Health & Safety at Colesville Nursery

In light of the new rules and regulations regarding the health and safety of customers and employees, many nursery and landscape business have risen to the occasion of altering operations. Mask wearing, social distancing, and cleaning and sanitization are the name of the game in the COVID-19 pandemic. Colesville Nursery, like many other VNLA member companies, has implemented the necessary changes to operate, and we are encouraged to see the innovation our industry promotes to continue to serve the public.

We asked Kate Leffler, General Manager and Vice President at Colesville, to share some of the changes that the company had made in response to the new operational guidelines. Kate said:

Colesville employees with masks loading tree

We have purchased more official signage about social distancing as we move into phase one of reopening. Those signs read “masks required” in both English and Spanish, and “We are practicing social distancing” in English and Spanish as well.

Colesville outdoor office and staff with masks

The most important message, above anything else, has been employee and customer safety. We know that this is not a money-making spring for us. We knew that if/when we had a positive case, we would have to close because of the close proximity of everyone’s working environment. So far, we have not had any positive cases of COVID-19 and we hope to keep it that way. We rely strongly on trust that our employees are going home and to work and doing the things we are asking them to do to social distance in their downtime. We have asked them to limit trips into town for lunch since Ashland is an exit off of Interstate 95, etc.

Colesville pick up orders and portable bathrooms

We were lucky enough to get the PPP loan from our bank (which is a small Virginia-owned bank), so we know we are very lucky not to have to focus on sales numbers. If we did not get the PPP loan in the first round our strategy would be completely different.

We began by closing on Saturdays because the first Saturday we were open we had a record Saturday and this place was a ZOO. It was as if people were treating Colesville as a park and I was not okay with that. We closed on Saturdays for the remainder of spring the following week.

Colesville sign regarding masks and other instructions

We then began not allowing customers to browse at all and both retail and wholesale customers had to call in for curbside pick-up orders. We were inundated with retail orders for “one clematis,” or “one hellebore.” It’s not that we don’t appreciate those sales, but our business just isn’t set up for sales like that in the way we were doing it.

Colesville sign regarding masks and other instructions

The next week we closed for WHOLESALE DELIVERY ONLY which lasted for 3.5 weeks. This was during peak COVID-19 numbers in Virginia. We were only allowing plants out and no customers in. The gate was locked, and our employees came in every day. Customers were frustrated, but we knew it was temporary. We had anyone willing to do deliveries in their own vehicles, often on their way home from work (including me!), doing them along with renting an additional box truck just to get as much out the door as possible.

We are asking people who have had direct contact with someone that tested positive to self-quarantine and then have a test (we are also paying for the test). We have also had to send an employee home indefinitely (paid leave) because someone she lives with works in D.C. and their job site has continuous positive cases and isn’t doing what they should about it (construction site). We are encouraging people to let us know about contacts with people testing positive and letting them know we will pay them during a self-quarantine time and for testing so that they won’t be discouraged from being honest about their contact with a positive case.

On April 20th, we began allowing wholesale only pickup (pre-ordered) by appointment only. At first, we allowed in one customer per hour and we waited to see how that went for a few days, then we added on two per hour, and now we are up to three or four and we are comfortable here. We are considering opening back up for wholesale sales only for spring/summer 2020 and not letting retail come back until the fall. It’s a tough decision, but I think it is the right one.

The bottom line is that these have been the hardest, longest days of many of our lives. We have adapted to what feels the best at the time, which for a while was day to day, and now it’s week to week. We will keep going like this until we feel like we can settle into something else. I don’t want to say it’s the new normal, but I do want to be able to handle something like this if it happens again. Being prepared is never a bad thing.

Starting the first week of June, Colesville will be open for wholesale only. Current safety procedures will remain in place with additional protocols.