美国西尔万苗圃 Sylvan Nursery – 马萨诸塞州沿海耐寒苗木苗圃

从一间温室到三百英亩

西尔万苗圃（Sylvan Nursery, Inc.）在马萨诸塞州东南部，土地分布在韦斯特波特（Westport）和达特茅斯（Dartmouth）两镇，主苗圃在韦斯特波特靠 Buzzards Bay 的一侧。1966 年，Neil J. Van Sloun 和妻子 Sylvia（家里叫她 Sue）在自家地块上搭起一间 50 英尺长的温室，起初只是份副业。1990 年 1 月公司正式注册成立，之后种植区陆续扩到约 300 英亩，分成六处场地。达特茅斯的 Island View 和 Dartmoor Farm 是后来买下的两片地，一部分种饲料作物，一部分用来定植苗木。2023 年 10 月，创办人 Neil Van Sloun 去世，享年 90 岁，公司由原来的管理团队继续经营。

客户构成与人员

苗圃的客户超过 6000 家，来自新英格兰各州和相邻的中大西洋各州。其中约四分之三是做园林绿化的公司，剩下的有市政部门、花园中心、景观设计师和其他零售渠道。员工 70 人，春夏忙的时候再雇 20 名临时工。员工里有 13 位持证的马萨诸塞州园艺师（Massachusetts Certified Horticulturists），淡季会安排行业展会和内部培训，让销售和繁殖岗位的人熟悉新到的品种。1995 年苗圃在附近办起 Triple-S 农场，养安格斯肉牛和猪，饲料除少量购入外基本自产，农场和苗圃放在一起经营。

以石楠、帚石楠和海滨灌木见长

苗圃的长处是耐寒的酸性土植物。帚石楠（Calluna vulgaris）、欧石楠（Erica carnea、Erica darleyensis 等）、熊果，以及一批适应海边立地的原生灌木是常年的主力，其中不少是矮生或贴地生长的类型，能扛住新英格兰沿海的沙质土和大风。繁殖组的连栋水槽温室每年处理 25 万根以上插条；另有约 20 万株裸根苗每年购入后上盆。出售的苗木里约一半是带土球包扎（B&B）的大规格苗，其余是容器苗，存货从 3 月初到 12 月初都比较齐。以 2026 年的清单为例，多年生植物列出一百多个品种代码，石楠与帚石楠单独成册，收 24 个帚石楠品种和 9 个欧石楠品种，名单里能看到 ‘Beoley Gold’（黄叶白花）、’Silver Knight’（银灰叶）、’County Wicklow’（重瓣淡粉）、’Springwood Pink’（匍匐型，冬春开花）这类老品种；植物参考指南 68 页，零售价目表 55 页，都按年份更新。

水、基质与田间管理

灌溉靠自己的一套系统：15 口井加 5 个池塘，泵房有六台 Berkeley 泵，由三台 454 立方英寸和三台 305 立方英寸的 Chevrolet 丙烷发动机带动，每台每小时可送 750 加仑、扬程 360 英尺。每天要浇 50 英亩，其中 10 英亩用滴灌。1996 年苗圃修了三个集水设施，把径流收回来再用，回用水经 Sanidate 12.0 处理后再上苗床；B&B 区铺树皮覆盖物，滴灌管直接对到单株，都是为了少蒸发、少浪费。容器基质的主料是木材加工剩下的 superhumus，保水又不至于积水，再按当季上盆的植物配上另外五种成分调成不同配方。日常用肥以控释肥为主，药剂用量不大，用到时多是在高温多湿的季节对付石楠和月季的病害。

批发为主，零售有门槛

苗圃的生意以批发为主，做的是苗木集散（re-wholesale），为园林工程的整单配苗。零售只在周四、周五、周六接待，页面上写明自己不是花园中心，不做设计、施工和送货。来的人先到办公室登记，手里有清单就安排销售员配货，能当场拉走的尽量当场拉走，拉不走的可以把标签苗留一周。送货集中在马萨诸塞、罗得岛、缅因、新罕布什尔和康涅狄格几个州，订单在周一、周二装箱发运，只有 3 英寸盆、4 英寸盆和裸根苗适合邮寄，天气过冷过热都会停发，个别州也不接收，加拿大和美国大陆以外的订单不接。苗圃还列出常来往的行业组织，除全国性的 AmericanHort 之外，有科德角、康涅狄格、缅因、马萨诸塞以及新英格兰地区的几家园林与苗圃协会。有顾客在当地评价里说，这里是新英格兰东部最经得起挑剔的苗圃，原生植物和原生种尤其齐全。

官网：https://sylvannurseries.com/

From One Greenhouse to Three Hundred Acres

Sylvan Nursery, Inc. sits in south-eastern Massachusetts, with land in the towns of Westport and Dartmouth; the main nursery is on the Westport side, close to Buzzards Bay. In 1966 Neil J. Van Sloun and his wife Sylvia, known to the family as Sue, put up one 50-foot greenhouse on their own ground, and running it was a part-time hobby at first. The company was incorporated in January 1990, and the growing areas later spread to roughly 300 acres across six sites. Island View and Dartmoor Farm in Dartmouth were bought later, and part of that land grows feed crops while part is used for lining out nursery stock. Neil Van Sloun, the founder, died in October 2023 at the age of 90, and the company is still run by its original management team.

Customers and Staff

The nursery serves more than 6,000 customers from across New England and the neighbouring Middle Atlantic states. Around three quarters of them are landscaping firms, and the rest are municipalities, garden centres, landscape architects and other retail outlets. There are 70 full-time staff, with 20 part-timers taken on in the busy season. Thirteen of the staff are Massachusetts Certified Horticulturists, and in the quieter months the nursery runs trade shows and in-house sessions so that people in sales and propagation get to know the new material. In 1995 the nursery started Triple-S Farm nearby, raising Angus beef cattle and hogs, with most of the feed grown on the farm itself, so the farm and the nursery are run together.

Heath, Heather and Seaside Shrubs

The nursery’s strength is hardy acid-loving plants. Calluna vulgaris, Erica carnea and Erica darleyensis, bearberry and a group of native shrubs suited to seaside sites are the mainstays, and many of them are dwarf or ground-hugging types that hold up on the sandy soils and in the wind along the New England coast. The propagation crew handles more than 250,000 cuttings a year in a gutter-connected greenhouse, and about 200,000 bare-root plants are bought in and potted each year. Roughly half of the stock sold is balled and burlapped, with the rest in containers, and the yard stays well stocked from early March to early December. For 2026, the perennial list carries more than a hundred variety codes, while heather and heath have a list of their own with 24 Calluna and nine Erica varieties, among them ‘Beoley Gold’ with its yellow foliage, ‘Silver Knight’ with silver-grey leaves, the double-flowered ‘County Wicklow’ and the low spreading ‘Springwood Pink’, which flowers from winter into spring; the plant reference guide runs to 68 pages and the retail price list to 55, both updated by year.

Water, Mixes and Field Practice

Irrigation runs on the nursery’s own system: 15 wells and five ponds, with six Berkeley pumps powered by three 454-cubic-inch and three 305-cubic-inch Chevrolet propane engines, each able to move 750 gallons a minute at 360 feet. Fifty acres are watered daily, ten of them by drip. In 1996 the nursery built three catch basins to capture run-off for re-use, and the reclaimed water is treated with Sanidate 12.0 before it goes back on the beds; the balled-and-burlapped areas are mulched with bark and the drip lines run to individual plants, all of it aimed at cutting evaporation and waste. The main ingredient in the container mix is superhumus, a by-product of lumber processing, which holds water without staying soggy; it is blended with five other components in mixes that change with whatever is being potted at the time. Controlled-release fertiliser does most of the feeding, chemical use is limited, and when sprays are needed they go mainly on heathers and roses in the hot, humid part of the season.

Wholesale First, Retail With Conditions

The business is mainly wholesale, run as a re-wholesale yard that fills out entire orders for landscaping work. Retail visitors are accommodated on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only, and the nursery states plainly that it is not a garden centre and does not offer design, installation or delivery. Retail customers sign in at the office; anyone with a plant list is matched with a salesperson, plants are taken away on the day where possible, and tagged material can be held for a week if it cannot. Truck delivery covers Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut, orders are boxed and shipped on Mondays and Tuesdays, and only 3-inch pots, 4-inch pots and bare-root plants can go by carrier. Shipping stops when the weather is too hot or too cold, some states do not accept plant shipments, and nothing goes to Canada or beyond the continental United States. The nursery also lists the trade organisations it deals with, among them AmericanHort nationally and the Cape Cod, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New England landscape and nursery associations. One local reviewer calls it the best nursery in eastern Massachusetts for serious horticulturalists, with native plants and straight species a particular strength.

Official Site: https://sylvannurseries.com/