Member Spotlight on Shreckhise Nurseries

The Shreckhise family has been growing trees and shrubs in the soil of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia for more than 130 years. Over four generations, they’ve learned that their native region produces plants hardy enough to survive and thrive across climate zones and in the most demanding applications, whether in suburban front yards or along busy city streets.

Anne Little runs a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining a vibrant urban forest in the Northern Virginia city of Fredericksburg. Over the last 15 years, her group, Tree Fredericksburg, has planted more than 8,000 trees in city parks, along streets, and other places around the historic city, achieving a 95% survival rate.

Danny and Matt Shreckhise

Many of those trees were provided by Shreckhise Nurseries in Grottoes, a family-run grower that has served independent garden centers and landscapers since 1936. Since Little does root-planting to achieve high survival rates and healthy growth of urban trees, she needed a nursery willing to offer service above and beyond the usual. As a small, nimble grower committed to customer satisfaction, Shreckhise could help.

“They’re fabulous people,” explains Little. “I work with about a dozen different nurseries and the difference is customer service.” Unlike some companies that Little has had to contact multiple times to confirm an order, Shreckhise is always proactive in communicating with her as the customer at every stage of a project. “When I have a question, if they don’t know the answer, they’ll get the information and then call me right back,” she adds.

L – R Matt Shreckhise, Danny Shreckhise, Jimmy Shifflett, Donald Shifflett, Sam Johnson, Bobby Shifflett, Trey Jarrels, Teresa Bergey

“Anne at Tree Fredericksburg asked us to pot their trees in a fabric container to help prevent root circling,” explains Matt Shreckhise, the fourth generation of the family to help run the business. “Once the trees established themselves in the container, we pulled the soil away from the trees’ root collar to prevent stressed adventitious roots. Both of these practices help the longterm health of the tree.”

While few customers have the need for, and the budget to cover, such labor-intensive work by their nursery, Shreckhise was pleased to have a chance to flex its creative muscles on the Fredericksburg project. “Anne cares only about the roots. Their trees’ growth and survival rates are remarkable,” adds Matt.

Innovation is in the company’s DNA, built, perhaps surprisingly, on a foundation of tradition. Though the current company was founded in the 1930s, the family has been in the nursery business in the Shenandoah Valley since patriarch Noah Shreckhise started growing in the late 1880s. In that time, as the industry has changed, the company has changed with it.

Noah Shreckhise in the 1880s

Anne Little in Fredericksburg credits much of her success to the flexibility, skill and commitment to high quality of Shreckhise Nurseries. So do other customers of the company including Rich Barfield of Area Landscaping in Fairfax, Virginia, who has done business with Matt’s father Danny Shreckhise for 42 years. Shreckhise has always offered “old fashioned customer service” and high-quality products. “They won’t ship marginal material. If something’s not ready, they won’t put it on a truck until it is. Their word means something,” says Barfield.

Barfield has also seen the company introduce innovations, for example, shipping partial loads and smaller quantities, providing more finished product and changing their catalog in response to trends. “There’s a huge demand for native plants, and they’ve really stepped up,” says Barfield.

Shreckhise grows about 14,000 deciduous container trees in 15-gallon containers each year. The company also grows a wide array of shrubs in 3-gallon and 7-gallon containers. They ship their plant material on their own trailers for delivery into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.

Chuck Captain, of Stadler Nurseries in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC, appreciates that Shreckhise has their own trucks which gives them more flexibility about supplying what customers want, when they want it and in the quantities they need. “They offer a good garden center mix with a lot of red and yellow plants that pop,” Captain says. “I always joke with Danny that if I wanted to get into the nursery business, I’d buy them out. Not many companies are so organized and so clean.”

Danny has been involved in agriculture his entire life. He grew up on a dairy farm, and along with running the nursery and a related landscaping business, his family also managed a beef herd and manufactured wooden chicken coops. When Danny and his generation took over the business in 1977, he focused it on nursery wholesaling and soon potted the first basket-grown trees. Today, nearly all plants at Shreckhise are grown in containers.

Danny has been active in the industry, serving on the board of the Virginia Agribusiness Council and as its chair in 2014, and also on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show. Matt too has been active in the industry, with service on the board of the Shenandoah Valley Nursery & Greenhouse Association, the Southern Nursery Association and on the Virginia Tech Department of Horticulture Advisory Board. Both Danny and Matt served terms as president of the Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association.

Matt knew he wanted to work in the family business since he was a kid, but his dad Danny insisted that he spend some time away exploring other things so that Matt could make an informed decision about his career. After earning a business degree at Virginia Tech, Matt did a stint in sales management in Washington DC. Then, just as he’d planned, he returned to the nursery.

Plants staged for loading and delivery

“How could I do anything else? I love everything about this business, from the chance to help make our communities more healthy and more beautiful to the friendships with customers and colleagues,” Matt explains.

As the company continues its tradition of family leadership, so it also continues to innovate. To help its customers in garden centers and landscapers meet the demands of a changing market, Shreckhise has recently developed its first new plant variety, Emerald Squeeze.

Limelight Hydrangeas in Bloom

The Emerald Squeeze™ Arborvitae is a more compact version of the popular Emerald Green variety. Growing to a mature height of around eight feet and a width of about four feet, it’s a perfect choice for smaller gardens and hedge spaces. It has excellent foliage color and a dense habit that favors a single leader, resulting in a tidy looking plant. Although compact, this variety does not take longer to finish in production.

“We’re excited to work with Star Roses and Plants to introduce this new cultivar to the industry, and we believe it has the potential to be a household name because of its many desirable attributes,” Matt explains.

In an industry where staffing is always an issue, Matt attributes much of the company’s success to the hard work and dedication of long-term employees.

RedPointe Maples in the fall

“Brothers Bobby, Jimmy and Donald Shifflett along with Sam Johnson have served nearly 40 years,” Matt explains. “Also, our office manager Teresa Bergey has been with us for 27 years. She’s basically our CFO but she’s also the one who answers the office phone so she’s really the voice of our business, if you will. Almost three years ago we hired Trey Jarrels as our grower and production manager and he immediately fit in. We are excited about his future with our company.”

After four generations of family running the business, the fifth generation could be rising. When visiting his grandfather Danny, Matt’s son Mason made an unusual observation for a ten-yearold: “Wow Papa, your hard work has really paid off. Your yard looks awesome!”

Even the youngest generation clearly has a discerning eye for gardening.

And that could be a signal that Shreckhise Nurseries will be producing trees and shrubs while branching out with innovations for the next 130 years. After all, growing just seems to be in their limbs. •