CNGA Looseleaf Oct/Nov 2018

6 colorad o nga.org LooseLeaf October/November 2018 MEMBER PROFILE This year celebrates your 70th anniversary— how did it all begin? Our roots go back to 1948, when Alex and Esther Gerace built their first glass greenhouse. As a farming family, they focused on vegetables and the greenhouse enabled them to get an earlier start on the plants, which they sold at the Denargo Market in downtown Denver. In 1955, they started growing geraniums, which were instantly popular at the market and would lead to many other flowers. In the ‘60s, we underwent our first major expansion with a 21,000 square-foot wood and poly structure, and in 1967, our name officially became Welby Gardens. In the ‘90s, we added 23 acres of land to the main facility and purchased the Washington Street facility. In 1993, we donated and planted 20,000 flowers for Pope John Paul’s visit to St. Malo’s. Our most recent expansion was in 2003, with the purchase of the WestWoods facility in Arvada and that year we began our Hardystarts division. Today, we have more than one million square feet of growing space. What markets do you serve? The primary markets we serve are independent garden centers and landscape contractors. We also sell to towns, municipalities and various nonprofit organizations. About half of this business is in Colorado and the other half goes to surrounding states. Our Hardystarts are sold throughout the U.S. and to international customers as well. What’s special about Welby Gardens? One thing that makes us unique is our focus on independent garden centers and providing them with a large selection of today’s most popular plants. We support our industry through involvement with many horticultural organizations and the Colorado Department of Agriculture. We believe it is important to be leaders, and as a result, we’ve received numerous awards and recognition at national and regional levels. How are you addressing the labor shortage? Labor is our biggest operational challenge. Even though we couldn’t hire to the capacity we wanted this year, we’ve made adjustments wherever we can to stay on track with our production goals. We’re always looking for efficiencies and we’re not afraid to do things differently to make up for fewer workers. As examples, we’ve incorporated automation with a transplanting machine, we’ve switched to mobile devices for entering plant counts, and we’ve tapped into several refugee programs where we’ve found some very good seasonal employees. What changes are helping your success? Since customer interest in organic vegetables remains strong, we have expanded our organic line to meet the demand. We’re saving time for us and our customers with our online ordering system, and we’re providing more accurate shipping information by using GPS tracking software. Plus, we’re growing greater numbers of ready-made containers to meet the demand for instant color and more mature plantings. What role does CNGA play? It’s a valuable networking resource that keeps us connected with the industry and our customers. We stay educated through various CNGA programs and up to date with critical issues such as the Japanese beetle quarantines. I think a very important role for CNGA that can help us and other members in a big way is to push hard for immigration policies that enable us to have a reliable source of seasonal workers. Welby Gardens 2761 E. 74th Ave. Denver, Colo. 80229 303.288.3398 hardyboyplant.com Supplying a Large Selection of the Most Popular Plants Interview with Debi Borden-Miller, CGG, Sales With 23-plus acres of growing space, Welby Gardens is one of the region's largest wholesale suppliers. Left to right: Al Gerace, Mark Gerace, Marty Gerace, John Gerace, Dan Gerace and Nick Gerace Alex and Esther Gerace