What You Need To Know About Cloverland Greenhouse

Cloverland Greenhouse was started in 2020 by two old poops, Sue (No.1) and Kevin (No.2) Hennis, who were too old and decrepit to teach high school botany and conventionally farm any longer.

Our greenhouses are located midway between Millersburg and Charm, Ohio (See Map). 

That’s right!  We live amongst the largest population of Amish and Mennonites in North America. No, we are not Amish or Mennonite. Consequently, we are open daily — including Sundays.  Our hours are 10am to 3pm Monday through Saturday and Noon until 3pm on Sunday. Why the narrow hours? Because we are old poops, watering the plants takes us a couple of hours, twice daily and every day. Trust me! When you get old and decrepit like us, you will understand. Besides, we get grouchy when we don’t get our sleep.

We never really thought about our mission. Still, if we had to describe why we do what we do, it would be to grow perennials, natives, vegetables, annuals, and herbs that make people happy and have as small of a negative impact on Nature as possible. Sometimes, we like to think we are helping Nature!

Most of our plants are grown from seed, sown by us, and carefully transplanted, by hand, into biodegradable CowPots manufactured from digested cow manure at a dairy farm in Connecticut. See the brief but fascinating story here.

By planting the CowPot containing your perennial, native perennial, or herb, you significantly lessen the transplant shock to the plant.  Sadly, our annuals and vegetables are still grown in plastic pots due to cost constraints.
 
When you select one of our plants, you receive a plant growing in a soil mix that contains slow-release fertilizer (Osmocoat 14-14-14) that will help your plant get off to a good start.

Now, growing as many as 259 varieties each year in about 4000 sq ft. of greenhouse space, we are still a work in progress. However, sometimes our plants get too big or do not get big enough by opening time (we are open beginning Saturday, April 27th). So, at this time, we ask for patience and understanding from our patrons. Also, please remember that our last frost or freeze used to be May 10th. We old poops remember such things. And as old poops do not like
change, we still recommend May 10th or later.

Regarding price, because one of the old poops (No.2) never met a seed package he didn’t like and proceeded to plant every seed, we tend to produce way too many plants. We have not counted, but we’re pretty sure 10,000 or so plants are in the greenhouses. And as we are not located on the main drag and do very little advertising other than word of mouth, we price our plants very economically (this sounds so much better than “cheaply.”). And although inflation has struck the greenhouse business, we are holding the line.  All of our individual plants and 4-packs are still an economical $2. And because one of the old poops is better at growing than marketing, sometimes for even less than $2.

As the old poops are always trying to make our customers happy, we also grow hanging baskets and planters that we market very economically (See downloadable catalog). Have I mentioned that economically sounds better than “cheaply?”

Somehow, years ago, long before we had the greenhouses, the old poops started growing geraniums and could not stop. As a result, we produce several hundred very nice-looking geraniums (large plants in 5” pots) that we sell for $2 each. This year they are looking good for Mother’s Day and Memorial Day. Each geranium is labeled as to color (White, pink, red, star, salmon, dark red, dark pink, violet, picotees, and the highly sought-after deep burgundy.) Note: Geraniums sell out quickly.

Speaking of sought-after, we sell many colors of SunPatiens in 5-inch pots for just $2. Try and beat that deal!
 
And to help our patrons make good choices, the old poops make up a cheat sheet that we give to each of our customers that lists the plant name, height, and sun requirements for each plant purchased. So then, when you get home and ask yourself why you bought so many plants, you will at least know how best to plant them.

We old poops always make sure our perennials and natives are hardy in our growing zone. As far as our perennials and natives, we only grow ones that can survive our winters. This means they must be able to exist in a winter hardiness zone of 5 or less. Our USDA Zone is now 6A with a few places in Zone 5. See the Ohio planting zones here. 
 
Lastly, one of the reasons we can keep our prices low is that we reuse plastic pots, baskets, and planters. So, we always welcome old pots, flats, baskets, and planters that can be cleaned, sterilized, and reused (This helps prevent the plastics from ending up in a landfill or, worse, the ocean.). 
 
In closing, the old poops look forward to meeting you and helping you select plants that meet your needs.

Sincerely,

No.1 and No.2

P. S. Sales are cash or checks only. We cannot accept credit cards. Also, sales tax is added to support Ohio.