Diane Miller, gathering flowers for fresh arrangements she designs, oversees the
retail side of the Miller Plant Farm business. She also handles the continuing flow of
office paperwork and has computerized the farm’s recordkeeping systems.
Miller Plant Farm
Blooms With Springtime
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Correspondent
YORK (York Co.) In 1929,
the stock market crashed and the
nation’s economy began its slide
into the deep financial pit which
would come to be known as the
Great Depression.
But at a family farm south of
the growing city of York, Jacob
and Ada Miller were expanding
their agriculture enterprise with a
building addition. The new endea
vor was a small greenhouse, fac
ing south and attached to their
farm home.
Miller's goal was to get a head
start on the vegetable seedlings
they planted each year to supply
their bustling produce business.
Then, as now, the earliest produce
commanded the best prices; the
indoor start would give Miller’s
tomatoes and peppers a three
week advance in the competitive
downtown farmers’ markets.
“And when he was finished
with his vegetable plants. Grand
ma would start flower seedlings,”
relates David Miller. The third
generation horticulturist now
operates the greatly-expanded
Miller Plant Farm on Indian Rock
Dam Road with his nephew and
business partner, Steve Slyder.
His parents, John and Betty Mill
er, are “retired,” but still put in
long days helping with the family
business.
In January, Miller Plant Farm
was named Agribusiness of the
Year by the York Chamber of
Commerce. Three generations of
family members remain actively
involved in the diverse enterprises
of more than 60,000 square feet of
space in 27 greenhouses and
working bays, retail plant and pro
duce sales, field crops, a herd of
beef cattle and maintaining stands
at two area farmers’ markets.
As Jacob Miller’s success with
bis early seedlings became
known, neighbors urged him to
start extras for them to purchase.
Started in sand, the fledgling
plants were sold bare root, wrap
ped in newspaper. Seedlings were
also one more attraction for the
J.L. Miller customers at the bust
ling city farmers’ markets, where
city housewives shopped several
times weekly for fresh produce
and meats.
While two days each week
“tending market” is still part of the
Miller Plant Farms operation, on
farm sales have become a rapidly
expanding part of current busi
ness. That enterprise peaks in mid
to-late spring, when both whole
sale and retail plant customers
generate a steady line of traffic, in
and out the farm lane. Customers
ate from as close as neighbors up
the toad to businesses in adjoining
states. 1
• The earliest plantings of seeds
start in February, with the pace
picking up in March; by April,
transplanting becomes a non-stop
task for the crew of ladies who de
vote their workdays to the job. In
addition, spring holidays bring a
high demand for blooming potted
plants ready for the retail side’s
Easter and Mother’s Day flower
This plant sculpture by Charm House, Leola, Inspires
ideas for inside and outside the home.
buying season.”
“May is a real hectic month,”
says Miller in understatement.
“We tty to refill the greenhouses
for another turn of plants, get field
work done, plant produce crops
outside. It just about tuns you rag
gcd.”
Meanwhile, planning ahead
never ends. While customers may
still be buying some tail-end an
nuals to fill empty spots in their
summer gardens. Miller must be
making arrangements to accom
modate the thousands of Christ
mas poinsettia cuttings which ar
rive in August.
Seedlings play a vital role in the
Miller Plant Farm business and,
like all babies, are delicate, with
special needs. To maximize their
seedling success, Miller utilizes
Though “retired,” Betty Miller often prepares lunch for
more than a dozen of the Miller Plant Farm work crew, as
well as continues to help in the greenhouse operations,
like gathering this cart of sprightly pansies for spring
sales.
specialized equipment, some pur
chased and some he designed and
built.
A vacuum seeder, which has
made starting even the tiniest
seeds more efficient, is a table-top
piece of equipment which works
somewhat comparably to a field
Decorate,
Entertain,
Garden With Style
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.)
Ideas for decorating, entertaining,
and gardening with style made the
annual Kitchen Kaper Tulip Tour a
visual delight for mote than 600
people on Monday.
“I like this tour because it’s hard
for me to envision what something
looks like on paper. But if I can see
a home layout, I have a better idea
if it will work for me," said a tour
participant
drill for grain. Prepared flats filled
with tiny square sections of plant
ing medium are fed through the
seeder, which is equipped with an
electric eye and tucks a seed into
each miniature “pot.” Because
each tiny plant begins growing in
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V*’ ;v%
/ * f*
The 12th annual tour sponsored
by the Woman’s Club of Ephrata
featured nine sites. Homes on the
tour vary from the pricey to the
more modest Some are filled with
rare antiques, family heirlooms,
collectable art, and artifacts from
world travels. Decorating styles
vary from formal to comfortable
eclectic, but each one sparks
unique ideas to take home and
incorporate into one's own indivi
dual style.
(Turn to Pag* B 3)
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