Sharing Employees: Getting through Busy Times with Borrowed Labor
Why does Arbor Valley borrow employees from other organizations?
We have been in the industry for almost 40 years and have been working with partners...
Ideas from the California Trials for 2020 Plant Ordering
The annual California Spring Trials (CAST) happens each spring, when plant and seed buyers visit several sites up and down the Pacific coast. Each...
How to Avoid Employee Burnout
Not only do green industry employees have to work an all-hands-on-deck schedule each spring, but in recent years, the work keeps on coming right...
The New Normal: Year-Round Work Rather than Seasonal
Growers on both coasts have always worked on a year-round basis, while their Midwest and Rocky Mountain colleagues had more seasonal fluctuations with labor....
The Growing Popularity of Container Trees
Container trees are a convenient product with many benefits such as diversifying and helping address inventory challenges. As long as container trees are grown...
The Challenge of Ordering Next Year’s Inventory
With 70,000 square feet of display area, Echter’s Nursery & Garden Center has a lot of space to fill. Each year, Echter’s staff makes...
Production Planning for Bust & Boom Cycles
Are surpluses and shortages inevitable during economic swings?
As tree customers know all too well, the slowdown in production during the last recession resulted in...
Fall is for Fun
In its 38th year of business, Jared’s Nursery has customers who are the third generation in their families to come through the garden center...
The Art & Science of Seed Ordering
Having a crystal ball to forecast how many seeds you need to produce enough plants to satisfy customer demand would be nice. Instead, successful...
Preparation & Response to Natural Disasters
In September 2017, the nation watched as Hurricane Irma hurtled toward the Florida coast with Category 5 intensity. Most importantly, people were concerned about...
