Review of Miller's Perennial Nursery
January 1998
by Steven C. Chamberlain
105 Academy Street
Manlius, NY 13104
Steve_Chamberlain@isr.syr.edu
Miller's Perennial Nursery
1756 Shawhan Road
Morrow, OH 45152-9621
(513) 932-3353
FAX (513) 932-9967
llama@your-net.com
Catalog - $2
Owner: Mike and Jill Miller, Members AHS
In the past I have purchased the following hostas from Miller's Perennial Nursery:
All of these are growing nicely in the garden, so I have ordered some other hostas this year.
The Miller's Perennial Nursery catalog has 21 pages of plant descriptions of which 14 pages are hostas. The information provided for each hosta species and cultivar is more detailed than often found in price lists and catalogs. Altogether 251 hostas are offered for sale. This includes some unusual cultivars such as H. 'Fire and Ice', H. 'Irish Breeze', H. 'Limey Lisa', H. 'Millies Memoirs' H. 'Pandora's Box', and H. takahashii 'Gosan' that were not available from any source listed in the 1997 Hosta Finder and others such as H. 'Archangel', H. Lady Isobel Barnett', H. 'Nancy Minks', H. 'Paintbrush', H. 'Phantom', and H. 'Wolverine' that were only available from a couple other sources last year.
Hosta prices are very reasonable. The most expensive hosta offered is H. 'Pandora's Box' for $100. Many classic cultivars are $7 or $8. There seem to be some real bargains here. For example, H. 'Fire and Ice', the new reversed sport of H. 'Patriot', is only $35. H. 'Irish Breeze' another new sport of H. 'Little Aurora' with a gold center and green margin, is only $8.00. H. 'Lady Isobel Barnett' is available for $20.00. Given that many of the plants offered are new, I imagine most or all of the hostas sold are tissue-cultured plants. The plants I received were very nice large divisions with plenty of adult leaves. Checks and credit cards are accepted for payment and charges are made at the time the order is placed.
Hostas are shipped bareroot and arrive in virtually perfect condition around the date requested. The three I bought made the transition to my garden well and seem to be particularly vigorous.
This nursery also offers a nice selection of other hardy perennials, typically one or two of the best cultivars of each genus. Mike and Jill also grow llamas (see email address), and I suspect a visit to their nursery if you are in the Cincinnati area could be very interesting. Don't confuse this fine hosta supplier with another fine hosta supplier, Miller's Manor Gardens in Ossian, Indiana (to be reviewed when the 1998 catalog arrives) or J. E. Miller Nurseries of Canandaiga, NY, which is a major supplier of fruit trees.
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