Reliable, easy-care plants with youth appeal

“Predictable quality” is Greenleaf Nursery’s tagline, which is why their partnership with Bloomin’ Easy brand of young plants is so natural, says J.D. Jones, sales manager of the Oklahoma Division. Servicing the entire country with three nursery locations, Greenleaf Nursery has been in business 75 years. The Oklahoma nursery has about 600 acres of container production and 1,000 acres of in-ground production with roughly 350 employees. Their customer base is very diversified, with them servicing independent garden centers and larger accounts.

For the past two years, Greenleaf Nursery has been growing and selling Van Belle Nursery’s Bloomin’ Easy brand of young plants. “We grow most of the plants in their line from start to finish. We'll get started in a product line by buying liners through Van Belle, and then we have a license to propagate ourselves. Once we get started on the product, it's sustainable from vegetative cuttings -- usually from beginning to end, which is what we want from a profitability standpoint. Greenleaf likes to be self-sustainable as much as possible and produce as much as we can internally. And then we focus mostly on the 2-gallon program,” explains Jones.

“They select plants that perform well, finish off in an expected timeframe, [which] works well with our production scheduling,” Jones adds. From a nursery standpoint their product performs really well — propagates easily, is easy to control, and fits well in containers. And from a consumer standpoint, their product is designed to fit small spaces. With the new modern gardener, they're solution based, which is really nice to be able to tag that information along as a sales pitch. When you're trying to solve X problem [you can say] ‘well here's this plant that does that, fits the space, fits the bloom time and it's easy to care for.”

Jones appreciates the selection process and the marketing associated with the Bloomin’ Easy brand.

“They don't have as deep of a line of product, but what they do have really works and is focused. So we're able to not get down in the mud with a bunch of varieties of the same species. And I think that helps with clarity on their marketing and firepower as well as being able to focus on the products that they have and present those to our customers instead of having to weed through a bunch of stuff. Everything they have is a good performer,” he explains.

The Panther ninebark, Thunderbolt box honeysuckle, Nightglow Diervilla splendens and all of the weigelas are in high demand with consumers. All the Bloomin’ Easy brand of plants offer reliable solutions for gardeners looking for easy-care plants for smaller spaces. As Jones said, it comes down to the fact that, “if it's a good plant, you can get it out there in front of people and it's going to be successful.”

For more:vanbelle.com; greenleafnursery.com