Consistent quality

Millgrove Perennials Inc. was founded in 2003 by James and Cathy Feenstra. The wholesale nursery is located in Millgrove, Ontario. It is a family-run business that specializes in perennial production, growing more than 1,300 varieties. What started as five hoop houses has grown to 100,000 square feet of production. Millgrove Perennials services garden centers, landscape contractors, landscape architects, cities and botanical gardens.

“For many years we enjoyed a consistent and quality supply of growing media, however as the years progressed we noticed a decline in both of these areas,” James Feenstra says. “We felt pressured to explore other sources and that brought us to Lambert Peat Moss.”

Millgrove employs around 15 part-time workers, as well as seven full-time employees. The company has added a perennial plug program for the winter months. This program grows more than 250 varieties of perennial plugs to allow year-round production. The company is growing. Millgrove has added 20,000 feet of production to its range in spring 2022. After an initial trial, Feenstra was impressed by Lambert’s growing mixes.

“We trialed EPM-20 and EPM-40 alongside of our existing media and were astounded at how well it out-performed, nearly 2:1. Lambert media rooted our perennials to the bottom of our pots in half the time with top growth nearly 30% better.”

Lambert EPM-20 All Purpose Mix is a blend of coarse Canadian sphagnum peat moss, EcoPeatPlus+ and perlite. The well-balanced amount of EcoPeatPlus+ and perlite provide the ideal general purpose mix perfect for your perennials. Lambert EPM-40 High Porosity Mix is a blend of coarse Canadian sphagnum peat moss and EcoPeatPlus+. The great amount of EcoPeatPlus+ enhances drainage and porosity. This media is recommended for use in large container, perennials and nursery crops.

PHOTOS COURTESY MILLGROVE PERENNIALS

Millgrove redesigned its planting line to accommodate Lambert tower bales. Feenstra says that has substantially reduced the company’s labor spent media-mixing. For Millgrove’s plug production, the company has been using Lambert’s LM-AP and LM-GPS products with great success.

“We believe that great plants start with solid root structure and media choice is a critical component in this,” Feenstra says. “Consistent quality is a must for growers and that is a given with Lambert Peat Moss. We are extremely pleased with our decision to switch our production to Lambert Peat Moss and will be using them for the foreseeable future.”

For more: millgroveperennials.ca