| Sunny Border Nurseries, Inc. was founded in 1931 by Robert
Bennerup, father of current owner, Pierre Bennerup. In 1946,
the nursery moved to its present location and changed its name
from Norwalk Perennial Gardens to Sunny Border. During the first
25 years at the Kensington location, the nursery was primarily
involved in the wholesale production of bare root perennials.
Some small conifers and woody ornamentals were also grown and
sold through a retail outlet. After Robert Bennerup's untimely
death in 1967, his widow, Claudia Bennerup, sold the business
to her son, Pierre. He subsequently sold off the woody material,
closed the retail outlet, and gradually converted all bare root
operations to container grown perennials. |
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Sunny Border has introduced many new plant varieties into
the trade over the past 60 years. We are plant specialists searching
the world for the latest, greatest and the very best NEW plants,
working with a network of breeders, growers and perennial plant
nuts. The best known is Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue', which
was hybridized by Robert Bennerup in the 1940's. Grown throughout
the temperate world, it is the finest form and longest blooming
of all the Veronicas. In 1993, it was selected as the "Perennial
Plant of the Year" by the Perennial Plant Association. |
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Today, we have over 35 acres of container grown perennials,
at five different locations. At peak production, each acre
averages 100,000 pots. We grow over 3,500,000 plants a year,
with 3000 varieties in production, and another 1000 on trial.
The primary market for our plants is the Northeast corridor,
from Georgia to Maine and west to Ohio. In 1998 Sunny Border
Ohio was formed to further our market area west to St. Louis.
Propagation continues 12 months of the year, although peak
propagation is from early April to the end of June. We use
five primary methods of production: 75% vegetatively, tip
or basal cuttings, division, root cuttings, tissue culture
and seeds.
While we produce primarily hardy herbaceous perennials, in
more recent years we have expanded our offerings to include
a line of alpine plants and troughs, ornamental grasses, ferns,
vines, roses and "bodacious temperennials".
Recent Sunny Border Introductions:
Pennisetum orientale 'Karley Rose' PP#12909
Echinacea purpurea 'Kim's Knee High' PP#12242
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