Personal Connections

Roger Fick, president of Wilson Nurseries in Hampshire, Ill., strikes me as an honorary patriarch of the nursery industry. He’s kind, respectful, perceptive and he’s proud of his family – the ones that share his name and others in his extended nursery family.


Roger Fick, president of Wilson Nurseries in Hampshire, Ill., strikes me as an honorary patriarch of the nursery industry. He’s kind, respectful, perceptive and he’s proud of his family – the ones that share his name and others in his extended nursery family. His gentle demeanor makes him approachable, and he’s quick to share experiences about business operations, production or life in general.

Couple his likability with business acumen. He’s learned from some of the best in the business and learned from his mistakes. That’s why Roger’s son Andy and daughter Jennifer call him their mentor.

“He has an incredible talent for growing plants as well as the business side of our company.”

Andy, who joined the nursery in 1985, and Jennifer, who joined in 1991, make up the second-generation in the business. And there are three third-generation employees in the ranks.

“Being a family business is a still a good thing,” Roger said. “It’s meaningful to the country. Because we’re a family-run company that started from the ground up, we appreciate and have a good understanding of all sizes of customers.”
 
The Ficks appreciate their loyal employees.
 
“We admire all of our employees, and we have a strong long-term relationship with many of them,” Andy said. “One of our senior inside sales people has been with us for 26 years. Many divisional managers have been with us for over 20 years.”
 
The Ficks fly a Mexican flag at their facility out of respect to their Hispanic employees.
 
“We greatly appreciate the valuable contributions of all of our field personnel, and they have shared their culture with us, which we have come to greatly enjoy,” Roger said. “This business is a mission work. It’s not about how to make the most money — it’s how to enrich people’s lives, both employees and customers.”

Roger has instilled his compassion for people in his employees.
 
“I tell our employees that it’s more than just an order, it’s creating a profit for someone to help feed their family or buy necessities. It’s not just business as usual,” Roger said.

Plants and products
Wilson Nurseries, which serves as a wholesale growing operation and a landscape distribution center, operates three locations: Hampshire, Volo and the newest location, Plainfield. Wilson propagates and finishes field- and container-grown nursery stock. Its sister company, Wilson Landscape Supply, provides a complete assortment of hardgoods and provisions to landscape contractors.
 
Wilson propagates almost all of its plant material. And plants are grown in heavy soils that match the soils of the surrounding area where they’ll be installed.
 
“We build an extra year or two into the production cycle of our containerized shrubs, as well as B&B material, so that we have a heavy root mass and a nice, dense top,” Roger said.
Shade-tree liners are planted by hand. This allows the tree to be planted at the correct depth so there’s 1-2 inches of soil over the main root flare.
 
“We’re thinking of the ultimate owner. Our plants are known for their livability,” Roger said. “It costs us more to initially plant them, but what we yield — the sizes, the uniformity and livability — make them superior.”

Production methods
Wilson uses drip irrigation in the field, on the containers and throughout the distribution yards.
 
The nursery uses an integrated pest management system based on the book “Coincide” by Don Orton.
 
“This helps us to attack the insects when they are at their most vulnerable stage. This allows us to use a smaller amount of chemicals because the success rate of our applications is very high,” Andy said.
 
The nursery couples mechanization with man-made and animal-powered labor. Two mules help with chores around the nursery, while potting machines and mechanized planters help speed up some processes.
 
“We believe in combining time-proven methods with newer technology,” Andy said.

Tiled-and-terraced fields
All of the nursery’s fields are tiled and terraced, which provides excellent erosion control. The system is designed to hold 4 inches of rain and release it slowly over a 24-hour period. Behind each terrace is a Higgenbottom, a horizontal pipe drilled with holes that helps regulate water outlet to the drain tiles. The tiles are varying sizes, based on the field’s topography.
 
Erosion control is essential from an environmental standpoint, but it also protects equipment from unnecessary wear and tear and it makes the blocks of stock almost 100 percent harvestable.
 
“This system yields a uniform block of plants, yields the largest percentage of plants for sale, allows you to maintain plants in the most economical way and harvest and load them to loading zones in the most efficient way,” Roger said.
 
There are costs and maintenance involved in operating a terrace-and-tile system. It costs about $100,000 per 100 acres, “but the flexibility and the amount of plants harvested is worth the cost,” Roger said.
 
“The terracing system allows flexibility in growing the product and managing the terrace, square blocks often don’t give you that flexibility,” Roger said. “We have about 10 different soil types out here, so we site the plants properly based on soil type.”
 
The terraces, which are also used for roads, are up to 2,200 feet long. Within each of those terraces, there could be two or more soil types.
 
The nursery won a soil conservation award in 1985 from Kane County for the system. It was a county soil conservationist who convinced Roger to install the system.

For more: Wilson Nurseries, (847) 683-3700; www.wilsonnurseries.com.

Read Next

Products

July 2009
Explore the July 2009 Issue

Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.