Creek Hill Nursery participates in the perennial liner business. We sell starter plants in trays of 21, 50 and 72; and–with few exceptions–we are not interested in the plant if it is not hardy down to Zone 7, at least. Faced with the large diversity of species and cultivars within perennials, we focus on only garden-worthy material that’s suitable for production and thrives around the home.
INNOVATION means new plants that make a significant contribution to their genus–a new color, a new form, a new height, something. With thousands of cultivars, we don’t grow everything. We focus our efforts on the best, the new and the interesting cultivars–popular varieties that everyone needs and special material that deserves attention for good reason. We try to sort out the best and the most interesting cultivars that breeders have to offer.
DIVERSITY is another calling card. We offer a broad range of both genera and cultivars because an interesting selection drives sales. This is true at the garden bench, at the finishing nursery and at our level as well. We provide the popular varieties that everyone expects along with a mixture of neat, cool, unusual or groundbreaking cultivars alongside of them.
QUALITY is a watchword for us. We work high-volume production houses because we supply perennials from coast-to-coast in the US and Canada. We earned our place in the industry by offering material worth re-ordering, a sign to us that we did a good job. That said, we always try for better. We switched from a chemical-based pest control system to one founded on biological principals. Our plugs responded well, and our customers rewarded us with more business. We can get behind that winning cycle.
We strive to provide VALUE to the buyer in three ways: as a source of new and exciting material; as a curator of premium perennials, both new and heritage, that are worth selling; and as a supplier of high-quality liners at a reasonable price. We don’t want to be known as “that expensive place” or even “expensive, but worth it.” We want people to enjoy a wide range of different perennials.
On the flip side, we also don’t want to put ourselves into the dollar bin. Cheap products require shortcuts that starve the plants. We want to be proud of the product we ship, so we ask for a fair price in order to do the best job we can.
Finally, we have a corporate committment to SUSTAINABILITY. We are not organic, but we are replacing most pesticides with a better way. We practice biological controls adapted for high-volume production greenhouses, customized down to the bench level. This shows that a switch away from pesticides and petroleum is possible, even under traditional market pressures.
As much as we are plant geeks, we are also customer-focused. Not everyone wants a partner -they just want their order. But for customers who need a hand starting their first line of perennials, looking for advice in public works plantings, wondering about the “less than best” behavior of their finished products, we are here to help.
We believe in sharing the information we gathered about all the various perennials we currently grow. “Growing annuals is MIT;” as the saying goes, “Growing perennials is Hogwarts.” We want to see you succeed, so we want to take the mystery out of success.
We know a lot about perennials because we grow so much of it, and we like to share with our fellow plant geeks. We hope you will visit us at one of our trade shows, or drive down and tour the facilities in Leola, PA, or just give us a call if you have questions.
We also like to provide service at the basic level. Quick turnaround of confirmations. Notifications of crop delays. Regular delivery of availabilities. We pay attention to the everyday tasks that help a modern horticultural business run.
Like you, we know what it's like to build a business on perishable products. We find that communication really helps to manage those uncontrollable variables better.
That said, we hope you will take the time to visit us at some point. We like to meet the people who buy our products. They often have interesting stories about how they use the product, or where they sell it, or the markets they compete. It’s all interesting to us.
