SUCCESS STORY A family-owned business in Madison since 1985, Reseda Nursery and Stone Yard has blossomed into a beautiful success story

from Madison Living Magazine - April 2022

Out & About

those standards, exceeding them, initiating improvements or is insufficient.

No facet of a school district is overlooked. They look at curriculum offerings, special education programs, teachers, instructional resources, professional development, technology, safety, student test scores data, support services, budget and much, much more.

At the conclusion of their accreditation review of Madison City Schools, which was done March 7 through 9, the Cognia team shared some of their experience in an exit conference.

Four themes stood out: • Culture: A shared commitment among all stakeholder groups to excellence, diversity and high expectations is evident. • Data use: The system consistently utilizes data to drive decision-making. • Curriculum and instruction: Instructional practices include opportunities for all learners and are aligned to a relevant and challenging curriculum based on high expectations and best practices. • Long-range strategic planning: The system demonstrates effective long-range strategic planning to support its purpose and direction.

In the end, 179 stakeholders were interviewed. These include the superintendent, myself, board members, district administrators, principals, parents, teachers, community partners, and even students from our schools. The review team shared a list of words that were frequently used by stakeholders during the interviews. Those include family, awesome, excellent, innovative, dynamic, resilient, teamwork and diversity. The review team also shared quotes from some of the community stakeholder interviews: “Madison City Schools are the crown jewel of Madison,” “Innovation is what sets us apart,” and encouragement to “keep doing what you are doing with your students because they are very impressive.”

I could go on about what the accreditation review entailed but I will conclude with this: MCS really is a “crown jewel” that all of us can take pride in. And as one student aptly said, it’s also pretty “awesome.”

Highlights, Honors, and Awards

★ 37 National Merit Semifinalists ★ ★ 8 US Presidential Scholar

Candidates

★ ★ 1 US Presidential Scholar

Finalist

★ ★ A on all district and school state

report cards

★ ★ Ranked #2 district in the state

by Niche

★ ★ 68% of 6th-12th grade students

enrolled in one or more CTE classes

★ 92 National Board Certified

Teachers

★ ★ 3 Milken Award Winning Teachers ★ ★ 58% of 2021 graduates offered $45

million in scholarships, with $20 million accepted

★ ★ 69% of students taking AP scored a

3 or higher

★ ★ 18% of students taking the ACT

scored 30 or above

★ ★ 86 languages spoken in the district ★ ★ 12 First Class Pre-K Classrooms

RESEDA NURSERY

A family-owned business in Madison since 1985, Reseda Nursery and Stone Yard has “bloosomed” into a beautiful success story

Nathan, Mary Melissa and Joey Smith

SSpring has finally sprung and with it comes the budding desire to be outside enjoying the near perfect weather -- when we are not dodging the seasonal outbreak of severe weather in north Alabama, of course.

For the Smith family it is their busiest time of year. Since 1985, Joey and his wife Mary Melissa have helped make this area of the world a little more beautiful through their family-owned business, Reseda Nursery on Hwy 72 in west Madison. Situated on nearly 30 acres, the nursery has over 120,000 sq. ft. of greenhouses.

“We started out in wholesale, providing plants to businesses from Nashville to Atlanta, Birmingham to Montgomery, but now we are mostly retail,” Mary Melissa said. In fact, if you have ever admired their landscaped beauty at Bridge Street Town Center or in frontage area of most of the neighborhoods in Madison, especially along County Line Road, you are likely viewing plants that got their start at Reseda.

“We grow about a million plants each year,” said the couple’s son, Nathan, who is the retail sales manager.

“Nathan has been a tremendous help. It has been a real asset to have someone in the family that is interested in the business,” said Mary Melissa, who takes care of the bookkeeping for the business. “We have enjoyed watching him mature over the years and learn a lot from his dad about the business.”

Joey started originally aspired to become a peanut farmer. Armed with his degree in Agriculture Economics from Auburn University, he says couldn’t come up with a good plan way for it to be profitable. Interest rates at the time for the equipment needed simply drove the cost up too much. Eventually, the Smiths found their niche after opening Reseda in November 1985 with four greenhouses. Soon, more greenhouses were needed.

“When we started, our business consisted of 90 percent commercial accounts and 10 percent retail,” Joey says. “That number has flip-flopped completely as North Alabama, Madison and the region have grown.”

As the business has evolved, so have the crops. Where Reseda Nursery once grew and sold mostly vegetable plants, they have now moved to annuals, perennials, ornamentals, ground covers, hanging baskets, shrubs and trees. They also carry a wide selection of pottery and metal art to compliment landscaping needs.

All annual, perennial, vegetable plants and hanging bas-

kets are grown in one of their production greenhouses from hybrid seed varieties and cuttings. This enables Reseda Nursery to offer only the highest vigor and best quality to their customers. They also grow several varieties of hosta, daylilies, ornamental grasses, groundcovers and flowering shrubs. In addition, they carry a wide variety of shrubs, trees and nursery stock all suitable for planting and thriving in our area.

“Because all of the plants are grown here, we know they will do well in our climate,” Nathan said. “There is no shipping shock. We will not sell you anything that is not hardy to this area, unless someone wants to special order something.”

Besides working with his parents, Nathan has also developed a passion for landscaping and in 2017, he opened his own business, Encore Landscapes. “We do custom installations, hardscapes, patios, outdoor kitchens and fireplaces,” he says. “We have five employees on our landscaping crew staff.” In addition, he started his own topsoil business to get the quality of dirt he needed.

While the pandemic had a negative impact for many businesses, Reseda has experienced an increase interest in plants, especially house plants. “Our busiest year ever was 2020,” Mary Melissa said. “Everyone decided it was time to plant a garden or work in their yard.” While some of their commercial accounts cancelled orders, their retail business thrived during that time. “We thank our community for buying inventory our commercial customers couldn’t take,” she added.

The pandemic, of course, brought new challenges. Like many other industries, the nursery business has also seen an increase in expenses, from the price of pots and trays to the greenhouse roof coverings. “It taught us a lot,” said Joey. “We adjusted where it was necessary in order to survive.”

Reseda has several long-time, dedicated employees -- a testament to the family atmosphere that exists there and a drive to provide customers quality plants and landscaping. “We want to continue to hire those kinds of people so we are able to expand, add more greenhouses and different plant varieties,” Nathan said, who will one day take the reins of the nursery and carry on the legacy his parents have built through Reseda.

“We have been very blessed,” Mary Melissa said.

The website for the nursery is www.resedanursery. com, but the best way to learn more about what they offer is simply to drop in and say hello to the Smiths and their knowledgeable staff at 29877 Hwy 72 west in Madison. You can also give them a call at 256-2324887. Nathan and the team at Reseda work on preparing new plants.