Growing Life S p r i n g
e d i t i o n
Meet Antonio Rico: From Field to IT Guru Spring Tips and Summer Prep Spring’s Late Start
Check out one of our all-time favorite plants
Stacy’s Trials Garden
Spring 2 013
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Growing Life Y o u r
R e s o u r c e
Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s
Spring’s Late Start Spring has sprung… a few weeks late for most of the country. Spring Tips What should you be doing in the garden now? Meet Antonio Rico From field labor to IT guru Antonio has climbed the ladder within Stacy’s. Clematis, an old favorite Growing tips for success with this beautiful, hardy plant. Stacy’s Trials Garden Get the scoop on what’s hot in trials!
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S p r i n g ’ S V e ry l at e
Spring is a busy time of year for any greenhouse. Orders come in and it is our job to get them processed, the product picked and loaded, have everything routed and on the road. However, this year spring came a little late to the party. "With the cold and rainy March and early April, spring shipping and selling season was delayed like never before in the south. Friday, April 5 the weather broke and demand went from 0-100mph. Consumers are hungry for color, variety and quantity! We are having to learn on the fly how to compress what was already a difficult 13 week peak season into 7-8 weeks, so we can take advantage of the high velocity and demand,’ said Tim Brindley, company president.
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a r r i Va l . . . Stacy’s Facts •There are over 750,000 labor hours used annually at Stacy’s. •Over 16,000,000 pots shipped each year from Stacy’s. •We have over 100 tractor trailers delivering product. •Our trucks drive over 3.5 million miles per year. •Over 18,000,000 young plants are produced per year at Stacy’s. •Stacy’s has over 6,500,000 square feet of outdoor growing space. •We have over 1,000,000 square feet of greenhouse growing space.
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Spring Gardening Mulch keeps moisture in, so consider using it this year to save time and water. Lightly mulch perennials and shrubs. Mature trees, climbers and roses benefit from mulch, too. If you had a pest or disease problem last season, remove any remaining mulch to prevent re-infestation and start fresh. If you live in a harsher climate and are unable to start spring planting, start a container garden. Container gardens are fun to create and add a nice touch to any porch or patio. They can easily be brought inside, too, when night temperatures are too low. Remember the three keys to a good container garden: use a thriller, a spiller and a filler. Check out Eddie creating a beautiful container here. Repot houseplants that have outgrown their current pots. Spring is a good time to remove the topsoil and replace it with compost for an What to Do extra “oomph.� Compost is good to add to any Spring has arrived and we are ready to get newly potted or planted plant. You can move out in the garden to plant and sow our hearts potted tropical plants outside when night temout. Frost dates determine when you can peratures are 50 degrees or higher. start planting outside. In milder climates everything can usually be moved outside by Early spring is a good time to plan and start the end of April. That means any warmprojects around the garden. For example, build season vegetables you may have started in an entry trellis that frames a walkway. Grow March or the beginning of April can be climbing roses on it and impress your family moved to an outside garden. Direct sow oth- and friends. You can build a trellis for creepers er crops at the end of April when temperaor climbers. Clematis plants add a nice touch tures are warm enough. Be prepared to cov- to any garden and do well with a trellis. Do er anything you plant in the case of a cold you get a lot of foot traffic to the garden? snap. Spring may be here but we are all too Think about creating a garden path. familiar with the sudden change in weather to risk our newly planted beauties. Page 6
Trends 2013 Some of you may have heard that Pantone announced Emerald as the color of the year. This makes it easy for nurseries and garden centers, our plants are green! But seriously, how will this reflect in the plant world? Not much, according to some of those in the industry. Green is already a given, so we researched what color blooms will be trending for the year. Blue, lavender, yellow and pink seem to be favored, in that order. Metallic planters are predicted to trend, too, in gold, silver, and bronze. Container vegetable gardens and vertical gardens made a hit last season and are predicted to become even more popular. Space is a precious commodity and both ways of gardening offer a solution to those of us with limited space. In that same thread, sustainability will continue to be important to gardeners. People have become more interested in growing food for themselves as an effort to help the environment and know where their food is coming from. You may also see more houseplants. Houseplants are associated with being healthy because they clean the air of certain chemicals and toxins. One interesting forecasted trend is the use of technology in terms of application software (apps for phones, tablets, iPads, etc.). Gardeners are reaching for their phones to discover more about a specific plant, more about planting times and more about identifications. Several favorites are Landscaper’s Companion, Garden ID, Garden Guide, and Grow Your Own.
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Antonio Rico
From
Twelve years ago Antonio Rico left his home in Mexico City after hearing about possible work with a greenhouse. He was hired as a field laborer but worked in the field for one month before transferring to the shipping department. Once a part of shipping Antonio began creating routes and doing whatever paperwork was required. Routing involves getting orders organized on paper so everyone involved in shipping knows what will go on each truck and when product needs to be picked from the farm to go on the truck. Antonio’s most recent progression occurred last year when he was transferred to Stacy’s information technology department (IT). The CIO at Stacy’s saw potential in Antonio and put him to work. Antonio is now an IT hardware specialist for Stacy’s. He deals with whatever issues that arise on a day to day basis. He is a part of the support team that responds to employees’ email requests. Everyday provides new challenges for Antonio, but he enjoys his work and the opportunity to learn more. He has learned a lot from his coworkers, people he describes as, “Very helpful. They are good guys.” Antonio is married with three kids. He and his wife met in Mexico and have been married eight years. His children are aged seven, four, and two. When not solving an IT crisis Antonio loves to spend time with his family. He also has a grounds maintenance business that he enjoys.
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F i e l d t o I T D e p t.
IT at Stacy’s
There are 6 fulltime employees and one part-time employee working in the IT department.
Responsibilities range from network support (hardware: computers and phones) to software programmers to analysts.
Stacy’s recently implemented a new ERP system. Scot Cloward, CIO at Stacy’s, explains the new system as a way to condense what was nearly 10 systems into one. The idea is that the new system will not only cut costs, but allow a more efficient way for employees to work together within the same system.
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Clematis, an all-time favorite Clematis is a floriferous hardy vine that can withstand hot summers and cold winters and come back stronger each year. With the popularity of living walls, container gardening, small-space gardening and GenY gardening, Clematis has become a multi-use plant that offers lots of great color for long periods of time. Care Clematis plants require several hours of sunlight daily (although some varieties are now made to live in shade). It is very important to keep the roots cool, so plant the crown in shade if possible. Mulching will assist in keeping soil moist and cool. Be careful not to apply mulch too close to the crown of the plant. When planting a Clematis dig a generous hole and add compost to the soil. Water Clematis plants deeply and regularly. The most difficult part about growing Clematis is knowing when to prune. There are three groups of Clematis that have varying pruning requirements. Group one blooms early spring. Pruning is
only required to remove weak or dead stems. Group two blooms twice, once in early spring on last year’s growth and again mid-season on new year’s growth. Lightly prune this group for shape. Group three blooms mid-to-late season on new growth so it is necessary to prune back to a pair of strong looking buds every spring. Do you have Clematis in your garden? Tell us, or even show us your varieties: sfirth@stacysgreenhouses.com
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Other Spring Favorites Lithodora ‘Grace Ward’ Phlox Divaricata ‘Blue Moon’ Geum ‘Mrs. Bradshaw’ Iberis ‘Candytuft’ Geum ‘Cookie’ Erysium ‘Poem Series’ Aquilegia ‘Spring Magic & Winky Series' Hosta Heuchera Salvia ‘May Night’ Calla Lily Asiatic Lily Knock Out Roses Hardy Violas Poppy Sagina Subulata ‘Aurea’ Moss Scabiosa Sedum Angelina Ivy
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T r i a l s a t S ta c y ’ s
Testing new plant varieties is an important part of our customer-focused philosophy here at Stacy’s. We go the extra mile to identify which plants provide the most beauty and perform best in the garden. Data is collected for pest and disease resistance, length of bloom time and bloom period, plant size and winter hardiness. We start by working with the top plant breeders in North America and around the world to identify exciting new perennials, roses, flowering shrubs, lilies, pansies, mums and ground covers of all kinds. Every year we examine hundreds of new varieties. Our trial gardens in York and Pendleton, SC, are the proving grounds. They are maintained year round to simulate the actual gardening experience. Garden tours are scheduled periodically for local garden clubs, schools and other interest groups. We invite feedback and take note of our visitors’ plant preferences. After all, there is no better data than the reaction of real gardening enthusiasts. A new section of the trials garden was added the previous summer called the “Idea Center.” In the Idea Center we experiment with landscaping, garden design (in ground and in pot) and other garden trends. Amber Blackwood, trials manager, believes trials is vital in order to know the consumers receive the best of the best, “Trialing is to ensure that only the best varieties make it to the store. The customers deserve to know the plants they are bringing home can perform.” Stacy’s trial program currently involves over 800 varieties potted and in a garden.
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