Partners in profit

Buxus ‘Green Mountain’Ingleside Plantation Nurseries in Oak Grove, Va., is vociferous about helping customers sell plants and increase turns, but the grower is more a behind-the-scenes champion for the industry. The grower collaborates with customers to find the best solution for generating profits, but you won’t see a point-of-purchase package with Ingleside plastered all over it or plants in a flashy-colored pot.

Instead, Ingleside creates simple, yet smart sales programs that benefit everyone throughout the green-industry supply chain.

“The independent garden center’s name is what’s out in the market, so we don’t promote an in-house brand,” said Danny Summers, director of sales at Ingleside. “Many IGCs are in brand overload, and what the end consumer really wants is a good value and a healthy plant. We tell our IGC customers ‘Your best brand is your own.’”
Ingleside’s primary focus has changed from producing larger plants for commercial landscapes to selling plants with higher perceived value for both landscapers and IGCs.

“To be successful, especially in this economy, the IGC must provide better value for the money, and growers must do the same,” Summers said.

Ingleside has boosted its 7-gallon tree program with expanded inventory and new varieties. The nursery offered this program as a “soft launch” to some customers this fall, but will be fully in place by spring 2011.

To help the IGC increase turns in trees and shrubs, Ingleside offers a small- or no-minimum order.

“This allows the IGC to order just what they need for a few weeks, then reorder,” Summers said.

(L-R) Fletch Flemer, president; John Hopkins, vice president; and Danny Summers, sales director at Ingleside, teach customers about building value in plants.Despite the shift in buying habits, there are still some markets where larger plant material is in demand.

“We sell a number of trees and shrubs in larger sizes that offer a great opportunity for IGCs to meet their customers’ special-order needs,” Summers said. Sizes are available from a 15-gallon up to a 65-gallon container.

This year, Ingleside implemented live availability and online ordering capabilities. Customers don’t need a password to view the live availabilities, but will need a username and password to view prices. The availability is based on counts from the previous evening. A quick search option and search filters make it easy to navigate, Summers said.

Production practices
Ingleside grows trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses in containers and in the field. Container plants range from 1 gallon up to 125 gallon, and field-grown material ranges from 10-inch plants up to 4-inch or more caliper trees. Growing some of the same product in the ground or in the container – and in several sizes – allows Ingleside to provide more just-in-time deliveries and serve the retail, rewholesale and landscape contractor markets. And Ingleside’s container production of evergreens, and flowering and shade trees in 7 gallons up to 100 gallons, makes plant material available for year-round installation.

“We started our pot-in-pot production nearly 10 years ago,” said Fletch Flemer, president of the nursery. “We were fortunate to have a great location near a river with sandy soil and good drainage, so we didn’t have to spend more on installing drain tiles.”

Ingleside Plantation Nurseries Location: Oak Grove, Va. Founded: Ingleside Plantation has been owned and operated as an agricultural enterprise since 1890 by the Flemer family. Carl Flemer Jr. started the wholesale nursery business in 1949. Carl serves as chairman of the board, and his son Fletch is president of the nursery. Carl’s other son, Doug, operates Ingleside Vineyards. Primary crops: Trees, shrubs and perennials. Production space: 1,800 acres dedicated to nursery production. Primary customer: Independent garden centers, landscape contractors and rewholesalers. Sales/shipping area: Mid-Atlantic, New England and Midwest. Employees: 100 full-time and 50 part-time.

Cover crops
With some 1,800 acres devoted to nursery production, Ingleside is able to plant multiple cover crops for at least one year, but in most cases, two years before planting the next nursery crop.

“Our nutrient management and soil conservation program is voluntary, but we do participate in the federal Conservation Reserve Program, so we have a certified management plan for the CRP,” Flemer said.

The nursery uses sorghum-sudan grass for summer cover crops and wheat, oats or rye for winter cover crops.

“Sorghum-sudan grows well in hot weather, and it has good top growth,” Flemer said. “We’ve tried chickpeas and alfalfa, but those crops don’t give you a lot of foliage to plow back into the soil.”

Ingleside won the 2008 Bay Friendly Clean Water Farms Award from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.  In 2005, Ingleside worked with the Tidewater Resource and Development Council (RC&D) in a Best Management Practices demonstration and grant, and shared the results in a field day for the nursery industry. Two sediment ponds were developed as part of the RC&D project. The water is used for irrigation and is captured and recycled through these ponds. 


For more: Ingleside Plantation Nurseries, www.inglesidenurseries.com.