Q&A with Joe Barley and Jessica (Barley) Todd

Photo courtesy of Clear Ridge Nursery

Joe Barley and his wife Sharon founded the nursery in 1994. With his background in forestry, his dream was to grow native trees for conservation and reforestation. The nursery began with 20,000 seedlings. After many years of expanding, the nursery currently specializes in growing native trees, and his daughter Jessica Todd started a cut flowers division in 2016.

NM: What do you do as an owner of Clear Ridge Nursery?

JT: I manage the human resources and administrative side of the business. I do all the accounts payable, some of the accounts receivable and contracts. I do the paperwork and billing for the cut flower division and the IPM division, payroll and tax management. I work with my father, when it comes to any kind of purchasing and planning, but he really focuses on the growing side of the business. That is what his background is in; it’s what he went to school for. I went to school for business, so we make a good pair.

JB: I wear several hats, but probably the most important role is forecasting and doing the advance ordering for our liners. We focus on trees in the five-, seven- and 15-gallon size. I take care of the facilities and keep everything running. I still get out there every day and work on some big projects.

NM: What is your favorite part of your job?

JT: My favorite part of the job is the joy that I’m bringing to the customers. I love seeing how excited people get about plants. It makes all that hard work worth it. That goes along with the flower side too, not just the tree side, listening to the florists about how much they love the flowers and how it elevates their designs. It makes me want to keep doing it. Also, we have a really great team here, so I enjoy coming to work, and I think that makes it so much nicer too.

NM: What made you decide to start the cut flowers portion of the business?

JT: We have a booth at MANTS, and we’ve been there since the late 90s. Our booth is a few booths down from Netherland Bulb, and we just struck up a good relationship with one of the sales reps there. When we were at the show one year, I told him that I was engaged and he said ‘have you ever thought of growing your own flowers for your wedding?’ And I hadn’t. I didn’t really know anything about the cut flower industry, but he convinced me to try and grow dahlias. We bought a bunch of tubers from them, and we grew them for my wedding.

After a few years, we kept growing them, but it was more like a hobby. It got to the point where we had so many flowers that we had to figure something out. I thought we have to either make this into a profitable business or we need to just stop because it was way too much work as a hobby. So, I took a course that was given by Jenny Love of Love ‘n Fresh Flowers, and I really learned a lot about the cut flower industry. I decided that I was going to go full force and integrate it into our business plan. I started small by growing dahlias because we had already fine-tuned the technique of growing them. We put them in a container, and most growers put them in the ground and have to dig them up every year. Because we are a container nursery, that’s what we knew, and it’s been successful for us.

I started to fine tune the varieties that I grew and expanded by learning about the different flowers that were harder to ship and looked at more perennial varieties. That’s what I started integrating into our production for the cut flowers division. Our customers range between what you’d call the brick-and-mortar florists to event florists. It’s all wholesale.

NM: How did you get started in the horticulture industry?

JT: Well, my dad bought a nursery and made me work it (laughs). While in middle school, I remember working in the nursery every day after school with my siblings, and I just continually worked here. I started out as a laborer. Then in high school I learned more about the bookkeeping aspect. Then progressed into sales and into what I do now.

JB: At the age of 12, I used to go hunting with my dad at the eastern shore of Maryland. We didn’t stay together. We’d go off in different directions, and I just found myself at home there, just to be in the woods. That sort of led me into wanting to know more about trees which led me to forestry. I always had a desire to have my own business, and I’m not afraid of risk. My experience in forestry gave me the confidence and understanding that I could go out on my own. That’s what led me to where we are now.

For more: www.clearridgenursery.com