Growing Life

S p r i n g e d i t i o n

S p r i n g

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Meet Antonio Rico:

From Field to IT

Guru

Spring Tips and

Summer Prep

Check out one of our

all-time favorite

plants

Spring’s Late

Start

Stacy’s Trials

Garden

W W W . S T A C Y S G R E E N H O U S E S . C O M

Growing Life

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Y o u r R e s o u r c e

Spring’s Late Start

Spring has sprung… a few weeks late for most

of the country.

Spring Tips What should you be doing in the garden now?

Meet Antonio Rico From field labor to IT guru Antonio has climbed

the ladder within Stacy’s.

Clematis, an old favorite Growing tips for success with this beautiful,

hardy plant.

Stacy’s Trials Garden Get the scoop on what’s hot in trials!

T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s

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Spring is a busy time of year for any greenhouse. Orders come in and it is our

job to get them processed, the product picked and loaded, have everything routed

and on the road. However, this year spring came a little late to the party.

"With the cold and rainy March and early April, spring shipping and selling

season was delayed like never before in the south. Friday, April 5 the weather

broke and demand went from 0-100mph. Consumers are hungry for color, variety

and quantity! We are having to learn on the fly how to compress what was

already a difficult 13 week peak season into 7-8 weeks, so we can take

advantage of the high velocity and demand,’ said Tim Brindley, company

president.

Spring’S Very late arriVal . . .

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Spring’S Very late arriVal . . .

Stacy’s Facts

•There are over 750,000 labor hours used annually at

Stacy’s.

•Over 16,000,000 pots shipped each year from Stacy’s.

•We have over 100 tractor trailers delivering product.

•Our trucks drive over 3.5 million miles per year.

•Over 18,000,000 young plants are produced per year at

Stacy’s.

•Stacy’s has over 6,500,000 square feet of outdoor growing

space.

•We have over 1,000,000 square feet of greenhouse

growing space.

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Spring Gardening

What to Do

Spring has arrived and we are ready to get

out in the garden to plant and sow our hearts

out. Frost dates determine when you can

start planting outside. In milder climates

everything can usually be moved outside by

the end of April. That means any warm-

season vegetables you may have started in

March or the beginning of April can be

moved to an outside garden. Direct sow oth-

er crops at the end of April when tempera-

tures are warm enough. Be prepared to cov-

er anything you plant in the case of a cold

snap. Spring may be here but we are all too

familiar with the sudden change in weather

to risk our newly planted beauties.

Mulch keeps moisture in, so consider using it

this year to save time and water. Lightly mulch

perennials and shrubs. Mature trees, climbers

and roses benefit from mulch, too. If you had a

pest or disease problem last season, remove

any remaining mulch to prevent re-infestation

and start fresh.

If you live in a harsher climate and are unable

to start spring planting, start a container gar-

den. Container gardens are fun to create and

add a nice touch to any porch or patio. They

can easily be brought inside, too, when night

temperatures are too low. Remember the three

keys to a good container garden: use a thriller,

a spiller and a filler. Check out Eddie creating

a beautiful container here.

Repot houseplants that have outgrown their

current pots. Spring is a good time to remove

the topsoil and replace it with compost for an

extra “oomph.” Compost is good to add to any

newly potted or planted plant. You can move

potted tropical plants outside when night tem-

peratures are 50 degrees or higher.

Early spring is a good time to plan and start

projects around the garden. For example, build

an entry trellis that frames a walkway. Grow

climbing roses on it and impress your family

and friends. You can build a trellis for creepers

or climbers. Clematis plants add a nice touch

to any garden and do well with a trellis. Do

you get a lot of foot traffic to the garden?

Think about creating a garden path.

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Trends 2013

Some of you may have heard that Pantone announced Emerald as the color of the

year. This makes it easy for nurseries and garden centers, our plants are green!

But seriously, how will this reflect in the plant world? Not much, according to

some of those in the industry. Green is already a given, so we researched what

color blooms will be trending for the year. Blue, lavender, yellow and pink seem

to be favored, in that order. Metallic planters are predicted to trend, too, in gold,

silver, and bronze.

Container vegetable gardens and vertical gardens made a hit last season and are

predicted to become even more popular. Space is a precious commodity and both

ways of gardening offer a solution to those of us with limited space. In that same

thread, sustainability will continue to be important to gardeners. People have be-

come more interested in growing food for themselves as an effort to help the en-

vironment and know where their food is coming from. You may also see more

houseplants. Houseplants are associated with being healthy because they clean

the air of certain chemicals and toxins.

One interesting forecasted trend is the use of technology in terms of application

software (apps for phones, tablets, iPads, etc.). Gardeners are reaching for their

phones to discover more about a specific plant, more about planting times and

more about identifications. Several favorites are Landscaper’s Companion, Gar-

den ID, Garden Guide, and Grow Your Own.

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Twelve years ago Antonio

Rico left his home in Mexico

City after hearing about

possible work with a

greenhouse. He was hired as a

field laborer but worked in the

field for one month before

transferring to the shipping

department. Once a part of

shipping Antonio began

creating routes and doing

whatever paperwork was

required. Routing involves

getting orders organized on

paper so everyone involved in

shipping knows what will go on

each truck and when product needs

to be picked from the farm to go on

the truck. Antonio’s most recent

progression occurred last year when he was transferred to Stacy’s information technology

department (IT). The CIO at Stacy’s saw potential in Antonio and put him to work.

Antonio is now an IT hardware specialist for Stacy’s. He deals with whatever issues that arise

on a day to day basis. He is a part of the support team that responds to employees’ email

requests. Everyday provides new challenges for Antonio, but he enjoys his work and the

opportunity to learn more. He has learned a lot from his coworkers, people he describes as,

“Very helpful. They are good guys.”

Antonio is married with three kids. He and his wife met in Mexico and have been married

eight years. His children are aged seven, four, and two. When not solving an IT crisis Antonio

loves to spend time with his family. He also has a grounds maintenance business that he

enjoys.

Antonio Rico F r o m F i e l d t o I T D e p t.

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Antonio Rico F r o m F i e l d t o I T D e p t.

IT at Stacy’s

There are 6 fulltime employees and one part-time employee working

in the IT department.

Responsibilities range from network support (hardware: computers

and phones) to software programmers to analysts.

Stacy’s recently implemented a new ERP system. Scot Cloward,

CIO at Stacy’s, explains the new system as a way to condense what

was nearly 10 systems into one. The idea is that the new system will

not only cut costs, but allow a more efficient way for employees to

work together within the same system.

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Clematis, an all-time

favorite

Clematis is a floriferous hardy vine that can with-

stand hot summers and cold winters and come

back stronger each year. With the popularity of

living walls, container gardening, small-space

gardening and GenY gardening, Clematis has be-

come a multi-use plant that offers lots of great

color for long periods of time.

Care Clematis plants require several hours of sunlight

daily (although some varieties are now made to

live in shade). It is very important to keep the

roots cool, so plant the crown in shade if possible.

Mulching will assist in keeping soil moist and

cool. Be careful not to apply mulch too close to

the crown of the plant. When planting a Clematis

dig a generous hole and add compost to the soil.

Water Clematis plants deeply and regularly.

The most difficult part about growing Clematis is

knowing when to prune. There are three groups

of Clematis that have varying pruning require-

ments. Group one blooms early spring. Pruning is

only required to remove weak or dead stems.

Group two blooms twice, once in early spring

on last year’s growth and again mid-season

on new year’s growth. Lightly prune this

group for shape. Group three

blooms mid-to-late season on

new growth so it is necessary to

prune back to a pair of strong

looking buds every spring.

Do you have Clematis in your

garden? Tell us, or even show

us your varieties:

sfirth@stacysgreenhouses.com

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Other Spring Favorites

Lithodora ‘Grace Ward’

Phlox Divaricata ‘Blue Moon’

Geum ‘Mrs. Bradshaw’

Iberis ‘Candytuft’

Geum ‘Cookie’

Erysium ‘Poem Series’

Aquilegia ‘Spring Magic & Winky Series'

Hosta

Heuchera

Salvia ‘May Night’

Calla Lily

Asiatic Lily

Knock Out Roses

Hardy Violas

Poppy

Sagina Subulata ‘Aurea’ Moss

Scabiosa

Sedum Angelina

Ivy

T r i a l s a t S ta c y ’ s

Testing new plant varieties is an important part of

our customer-focused philosophy here at Stacy’s.

We go the extra mile to identify which plants pro-

vide the most beauty and perform best in the gar-

den. Data is collected for pest and disease re-

sistance, length of bloom time and bloom period,

plant size and winter hardiness.

We start by working with the top plant breeders in

North America and around the world to identify exciting new perennials, roses, flow-

ering shrubs, lilies, pansies, mums and ground covers of all kinds. Every year we ex-

amine hundreds of new varieties.

Our trial gardens in York and Pendleton, SC, are the proving grounds. They are main-

tained year round to simulate the actual gardening experience. Garden tours are

scheduled periodically for local garden clubs, schools and other interest groups. We

invite feedback and take note of our visitors’ plant preferences. After all, there is no

better data than the reaction of real gardening enthusiasts.

A new section of the trials garden was added the previous summer called the “Idea

Center.” In the Idea Center we experiment with landscaping, garden design (in

ground and in pot) and other garden trends.

Amber Blackwood, trials manager, believes trials is vital in order to know the con-

sumers receive the best of the best, “Trialing is to ensure that only the best varieties

make it to the store. The customers deserve to know the plants they are bringing

home can perform.”

Stacy’s trial program currently in-

volves over 800 varieties potted and

in a garden.

W W W . S T A C Y S G R E E N H O U S E S . C O M