Dare to be different

Whatever you do, don’t tell Sandy Stein, “You can’t do that.” The owner of The Jungle Nursery in Homestead, Fla., has witnessed the peaks and valleys of the nursery business due in part to a devastating hurricane and a disturbing recession. But he remains eternally hopeful.

“I can’t tell if that’s a good or a bad trait,” he admits.

But with the help of Robin, his wife and business partner, the two have tweaked and transformed their business into a surviving and thriving nursery. That’s no easy feat in a state that was one of the hardest-hit markets for the nursery industry.

“We have done so much to become a lean, mean, fighting machine that I’m really excited about the years to come,” he said. “Every single item we take on now must bring a reasonable margin or we’re not interested.”

One of The Jungle Nursery’s specialties is Elaeocarpus decipiens, Japanese blueberry. He sells truckloads of them to local landscape contractors and ships them as far west as Las Vegas to independent garden centers.

“It’s been a very important plant for us for about five years now,” he said. “I’m one of the few nurseries that grows this plant well and for a profit.”

Japanese blueberry is an evergreen that can be grown in a tree or shrub form. The Jungle Nursery grows them as shrubs or in columnar forms. New flushes of growth emerge in shades of bronze, peppering the rest of the glossy-green foliage, and mature leaves turn bright red.

“It’s a beautiful landscape plant, and is being planted in some high-end landscape projects here in Florida,” he said.

It was serendipity that brought the successful specimen to his production schedule. One of his customers out west could not source enough Japanese blueberry in California, so Stein brokered the plants for a couple of years. Once he started growing them, he was shipping them to Texas, Louisiana, Arizona and Nevada. Stein has found success with a plant that’s typically grown in California and Texas. He didn’t listen to the naysayers who thought he was nuts to add the shrub to his product mix.

“Staying safe is boring,” he said.

Industry insiders may also do a double-take in disbelief when they see row after row of rosemary at Stein’s nursery. The Jungle Nursery grows open type and cone-shaped rosemary for spring and Christmas sales. It’s a crop that doesn’t like heat and humidity, so it was a bold choice for Stein.

“It’s definitely a unique product for us,” he said. “It’s not easy to grow in this climate. But we’ve experimented with production techniques to get it right.”

The rosemary is a high-margin product sold primarily to grocery chains. Stein packages it in a clear sleeve with colored tops and handles. And he’s competing head to head with California rosemary growers.

“We can grow it better, and our customers are able to source it from a local nursery,” he said.

Survive the storms
Since the recession hit, Stein has cut his total annual operating expenses (not including debt services) by nearly $500,000. Stein’s every business move is mapped out in Excel spreadsheets.

“Every move I make in spending revolves around how it affects my cash-flow projections,” he said. “I can’t sleep at night unless I know where I stand financially.”

He tracks spending and cash flow every day. Spreadsheets are adjusted according to walk-in sales, customers who have paid faster or slower than anticipated, or from bills Stein has paid earlier than originally scheduled. His constant Excel habit is a product of the recession, something borne of “pure business survival,” he said.

Stein also released his “bad players” and now has a roster of “excellent customers” – ones who pay. Fortunately, the nursery has more product contracted for sales now than at any point in the past, Stein said. This survival mode, though often painful, has paid off. Stein’s next big goal is to eliminate the bulk of the company’s debt.

“I can feel my resistance to change, having gotten somewhat gun shy after what has happened to us through this economy. But I embrace change, as well. Either I embrace change or I will be run over by change,” he said. “In this case, that means going out of business. But I love the nursery business and I love the nursery industry. I am here to stay.”

And Stein knows what it’s like to leave the industry. His first nursery was totally wiped out by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Instead of rebuilding, he enrolled in the University of Miami and received a Master of Science in Education for mental health counseling. He practiced in the Homestead area for two years when one day, he walked into a local nursery.

“The smells and sights brought me to tears,” he said. “Being a nurseryman was in my blood, and I had to come back.”

Besides operating The Jungle Nursery, Stein still keeps a small private psychotherapy practice. Being a therapist makes his nursery an interesting and productive place to work.

“I guess my employees may get the feeling they don’t have a ‘normal’ boss,” he joked.

But it does come in handy when dealing with employees and customers.

“This is not a top-down business. I want my employees to come to me and talk about anything,” he said. “So many of our practices were inventions of my employees, including a particular way to load trucks.”

Wearing his therapist hat allows him to confront his weaknesses and his strengths, he said.

“I don’t have a problem reaching out to others who are strong where I am weak,” he said. “I’m also an active listener, which really helps when I’m dealing with customers.”

Stein also is a graduate of the Wedgworth Leadership Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources. It’s a University of Florida endowed leadership program that trains future leaders in agriculture.

“I was the oldest person in the class when I went through, but outside of my family, this was the greatest experience of my life,” he said.

For more: www.junglenursery.com

Photos: Dan Bock