Catalogue Review: Vineland Nurseries
4540 Martin Road, Beamsville, Ontario L0R 1B1
Phone/Fax 905-562-4836
Catalogue $2
Jim and Simone Lounsberry opened Vineland Nursery three decades ago. It remains a horticultural paradise for those seeking unusual woody plants. And it continues to decline to go online or sport an e-mail address. True, there is a combined fax/phone number but, to paraphrase the bard, the catalogue is the thing.
Small and slim yes, but then the typeface, while clear, borders on the miniscule. This matches the plants, which are frequently small of not outright dwarf and so ideal for urban gardens where space is not infrequently less than generous.
Apart from an excellent selection of rhododendrons and azaleas, others that flourish in similar cultural conditions include choices of Andromeda, Arctostaphylos, Kalmia and Pieris, all available in this Niagara Peninsular outlet. Other choice shrubs difficult or impossible to source locally include hardy bamboos, winter hazel, white forsythia, daphnes, witchhazels, redbuds, Russian arborvitae, sweetgum and many others.
Vineland Nurseries are also renown for their dwarf firs, false cypress, spruce, pines, white cedar and Canadian eastern hemlock along with one of the most extensive selections of Japanese maples anywhere. The last few years have also seen a growing number of choice hardy hydrangeas.
From Toronto, on the QEW, turn south on Victoria Avenue in Vineland (exist 57), turn right onto Greenlane, then left on the first road which is Martin. Vineland Nurseries is on the right hand side. One needs only to add that this is in the heart of Ontario’s wine country with vineyards on every hand happy to have you, like Jim and Simone, drop by.
