The coffee/book room |
Old Mitsch catalogs |
The room that adjoins the office is
lined with books and nursery catalogs. It also contains the coffee
maker. I usually make a cup in the morning and then again at about 3
PM, and each time I pull something from the shelf to read. Thus I
encountered a pile of old Mitsch Nursery catalogs, and though they
are no longer in business they were my main inspiration to grow the
types of plants that have made my career.
Actually there's quite a lot of
difference now – I am much more into maples for example. Mitsch was
almost exclusively a liner nursery, whereas I grow most of my plants
to larger sizes. Mitsch thrived in the heyday of the nursery
industry, virtually supplying other wholesale nurseries with their
product line.
The catalog I picked up to examine was
the fall 1980 - spring 1981 Wholesale Lining Out Stock. John Mitsch
had already been in business for over 30 years, but that was the
first year for me. I went to visit him and in less than an hour's
time my head was spinning and overwhelmed with the cultivars of
Chamaecyparis pisifera, thyoides and obtusa. I had very little money
to invest, so I focused primarily on Tsuga and Chamaecyparis obtusa
cultivars. The first seven years since my nursery's establishment I
worked full time for other companies, then I would come home at night
to pot and propagate, often with a head lamp in the dark. In the
beginning I was essentially a mini-version of Mitsch Nursery, selling
liners to keep the cash flowing.

Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Nana Lutea'
Mitsch Nursery was considered
“progressive” in the sense that you could buy old tried-and-true
varieties as well as the newer plants. Let's take a look back at what
was happening 36 years ago. Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Nana Lutea' was new
to the West Coast, and the catalog describes it as “rare,” and a
cutting was going for $0.45 apiece. By comparison, most of the
Chamaecyparis pisifera selections were $0.20 each. The 'Nana Lutea'
originated as a sport of the well-known 'Nana Gracilis', which was
discovered in 1966 in the Netherlands. For what it's worth, Jan Spek
of Boskoop, the finder, gave the plant an invalid name, for Latin was
against the rules for cultivar names as of 1955.
And speaking of Chamaecyparis obtusa
'Nana Gracilis', Mitsch called it “one of the best of all dwarf
conifers.” True, it is a beautiful dark-green plant that is “one
of the most attractive and best selling of all dwarf Hinokis.”
Two-inch pots were offered at $0.75 each, but it would still take
another three years before the grower would have a saleable
one-gallon pot. The same with the 'Nana Lutea': neither are very
profitable.
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Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Juniperoides' |
Germinating seed from C.o. 'Nana
Gracilis' can yield many different colors and forms. C.o.
'Juniperoides' (or 'Nana Juniperoides') is one offspring that was
raised by W.H. Rogers & Sons at their Red Lodge Nursery in
England in about 1915. I've never seen the original – if it still
exists – but I wonder what a 100-year-old 'Juniperoides' would look
like. Even less profitable to produce, the tight-bun hinokies, at
least in Oregon, can burn or die back in winter, and there goes your
10-year-old investment. Mitsch says that it takes about 20 years to
grow a 6” plant, and that it is “not recommended as a shade
tree.” Ha ha.
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Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Nana (true)' |
Equally as slow as 'Juniperoides' is
C.o. 'Nana', which Mitsch calls “rare and choice.” The Hillier
Manual of Trees and Shrubs (2014) claims that their specimen
attained only 75cm high by 1m wide at the base in 40 years. Hillier
reminds us that “the stronger growing plants found under this name
in many collections throughout Europe is 'Nana Gracilis'.” I
invented the name 'Nana (true)' for my plants because we have the
same knucklehead nurserymen in America too. Interestingly the true
'Nana' was introduced from Japan by J.G. Veitch in 1867.
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Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Pygmea' |
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Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Pygmea Aurescens' |
Mitsch was selling many other obtusas,
such as 'Pygmea' and 'Pygmea Aurescens'. They are not bad plants –
I used to grow both – but they get big and wide fast, and they have
absolutely fallen out of favor with the gardening public. In fact
most of the obtusa cultivars that Mitsch used to produce are ones
that I can't sell at all today.
The Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Sanderi' is
described as “Semi-dwarf upright. Mostly plumy, juvenile foliage;
makes it very distinctive.” One reason it is very distinctive is
because it is not a C. obtusa – it is Platycladus orientalis. I
don't have a photo because I never liked it and never grew it.

Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Baby Blue Ice'

Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Harvard Gold'
Buchholz Nursery used to produce about
20 cultivars of Chamaecyparis pisifera, all originating from Mitsch.
Generally they are easy to root, easy to grow and also very winter
hardy. Today we continue with only two – 'Baby Blue Ice' and
'Harvard Gold', neither of which were available in the 1980's. I
suppose some of the golden thread-branch selections are still in the
trade, but nobody asks me for them. Besides they are considered
“cheap” plants; but if you grow and can sell lots of them at a
dollar profit each, there are nurseries that like those odds. That's
what the neighboring nursery did for the past 30 years, however they
recently went bankrupt.
Of course Mitsch nursery produced
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana cultivars, especially the dwarves, and in 30
years that would be thousands and thousands of them. There is no way
to know for certain, but I suspect that the vast majority are now
dead, having succumbed to root rot (Phytophthora lateralis). Major
nurseries continue to root and sell them even though their longevity
is questionable – the plants, that is – and the reason is greed,
pure greed. They root almost 100% and they tend to be sold in small
pots, similar to our QT (cutie) pots. While they thrive in production
they are also addicted to fungicides, and of course the clueless
gardener won't keep up the habit. It is disgusting for sure, although
John Mitsch never had any evil intentions. I know, I know that I rant
about it too often, and tell you how wonderful I am for grafting
lawson cultivars on disease-resistant rootstock, and hopefully this
will be the last time.

Tsuga canadensis 'Betty Rose'
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Tsuga c. 'Pendula' at Buchholz Nursery |
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Tsuga canadensis 'Pendula' at Mitsch Nursery |
Mr. Mitsch was an accomplished
propagator, and he pioneered the rooting of hemlocks in Oregon. He
always sold out in the old days, so I copied him and rooted them
also, and they were very easy to market. Eventually the fun stopped
with the invasion of the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (Adelges Tsuga Annand)
which was discovered in Connecticut in 1985, and by the mid 1990's
orders began to peter out. We still sell a few each year, but they're
no longer a major part of our company. Old specimens still exist in
the Display Garden, and I imagine I have the largest Tsuga canadensis
'Betty Rose' in the world. Mitsch's 1980-81 catalog lists 19
different hemlocks, and eventually we were propagating every one of
them, with T.c. 'Pendula' in the greatest number.
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Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray Gold' |
I bought plants from Mitsch, always to
get a start, and then I would produce them myself. He knew what I was
up to but didn't seem to mind. Actually I sort of stole some of his
customers because I had cuttings and grafted liners. Again, he
didn't care, and I was very proud when he bought his first
Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray Gold' from me.
Even though he was a conifer expert,
John Mitsch also propagated tons of “broadleaved evergreens,
deciduous shrubs, ground-covers and miscellaneous.” One such plant
was Acer buergerianum 'Jako kaede' – the “musk scented maple” –
which was easy to root but absolutely impossible to graft onto A.
buergerianum. According to J.D. Vertrees in Japanese Maples
(1978), leaf samples were submitted to Dr. Tanai of Hokkaido
University, “a noted authority on leaf venation, particularly on
paleobotanical determination.” The expert Doctor concluded that the
maple in question was actually Premna japonica (or microphylla), a
plant in the Verbenaceae family – now Lamiaceae – so no wonder it
would root but not graft. I never saw the plant, but decided that I
didn't want it if it wasn't a true maple.
Mitsch propagated every Cotoneaster
imaginable, and that's another sure 100% profitable endeavor as long
as you were able to sell them. I didn't care for C. apiculata, the
“Cranberry cotoneaster,” but I did like the more dwarf C.a. 'Tom
Thumb' and I have sold quite a few over the years. Yes, they too are
considered “cheap” plants, but I think that's because they are so
easy to root and grow, but it does not diminish the fact that 'Tom
Thumb' grows into a choice dwarf ground-cover. Even better is
Cotoneaster microphyllus 'Cooperi', although it is only hardy to USDA
zone 7. The species is from the hills beneath the Himalaya and I was
pleased to see it – or whatever I saw – in the wild twenty years
ago. What is most confusing is that the Royal Horticultural Society
lists cooperi as a species, not a mere cultivar, from Bhutan,
Tibet and India. Hillier concurs, and describes the species as a
“medium-sized to large shrub.” So, just what's up with the
identity of our dainty ground-hugging creeper?
It seems like ancient history now, but
we used to be kings of Berberis production, with my starts usually
coming from Mitsch Nursery. B. thunbergii 'Crimson Pygmy' was by far
the most popular, and one year we rooted and sold over 12,000. That's
incredible to me because we haven't propagated any for the past 20
years, and even if I did now nobody would buy them. That's the
unstable situation characteristic to horticulture, that you need to
quickly jump onto – then off – the bandwagon. 'Crimson Pygmy' has
been replaced by countless other dwarf cultivars, always patented,
and I concede that some look very nice. Every day I drive past
glowing beds at the neighbor's – bankrupt – nursery. My employees
were most thankful when I dropped Berberis production, because no
mater how careful you were, a barberry thorn would imbed itself into
your finger or thumb.
Mitsch had a cool-looking Ilex
aquifolium – at least I thought it was cool back then – called
'Ferox Argentea Marginata'. Its common name was “Silver Striped
Porcupine Holly” to John while Hillier calls it the “Silver
Hedgehog Holly.” If I read Hillier's Manual correctly, the
male Ilex won an Award of Merit in 1988, but amazingly it was
introduced in 1662. I didn't realize that non-edible and non-herbal
horticulture went back that far. Ferox is a Latin word meaning
“fierce,” and again my employees were happy I discontinued with
the thorny thing.
Perseus Saving Andromeda |
I have a nice-sized old Calluna
vulgaris 'Robert Chapman' in the Display Garden, and I acquired it by
buying cuttings from John about 35 years ago. My specimen is still
attractive even though it also serves as a root weevil hotel. 'Robert
Chapman' is a dazzler in the spring garden due to its bright yellow
foliage, then in winter it changes to orange and finally to red.
Callunas root so easily that Mitsch charged only $15 per 100. At one
point I had a large Calluna and Erica collection, all planted out in
the gardens, but a severe cold snap reduced it greatly. I could have
begun it again, but instead moved on to more hardy plants.
There were a number of successful
spinoff nurseries from Mitsch Nursery, such as Colony Nursery and
Steve Germany Nursery. Even though I never worked there in a sense I
was a spinoff too. John was a kind and humble man, never bragging
about himself, and even when he knew everything about a
subject he would reply “that could be” or “maybe so.”
John Mitsch played a vital role in the
development of the Oregon nursery industry, and though he'll never
lobby for himself, the fact that he was never enshrined into the
Oregon Association of Nurseries Hall of Fame means...that said
Hall has no validity. Imagine the millions and millions of dollars in
American horticulture that was generated at Mitsch Nursery, then
later by me and all of John's other copycats. As George Washington is
the Father of our country, John Mitsch is the Father of Oregon
horticulture.
A final note: I have taken the
liberty to plagiarize some photos from the 1980-1981 catalog. I hope
I won't be hearing from John's attorneys.