In all my dealings with plant
breeders and nursery people, I never met
anyone who believed in their new plant
as much as John Houser. Certainly every plant breeder feels his or her new
invention is the best, but how many would postpone their retirement at age 85 to
start up a nursery based on it. Houser did and said, “I’m too old to work
hard, too mule-headed to retire.”
You see, John knew in his heart
that he had found his “one in a million shot,” when he discovered an unusual
branch mutation on an arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) on his property. That mutation was an ultra-fast growing branch
sport with a dense, narrow growth habit.
“This particular arborvitae will withstand extremes of heat, cold, and moisture, making it a candidate for home landscapes, and screening situations in most of the lower forty-eight states. Other plants commonly used for screening purposes, such as hemlock and pine, have diseases that are depleting their usefulness. Leland cypress is being attacked by the lethal Cercospora needle blight which is now widespread across the South and East. The American Pillar Nursery is positioned to fill the demand for a better, disease-resistant replacement plant.” John Houser
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| Full Speed A Hedge is perfect for hiding bad views PDQ |
In August of 2009, just days
after Thuja ‘American Pillar’ was
granted U.S. Plant Patent number 20,209, Houser called to sell me on ‘American Pillar’. At the time,
I eschewed arborvitae because one variety, Emerald arborvitae, dominated the
market. It was the only cultivar our customers wanted to buy, grow, or sell. Selling
a new cultivar would be difficult if not impossible. But John was, well, mule
headed. He was not about to take no for an answer. He wore me down; I acquiesced
and sent him a trialing license and he sent me 100 trial plants. I soon
discovered that John was right. His
plant was very special. With a growth rate
of a meter (nearly 40”) a year, ‘American Pillar’ was the fastest arborvitae I
had ever seen; much faster than ‘Green Giant’ and narrower too. And when it
comes to screen and hedging plants, fast and narrow is what every one wants:
growers, landscapers and homeowners. And because of its ‘Hetz Wintergreen’
bloodline, John’s plant was both hardy
and heat-tolerant. Most definitely, there was a market for this plant.
In the meantime, John was
ramping up his business, planting, hiring and selling to everyone in the greater
Atlanta area. McMansions were being built at a crazy pace and these people
wanted fast privacy. Of course, John was more than happy to help. He developed a software program (AsICit) that landscapers used to show people how an ‘American Pillar’ hedge would look in their yard.
He took
before and after pictures to show everyone how fast his plant grew. And his
dogged persistence and old-fashioned work ethic paid off. Growers and
landscapers began to discover this super fast growing
plant. Today, landscapers are buying every, decent sized plant available. Demand has been incredible.
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| Mavis Houser next to an American Pillar Hedge. |
But you don't have to be a professional landscaper to have access to this new, fast growing privacy plant. And you don't need to buy large, expensive landscape grade plants to get the same results. A new online retail program called Full Speed A-Hedge offers a tray of (8) 2 Qt sized plants that will quickly make 20 feet of privacy hedge. Plant them at 2 1/2 fee apart and 8 plants = 20 feet of privacy. The beauty of these smaller plants is that they're easy to plant and they establish faster than larger, more expensive plants. Below two photographs of a hedge at my brother's house. He had a neighbor that was, dare I say, a jerk, who put up an ugly, eighty foot long, 5' tall cyclone fence. To hide the fence and the neighbor I gave my brother four trays of the Full Speed A Hedge. In 2 1/2 years, planted 2 1/2 feet apart these little 2 quart plants had hidden the fence. In two years the plants were taller than the fence. In less than four years, you could not longer see the neighbors house or pole barn. Problem solved.
The key to getting the fasted possible growth is to make sure the plants get watered regularly when young. The soil should be moist but not soaking wet. Fertilize them in early spring. I recommend a high nitrogen fertilizer at label rates. Keep the plants free of weeds! Weeds will rob your plants of growth by competing for water, nutrients and sunlight. Mulch is a good way to prevent weeds. A two inch layer of composted wood chips will do the job and help retain water. That's it.
John, like most people that develop new plants, never got rich. But for plant breeders it’s not about the money. It’s about that special feeling you get when you invent something useful, something beautiful, something that your fellow man appreciates. It’s about that one-in-a-million moment when you drive through a neighborhood and see your plant in someone’s yard. John got to experience that before a few years back. Some 70 years since he pulled his first paycheck from the landscape trade in 1938, John Houser has retired and is at rest, but his plant lives on.
To locate plants for purchase visit FullSpeedAhedge.com
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| American Pillar planted as Full Speed A-Hedge plants after two years reaching the top of a 5' fence |
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| My wife standing next to the same fence and "Full Speed A-Hedge" after only four years |
The key to getting the fasted possible growth is to make sure the plants get watered regularly when young. The soil should be moist but not soaking wet. Fertilize them in early spring. I recommend a high nitrogen fertilizer at label rates. Keep the plants free of weeds! Weeds will rob your plants of growth by competing for water, nutrients and sunlight. Mulch is a good way to prevent weeds. A two inch layer of composted wood chips will do the job and help retain water. That's it.
John, like most people that develop new plants, never got rich. But for plant breeders it’s not about the money. It’s about that special feeling you get when you invent something useful, something beautiful, something that your fellow man appreciates. It’s about that one-in-a-million moment when you drive through a neighborhood and see your plant in someone’s yard. John got to experience that before a few years back. Some 70 years since he pulled his first paycheck from the landscape trade in 1938, John Houser has retired and is at rest, but his plant lives on.
To locate plants for purchase visit FullSpeedAhedge.com
