Quality starts for quality plants

So far, 2020 has certainly provided at lot of “firsts” for many people.

For Greg Cuthbert, co-owner of Cuthbert’s Greenhouse in Groveport, Ohio, it was his first spring season sourcing plant starts from Plantpeddler. Plantpeddler also had a first this year — offering truck delivery to Ohio and the surrounding states.

“We’re in our third generation now,” Cuthbert says. “We’ve learned that when you start with quality it’s a lot easier to finish with a quality product.” And Cuthbert declares Plantpeddler’s starts “quality product.”

Cuthbert’s operation grows across two sites around the greater Columbus metro area and, depending on the timing, the group’s commercial and retail greenhouses are bursting with a wide array of spring annuals, perennials, garden mums, poinsettias and more.

This season, Cuthbert made the call to go with Plantpeddler when sourcing his spring supply of Rieger begonia liners, a flower he seemingly could not grow enough of this spring. Having admittedly experienced inconsistent performance with previous suppliers, he figured why not go with Plantpeddler, a company he had worked with before.

Truth be told, the co-owner and head grower was beyond thrilled with the results of this latest venture. He describes Plantpeddler’s Rieger begonia as “really prolific in bloom with great, bright colors. Really a good plant for springtime and that Mother’s Day time.”

Of course, in horticulture any plant genetic material will be painstakingly evaluated on its own merit. The Rieger begonias from Plantpeddler stood the test in that regard, as well.

“We were just highly, highly satisfied with the uniformity of these liners that we received from them,” Cuthbert says, adding that he’ll certainly look into duplicating the effort in the next spring production round, as long as the demand is there. He also notes some vigorous disease resistance in this year’s variety as yet another plus.

“Like I told them the other day, I’m definitely interested in trying a few more items from them since we’ve kind of had such a good start together, he says. “We’re going to trial some samples and look a little bit closer into their product mix to see what else they have that fits what we do.

“And, who knows? Maybe we can grow a little bit with them.”