A guest post by Kari Ruder owner of Naturewise Nursery in Cocoa, FL. in response to Monday's post Supporting the Native Plant Industry. Be sure to respond to Kari and all the other native plant professionals who work so hard to bring you locally-grown natives.
Dear native plant customer,
As a native plant enthusiast, I had found it difficult to
find nurseries specializing in native plants when I was ready to do some
landscaping. While I had some experience in gardening and Environmental Science
degrees, I didn't have Florida plant specific knowledge other that what I
gained through my job working for my county's Natural Resources Office and
through attending talks, field trips, and conferences as a member of FNPS. I
started playing around with growing a few plants on the side from seed, and
after time, the idea of starting my own native plant nursery popped into my
hand. There seemed to be many other people like me wanting to use native plants
but not able to find enough sources for them. So off I went to acquire my
Masters of Science degree in Environmental Horticulture through the University
of Florida. My wonderful professor, Sandra Wilson, even taught a Florida Native
Landscaping course.
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| Naturewise Nursery's location in Kari's back yard. |
While working on my degree, I started building my backyard
nursery, growing assorted native wildflowers, vines, grasses, and shrubs along
with heirloom vegetable plants. Now, unlike traditional garden centers, there
is no massive supplier of blooming natives ready for me to truck in and put on
display, rather I have to grow them myself and educate customers about the
natural seasons our natives go through and that they generally don’t look that
good in nursery pots. Finding a retail location was a challenge too, with real
estate at an all time high and profit in this industry low.
 |
Naturewise Nursery's first retail location--
outgrown in 2011. |
Hoping for growth,
I partnered with a couple local small farmers to set up a combined retail
native nursery and farm stand on one of the farmer's properties. This seemed
rather popular and while none of us were making much money, we were quite
happy. Sure we faced various challenges, like the weather, bugs and lack of
highway road frontage, but probably the most frustrating thing was trying to
figure out what the customer wanted. Now the “popular” natives like Firebush,
blanket flower, sunshine mimosa, and muhly grass would sell without fail (most
of the time), but I would grow different plants people asked for, and when I
had them ready for sale, they might sit there for a year before someone bought
them. To this day I still have a few tough bumelia (
Bumelia tenax) that I rescued and grew in 2007. Those are going to
be donated next week!
When I grow 4” pots people want something bigger but when
I don't have 4” pots someone wants them. I don't offer really large trees as
they're simply too big to move, too expensive to stock, and too expensive to
lose if the irrigation went awry. Most
of the time people understand the benefits of choosing a smaller sized tree or
shrub (smaller hole to dig, less expensive, faster to establish), but then you
get a customer who wants a large shrub and wanting to help them, I spend a lot
of time tracking down that large tree.
 |
| Naturewise Nursery's most recent location at a working farm. |
Wanting to see my native nursery grow and flourish, about 19
months ago I moved the nursery to another farm that offered more open space,
more parking, and a building to shelter us from the weather. It was a working farm,
which attracted customers wanting to experience a true farm. We even brought in
more growers to offer customers more choices in local food and plants. At first
we did great and sales seemed to go up, but after time, even with all these new
customers, plant sales seemed to decrease. We were selling a larger diversity
of products, such as soil, mulch, and natural gardening amendments, but profits
didn't rise. We tried to offer what people wanted, from classes to different
products to new plants, but then I guess people change their minds.
 |
| A flood about a month after Kari moved into the farm location. |
Now that we find ourselves having to move yet again, I ask
myself, is it worth it to reopen my nursery one more time? Do I want to
continue working 50 hard hours a week to run a part time retail nursery where I
make less than half of what I made at my last “real job”? If I do, will you buy
plants? Will you bring your friends?
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| Kari Ruder (facing camera) selling her precious native plants for $1,$2, & $3! |
So to conclude, I'm writing this to ask you what you want
out of a native nursery. When I say, “want”, I mean putting your money
where
your mouth is. Do you support native nurseries by actually buying plants
or
just like the idea? Why don't you buy native plants? What is it that
keeps you
from going to native nurseries? What do you want to buy when you are
there?
Certain types, sizes, or varieties of plants, other gardening products,
something we haven't thought of? People love to tell me “You should do
this…” So here is your chance. I'll bet you that we'll have already
tried half of what
you suggest, but let me hear it.
Kari Ruder
Horticulturist / Owner
Naturewise
kari@naturewiseplants.com
~ ~ ~
Kari,
Thanks for all your hard work!
Ginny Stibolt
Comments
Folks, every native nursery in the state would agree with Kari and can add even more challenges. Famous quote from Brightman Logan, owner of All Native, which became the largest native nursery in the state but has struggled to succeed during the recent recession -- "Want to make a million dollars with a native plant nursery? Start with two million."
This industry is in its infancy and we need so much: more and better quality plants, lower costs of production, more customers willing to invest in the inherent higher quality offered by native plants, greater ability to serve urban customers who don't want to drive to the boondocks, stronger connections between future demand and supply ... on and on.
The good news: YOU continue to support us, there are more of YOU all the time, and in the long run, we will win this race. Florida needs our plants.
So my suggestion is to treat it as the unique and rare opportunity to recreate beautiful habitats that increase wildlife and healthy landscapes in urban communities. Most cities and counties in Florida are now mandating a percentage of natives in the landscape for new construction, residential and commercial. But I will tell you that not understanding the cycle of natives (dormancy, soil conditions) was the problem 10-15 years ago, when natives became popular, were planted enthusiastically by uneducated builders/landscape companies and didn't survive well and got a bad rep among the building industry, realtors, and with homeowners.
Landscape companies in various counties have told me that they can't find enough natives to be competitive or do a complete installation.
Marketing your business locally to landscape companies that work with builders would be a good start. Find out what percentage of natives are required in your community for new homes. Speaking at home builders association meetings and to city planners so that they know what product is available in their county and how to use it and maintain it. Provide a local/regional native plant list and resources in your community to Planning departments. Learn what size plant product builders need for their new homes. For new communities, find out the HOA or Property Management company and tell them you'll write an article for their newsletter on the benefits of natives. Start with baby steps in not pushing an all native landscape but that they can be used with non-natives to have color all year round.
Partner with local Master Garden groups and Extension to have native plants featured during any festivals or events. Have the events at your nursery.
Write articles, posts, or provide interviews about the benefit of natives in your area. Have an open house once a month to educate on using natives in the landscape for new Floridians.
I think with the economy and home construction coming back slowly, it would be a good time to open back up. We need more native plant nurseries with plenty of plants so that having natives is not a "I wonder if I should" proposition but "I want more natives!"
FANN's website has options to find a particular native plant or a member nursery close to you. www.plantrealflorida.org
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However, I liked the post earlier by Teresa Watkins Feb 7, 2013 about partnering with builders associations. It starts with educating the homeowner as they are purchasing the home. Realtors too could point out the landscaping options when they resell. We're out there wanting to do the right thing, just have to search hard for the places to purchase that aren't on the way to running other errands. I take vacation days specifically for gardening. I don't meet many others who do the same unfortunately.