Review of Schmid Nursery & Gardens
January 1998
by Steven C. Chamberlain
105 Academy Street
Manlius, NY 13104
Steve_Chamberlain@isr.syr.edu
Schmid Nursery & Gardens
847 Westwood Boulevard
Jackson, MI 49203
(517) 787-5275
Catalog - $3.20
Owner: Tom Schmid, Member AHS
In the past I have purchased the following hostas from Schmid's:
All of these are thriving in my garden. This year I've ordered only one hosta, but it is a goodie I can't get from anybody else.
Schmid Nursery & Gardens issued a catalog in 1997 and updated it in 1998 with a price list. If I have correlated correctly between the two, there are 450 hosta cultivars and species offered for sale for 1998. This catalog has a very high number of very desirable (from pictures in The HOSTA Journal) hostas not readily available elsewhere. For example this year's price list includes new introductions H. 'Diana Remembered' from John Kulpa and H. 'Wintergreen' from Jim Dishon. Other uncommon offerings include H. 'Aristocrat', H. 'Seventh Heaven', H. 'Silver Giant', and H. 'Center of Attention', H. 'Black Jack', H. 'Bobbie Sue', H. 'Emeralds and Rubies', H. 'Golden Fountain', H. 'Green Marmalade', H. 'Marbled Cream', H. 'Marbled White', . H. 'Yellow Highness'. The catalog lists many streaked plants. If you want the very latest introductions and you want them immediately, you ought to get this catalog and price list. The catalog and price list also offer numerous daylilies.
Prices are very competitive for classic hostas. Originators stock and first tissue-cultured plants of new introductions are competitive with others, but expensive in an absolute sense. Schmid's sells a mixture of originator's stock and field-grown tissue cultured plants. Everything I have received from them has been large. H. 'Seventh Heaven' will cost you $200. There are many plants in the $100-$150 range. At the other end of the scale, H. 'Gold Drop' is 3/$10, H. 'Green Kabitan' is 5/$15, and H. 'Nakiana' is 3/$10. Credit cards are accepted and orders are billed upon receipt.
Hostas are shipped bareroot and arrive in virtually perfect condition around the date requested. All have made the transition to the garden easily. Of particular interest to me is the version of H. 'Golden Prayers' Schmid sells. The catalog lists it as 'THE TRUE PLANT'. All I can say is that it is a larger plant than H. 'Little Aurora' and that it colors to a superb orange-gold in 75% sun. For two years, it has been the most startling gold in the garden.
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