Deep-rooted connections

Bob Lyons, owner of Sunleaf Nursery in Madison, Ohio, is truly entrenched in the nursery market. He talks to peers, he listens to university types, he attends meetings, he speaks his mind.

In Hollywood terms, Lyons is an A-lister. But he’s not in it for the glory. He’s a genuine devotee of the industry. This erudite green industry leader is working for the entire army, not just one regiment.

“One of the main things that has helped me over the years is my involvement in local, state and national associations,” he said. “The people in this industry are tremendous. The people make this industry special.”

Lyons is active in his community, and in Lake County, which is home to more than 100 licensed nurseries. In 2000, he served as president of the Horticultural Research Institute, the research arm of the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA). He’s also served as director and president of the Wholesale Nursery Growers of America, the grower division of ANLA.

“The contacts and friends I’ve made in this industry are incredible. We can all learn from each other to better the industry,” he said.

Lyons encourages others at the nursery to get involved with industry organizations. “It’s important for their growth and it’s good for the nursery,” he said.

His wife, Carol, an integral part of the business operations, is president-elect of the Nursery Growers of Lake County Ohio. She also was the group’s executive director for 20 years. Jay Daley, the nursery’s general manager, is treasurer and president-elect of the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association.

Industry issues
Because Bob stays involved in nursery associations, he helps identify and sort out problems that are key to growers. Labor and specialty crop funding are two major causes he follows and fights for in the industry.

“Labor is the number one issue for growers,” he said. “Through ANLA, I’ve been working to get immigration reform and AgJobs passed. There’s a glimmer of hope that something will actually happen, and then something like this legislation in Arizona derails the whole thing. But the industry has to keep talking to legislators about labor.”

Sunleaf Nursery uses the H-2A agricultural temporary and seasonal guest worker program.

“It’s a challenging program. But 10-15 years ago, there were lots of labor raids going on in our county, so we adopted the program,” he said.

The passage of AgJobs would remove the hassles and challenges associated with the H2-A program, and allow growers to concentrate on production and other parts of their business, he said.

Acer rubrum ‘Katicole’ Summer Sensation is a new patented Sunleaf introduction.Besides talking to decision-makers about labor, Bob also talks money. Specialty crop funding is vital to the betterment of the nursery industry, he said. But specialty crops don’t get their fair share of money or research, he added.

Nurseries pump millions of dollars into the economy and support several other industries along the supply chain, “so it only makes sense that nursery crops get a good-sized piece of that funding,” he said.

The recent SBA tree planting bill is another cause he’s supporting. The bill, which aims to reauthorize the SBA National Tree Planting Program, would be an economic boon to the green industry.

“Any lawmaker saying they don’t want to pay for this bill is a cop-out. It provides sales and work for America’s small businesses, improves communities and promotes energy efficiency. It’s a no-brainer,” he said.


Legislation to production
Although Bob is often fighting battles for the industry, he’s first and foremost a nurseryman, and he works tirelessly to grow and introduce superior plants.

“We’re best known for our specialty items such as tree form hydrangeas and top-grafted Prunus,” he said. “We grow some ‘bread-and-butter’ trees like oaks and lindens, but the hard-to-find and underused plants are our specialty.”

Sunleaf’s latest patented introduction is Acer rubrum ‘Katicole’ Summer Sensation. It features vivid red new growth and a dark burgundy fall color.

Sunleaf Nursery was an early adopter of drip irrigation and fertigation.

“The drip and fertigation systems produce some really nice trees with fuller heads and better root systems,” he said.

Sunleaf Nursery grows B&B shade and flowering trees from 1½- to 4-inch caliper. The nursery sells to landscape contractors, rewholesalers, retail garden centers and municipalities. Sunleaf ships within a 600-mile radius of Cleveland.

A new economy
Nurseries have been forced to adapt for survival in this difficult economy. Bob and Carol have learned some important lessons during this Great Recession.

“The nursery industry has been through recessions before, but back then we had enough volume to make up for any discounts,” he said. “But now we’re in uncharted territory. To survive now you’ve got to have cash flow and enough units to sell. The challenge will be to figure out the market needs in terms of size, volume and product mix.”

Sunleaf continues to plant trees. “We started off this spring with some optimism – we had great weather in the Midwest,” he said.

The biggest lesson for Sunleaf and the industry has been doing more with less. “We’ve become more efficient and reduced capital expenditures,” he said.

Sunleaf is performing more maintenance on equipment instead of buying new and renting some equipment.

“We’ve also figured out that you don’t really need X amount of people on a digging crew and it can get done with Y amount,” he said.

Bob is optimistic about the future of the industry. “Growers who are more diversified are going to be really successful. Entrepreneurs and sole proprietors are pretty nimble.”

For more: www.sunleaf.com.