About Our Nursery

Our nursery is located at our home in Shorewood, a west suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota and just west of the historic town of Excelsior. We are Open By Appointment Monday through Saturday. We specialize in hosta and shade perennials but because we have so many plant interests, we also offer great plants for sun, vines, shrubs, small trees, and dwarf conifers. Many are unusual and hard to find varieties.

We have been in full time operation since 1998. We are located on two acres and have many display gardens and other gardens that are used for growing the perennials we sell. Customers who come to shop are welcome to walk through our Display and Growing Gardens. Read information at Visiting for additional information.

We welcome the individual shopper as well as garden clubs, plant societies, church groups, etc. We have been a tour garden of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum annual bus tour, local Hosta Society, National Conifer Society Convention, American Hosta Society Convention, Daylily National Convention, local and state Herb Society tours, Master Gardener groups, and many garden clubs. We have many out-of-state shoppers that come to shop here every year. Others that travel long distances have organized car pools and small buses.

Our goal is to provide an atmosphere that makes your plant purchases a pleasant and relaxing experience. Above all, we want you to feel comfortable and we WELCOME YOU TO OUR NURSERY!

Our Catalog

Those of you who are familiar with our nursery have relied on our printed catalog and have expressed to us how much it is loved and read cover to cover. We are extremely happy to offer you our catalog via our own Web Site where we can provide plant photos and limitless information on each item as well as including our own garden experiences with particular plants. Now, because we can provide the enhancements of photos and more plant info via this site, we will not be mailing a printed version to you.

We know, of course, that many of you will feel lost without the paper catalog, so we've made it very easy to print off your own - all by category. The hosta can be sorted by size as well. Click on the links below to print out your own product listings.

Who works at the nursery?

Jay and Dory Venero are the owners and operators of the nursery.

Jay is the project person - he has built all of the structural elements in the display gardens including several large obelisks, the arbors and fence and lattice system that surrounds the hosta propagation area, the shade cloth support system, both ponds, as well as the Victorian style fence that surrounds the property.

Jay is also the soil expert having 'built' our garden soils to peak performance.

Dory is the plant lover continually trying and testing new plants for hardiness and loves to find unusual and rare plants.