Corn Hill Nursery

The October 2014 meeting of the PEI Garden Club featured Bob Osborne from Corn Hill Nursery in New Brunswick.  Bob brought with him a selection of rose buds, all of which he could identify by name and characteristics.

Corn Hill Nursery has been in business for 34 years.  There are 85 acres under cultivation, and it's the largest Canadian plant nursery east of Montreal.  They sell 1,000 varieties of native and imported perennials, shrubs, trees, grasses, vines, small fruits, apples, ferns, and roses, all grown on site. They do their own grafting and propagation.

Corn Hill is also one of five sites across Canada that tests and evaluates new rose introductions as to their form, fragrance, disease resistance, and hardiness.  These roses are varieties bred by Agriculture Canada before it abandoned research on ornamental plants.

At the nursery during mid-June to mid-July, up to 125 varieties of roses are displayed on a stone table so that people can compare them.  Red roses are rarely fragrant.

Some of Bob's favourites

• Camperdown Elm, a beautiful gnarly tree that is common in the yards of the Brighton area of Charlottetown.  
• Olga rhododendron
• Star magnolia 
• hardy grapes  
• Canada Blooms - a new pink rose introduction.  It is the most fragrant rose he has every come across, as well as being long stemmed, and lasts up to 5 days when cut.
• roses that are orange, yellow, multi-coloured with reddish leaves
• The most dependable clematis is the original favourite:  Jackmanii
• rugosa and Explorer roses because they are so hardy
• Canadian Artists is a new series of hardy roses

Roses
The old garden roses like hybrid teas, floribunda and multiflora are repeat bloomers and very showy, but they are tender - not very hardy.  They can almost be considered annuals in our climate.  Cornhill is in zone 4 and he does not sell anything that does not survive there, and none of his roses need winter protection.  We in PEI, which is zone 5b/6a, should have success with his roses.

Plant roses in full sun.  There is no such thing as a rose for the shade.  The more shade, the fewer blossoms the rose will produce, and the leggier the plant.

Pruning
Climbing roses:  prune back old canes to the ground to encourage new growth. Tie canes to the trellis, because they will not actually climb.  In spring, cut back all winter-killed wood to just before a new, outward facing bud.  Also, take out any weak canes, and the oldest ones.

Transplanting
When transplanting a big plant, cut off most of the top growth.  If you don't, the top will collapse because the roots can't support all those leaves.

Grafting
The apples, pears, roses, cherries sold at Corn Hill has all been grafted on site.
New stock is started from fields of plants especially grown to take cuttings from.  Workers start at 5:30 am, because cuttings are full of water and sugar first thing in the morning, and are more likely to be successful.  The cuttings are dipped in rooting hormone and stuck into sand that is directly on the floor of the greenhouse - no plastic pots are used.  They cut off most of the top leaves, or the cutting will collapse.
At the end of November, when the leaves have fallen and the stock is dormant, it is dug up, graded, packaged and put into cold storage at -2 degrees.  In spring, the new plants are planted out, and are ready to harvest at the end of the season.

Campfire

Cedars
Bob talked about the cheap Emerald cedars available at big box stores.  These are dug by machine, and much of the root mass is sheared off.  This is one of the reasons that these trees often die after we plant them.  He recommends black cedars.  His cedars are more expensive, but will be more likely to survive.

Fertilizers
No artificial fertilizers are used.  Instead, the use manure and compost.  Nitrogen sources include alfalfa meal and blood meal.  Bone meal is a source of phosphorus. You need to feed the organisms in the soil, and the excrement from those organisms will feed the plants.

Pesticides
Corn Hill Nurseries uses no artificial pesticides or fungicides.  For fungicides, he uses wettable sulphur or 1 part hydrogen peroxide diluted with 20 parts water plus a few drops of dish soap to help the solution stick to the leaves.  When it breaks down, hydrogen peroxide becomes water and oxygen.  It does not harm the environment.  Hydrogen peroxide applied to the leaves is a preventive measure.  It will not cure an affected plant.  Early June is the best time to apply.

Mail-order vs Corn Hill
Bob says many mail-order plants are just newly rooted cuttings, that will take many years to mature.  His plants are field grown and have good root systems.  His roses are two years old.

Staff
Labour is so expensive, that they have had to cut staff.  Most of the people working there have been there 20 to 33 years.  He says these long-term staff are each worth three new hires, because he does not have to tell them what to do.

Cornhill Nusery is a 3-hour drive from Charlottetown.
For more information, visit www.cornhillnursery.com