selection of hardy flowering shrubs, including many native species, and old-fashioned favorites like fragrant mockorange and lilacs. Currently we have about 800 varieties of plants at the nursery, detailed in our catalog, which is viewable on this website as a pdf. A majority of the plants are field grown and proven hardy in our cold Zone 4 location.
There are nearly three acres of specialty display gardens and nursery beds which visitors are welcome to wander through during regular business hours. You will find an English-style hedged herb garden, a springtime primrose garden, native and pollinator beds, and shade gardens. A large lawn, bounded by phlox borders, is set up for summertime croquet, which visitors are welcome to play.
In the greenhouse, the focus is on antique, fragrant and rarely seen annuals, such as nicotiana, china asters, phlox and heliotrope, plus new favorites such as million bells and diascia. Rachel also loves flowering vines, and we usually have a nice variety including morning glories, hyacinth bean, thunbergias, climbing snapdragons, etc. There is always a good selection of culinary and medicinal herbs, such as sweet marjoram, basil, chamomile, and cilantro. No chemical pesticides, and no neo-nicotinoids, are used anywhere in the greenhouse or garden.
About our Plants
Our Nursery Plants are Hardy:
Our perennials are generally field grown and good-sized, with well-developed root systems. They are typically two years old or more when potted up. The field-grown plants are produced using organic farming methods, and are fed with organic fertilizers, manure or compost. We also sell plants that are brought in from afar, in order to bring new varieties into the mix. We occasionally use naturally based pesticides, but never chemical ones. We only buy plants from wholesalers that have rejected the use of neo-nicotinoids. Many customers have attested to the vigor of our stock, and I think this is because we do not coddle our plants, nor do we over stimulate them with massive doses of fertilizers. We pot them up in the fall or spring, but if we don’t have what you’re looking for already potted, we’re happy to dig one out of the garden if we can!
Our Mail Order Plants: Limited Shipping in 2024
In 2024 we will have only a limited number of plants that we can ship. Nearly all will be shipped ‘bare-root’, that is, freshly dug from the garden, and safely prepared for transport through the postal system. Spring orders will be shipped in mid-May only. Subsequent orders will be shipped in early September. Thank you for your understanding.
The mail-order pages on this site now have a distinction between plants available to ship through the mail, and those that are listed as ‘Reference Only’. These latter items and descriptions are maintained on the website to function as shared public information. In reality, we have the majority of Phlox from the Reference Only list actually growing at the nursery, but are not able to ship them. Many cultivars currently on the Reference Only list may also be available to buy at the nursery, as potted-up stock.
