Quality control

Photos courtesy of Bylands

Just west of the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Bylands Nurseries, Ltd. is a wholesale supply nursery located in Kelowna, B.C. Bylands grows on more than 500 acres and ships plants throughout North America. Bylands offers a complete mix of trees, shrubs, evergreens, vines, perennials, edible plants and indoor offerings like succulents and cactus. The nursery also sells bareroot trees and fruit trees for the commercial fruit industry.

The company is more than 60 years old, and remains family owned and operated to this day. Mike Byland, third-generation nurseryman at Byland’s Nursery is the vice president and general manager.

Mike Byland came back to the family business 16 years ago. Working with brands is a big part of what Bylands does, and Proven Winners ColorChoice shrubs has been an excellent partnership.

“The new and improved genetics are fantastic,” he says. “A lot of our customers are always looking for new and improved, and PW has delivered that consistently.”

Byland believes it’s a smart move for any grower to leverage the work the Proven Winners marketing team has done to elevate the brand in the eyes of the consumer.

“I think the marketing behind the brand is massive,” he says. “It’s a great opportunity for growers like ourselves to leverage that marketing power that they’ve invested in and created.”

Byland says 70% of the company’s sales are going to chilly regions. That’s why he focuses on hardiness when picking plants to add to his production schedule.

“For us, most of our product is going into really cold-hardy climates like Zone 3, Zone 4, so we’ve historically focused on the hardy genetics,” he says. “A lot of the paniculata varieties of hydrangea have been huge for us. Hydrangea paniculata are probably our number one shrub now,” he says. “And PW ColorChoice shrubs are really a big part of that. The roses have actually been really, really strong as well. The Oso Easy collection of roses has been really great.”

Byland is currently growing his first crop of Proven Winners ColorChoice’s newest rose collection, Reminiscent roses. They are doing well so far, he says. The collection consists of three new roses that came from the Pheno Geno breeding program in Serbia. Inspired by the Old English and traditional French styles, all are hardy in USDA 4-9 and have an upright habit suitable for either a specimen planting or a low hedge. The three options in the Reminiscent collection, Coral, Crema and Pink.

“There’s a high quality standard both at their retail and wholesale level for Proven Winners shrubs, and that helps protect everybody’s profitability,” Byland says. “They do a really good job of upholding the brand standards and holding their growers accountable. And I think that that helps all of us that are growing their plants.”

For more: bylands.com