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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Miller Nursery is sneaky

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  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Miller Nursery is sneaky
  • Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 18:05:28 -0400


On May 13, 2006, at 12:32 PM, sherwindu wrote:

My neighbors were looking for a quick solution to give them a privacy and noise
screen for their backyard. They found something called 'Tall Hedge' in Miller's
catalog . . . nowhere in the ad did they use the description Buckthorn.
. . . Why is Miller selling this stuff and keeping it a big secret? This goes hand in hand with their policy of not telling people what rootstocks their fruit trees are planted on. They survive on deception of the public, taking advantage of people who don't know
better.


I've found that a number of legitimate nurseries sell plants that are pests at least somewhere in the US, including bittersweet, Norway Maple, purple loosestrife . . . the list goes on and on. Massachusetts just banned the sale of about 20 invasive aliens, and all of them are readily found in trade.

Usually nurseries even say what it is. Anything that's described as growing extremely quickly, having no pests, etc., is likely to be problematic somewhere. "Tall hedge" sounds like a tip-off of an invasive plant to me. My guess is they didn't call it "buckthorn" because of the word "thorn", not because people are actively avoiding buckthorn for its invasiveness. My guess is also that if you called Miller and asked "what species is that 'tall hedge'?" they would happily tell you, just as they told me what rootstocks they had under each apple variety. They aren't marketing to the specialist, but to the casual grower, who doesn't know from rootstocks and has never thought about invasive aliens, at least, not botanical ones.

I'm not a huge Miller fan - they sent me mislabeled currants, and they sent my uncle a different pear than what he purchased. On the other hand, their plants are consistently healthy and usually are as advertised. They are just a large, imperfect nursery.

Ginda




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