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Mercury Photo by John Strickler
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| Bob Mutschler of Mutschler's Exotic Plants, retired from teaching at the Western Center for Technical Studies, sits next to one of the koi ponds he built at his buisness. |
| One school's loss is the Philadelphia Cactus Society's gain.
Bob Mutschler retired from the Western Center for Technical Studies in Limerick last week, freeing his days to breed his beloved cacti. "I probably should have gotten a patent on that one," Mutschler said, pointing to succulent peach-colored flowers emerging from spiny, green flesh. "When I breed something, I put it on the market. I could sell it to a seed company, but money is not my goal." A floral fortune may not be his objective, but demand for products has brought his eclectic nursery success that he never imagined. In 1988, when Mutschler, on sabbatical from the Western Center, his wife and two sons set up shop in and around a 175-year_old former Underground Railroad stop, the family expected to trade in fruit baskets, cut flowers, and "normal staff, like geraniums" he said. But they did start out with an assortment of "odd" plant, immediately establishing an image as a place to find exotics, Eleven years later, the mix has become odder - the ultimate resource for a woman who told Mutschler she wanted to make her "landscape look macabre." Cut flowers remain a strong part of the business and, with more than 25 ponds filled with increasingly popular koi fish and water plants, the spread along Route 422 now exudes a certain animal attraction, too. Shoppers often ask if the nursery carries Japanese maples - thin, finely branched trees popular throughout the region. Mutschler answers, "We have 50 different types of "Japanese maples," including eye-catching specimens with green and red leaves on the same tree. The quirks of nature and nature-nudged-by-man are sold year-round at Mutschler's Exotic Plants. They include the $200 super-dwarf bristle-cone pine tree, found on the sides of the Grand Canyon and thought to be one of the oldest species in the world. There is also the rare dove tree, $350, grown by a specialty horticulture supplier in Oregon. It produces flowers 'the size of handkerchiefs' that evoke the bird of peace, Mutschler said, adding that two recently sold to Andalusia, the Bucks County estate and tourist attraction. And, of course, there are orchids. With names like Dracula and Cookies & Cream, the orchids attract not only insects, but legions of zealous growers. Cognizant of the problem of people illegally gathering orchids in the wild, Mutschler said he only bought from reputable suppliers. He grows some of his own from seeds, too. Occasionally, someone will ask for rare wild orchids that can be found in Pennsylvania, pointing out that they could simply collect the plants. "I tell them not to dig them out," Mutschler said, noting it was unethical to sell such orchids until they are properly cultivated for commercial markets. "And when it happens, guess what? We'll be the first to have them." You would have thought Mutschler's store was the first to have cacti for sale, the way members of the Philadelphia Cactus Society snapped up plants during their recent visit. The busload of people couldn't resist the unusual shapes and colorful flowers of cacti he propagated himself and bought from wholesalers. The unusual, at least at Mutschler's, comes at high prices, he readily acknowledged. He has never held a sale and doesn't plan to. He depends on 'super-knowledgeable' customers who understand his plants and their worth. The retail operation attracts people from throughout the northeastern U.S. 'I really thought we'd still be selling geraniums,' Mutschler said. 'People just don't come here for common stuff.' Mutschler, 56, of Douglass (Berks), joined the Western Center faculty in 1968 as its first horticulture and landscaping teacher. He filled the position for 31 years and came to personify the department. More than 1,000 students came through his classes, many of whom have become business owners, like he, and some of those have hired subsequent graduates, again as Mutschler does. "I never thought I was going to go to college because I could never afford it, so he's really helped me with direction," said former student Joseph Novak, 19, who works part-time at the exotic plant outlet. "I never knew you could actually do something like this as a career." Novak, of Boyertown, has worked for Mutschler for the past year: "I like everything, Bonsai, orchids, they are our specialties here and those are the things I'm better at." After earning his graduate equivalency degree, Novak won a full scholarship to the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, a three-year school in Delaware County. He begins this week. Western Center horticulture graduate Jeff Jackson, 27, of Trappe, has worked for Mutschler for nine years and "no time soon am I ready to leave. He's a great person to work for and a good friend. It's a family thing here." Jackson developed an expertise building fish ponds and now freelances lucratively, installing them after work and on weekends. At Mutschler's Jackson sells pond supplies and helps with seminars about "one of the hottest things in the (landscaping) industry." Both Jackson and Novak attended the Western Center after the school switched to a full-time program for high- school seniors and a few juniors. Mutschler said that horticulture students were much better served under the original system that enrolled pupils for half-day programs over their final three years. "I think it really hurt the school," he said, noting that a single year gives a student one chance to observe a given season, while three years allows time to absorb and later review a plant's growing habits. Mutschler said he wished the Western Center, which draws students from the Spring-Ford, Pottsgrove and Upper Perkiomen school districts, would lose the stigma first attached to it during the early years when it served only children "swept under the rug" or those in special education. Students from other districts, who paid tuition to attend, "were not aware of the stigma, where local kids think its for stupid kids," he said. "I don't know if it will ever change, but I'd like to see it happen." Mutschler and his wife, Elsie, grew up in Easton. In the 1960s, the couple bounced from Penn State where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in agriculture and horticulture respectively, to the University of Florida. In 1968, Mutschler left a doctoral program at Florida - science at too molecular a level, he said - to take the job in Limerick. He thought it would be temporary. Before they knew it, Robert Jr., now an electrical engineer for the Navy, was born. Another son soon arrived: Micah is a landscape architect and most likely heir to the exotic plant business. Three decades of horticultural education and entrepreneurship later, Mutschler is happily planted right where he wants to be. |