Blog, Lake County Nursery

Adapting to the “New Norm”

The year 2020 has truly been a roller coaster and we are not even at the halfway point!  The spring season was looking great! Our goals are hefty, plants are plentiful and the calls to customers are positive. Yes, CoVid19 became the headliner of news reports. States implemented ‘stay at home’ orders forcing businesses to close with no date of reopening. March has always been an “iffy” month; you could plow snow one day and mow the grass the next day!

In 2020 how have you adapted your business model?  How have your trusted vendors adapted?  Let us walk through a few ideas brought forth by customers that Lake County Nursery has implemented for everyone’s business of the good!

Racking

As Covid19 began to run our lives we are not the only industry having a hard time hiring employees. There is no one walking through the doors for jobs, no matter what the pay is.  People stayed at home and collect unemployment with larger payouts than companies could hire for.  As the phone rang many customers were asking for racked material.  They can unload and then worry about the inventory when they had time.

Terry Krooswyk from Krooswyk Materials Trucking and Excavating in Highland, Indiana took advantage of our first attempt to “rack/stack” material.  Terry stated “this was the best investment I could have done for my company.  I can unload material by myself, keep the trucking companies moving so they make money, and the product arrives unharmed!”

Are you interested in our racking service? Please call your Sales Representative to learn more ways we can save you time and aggravation.

 

Spaded Trees and Shrubs

Someone forgot to tell the plants we have ‘stay at home’ orders in place. The governors have shut down landscape installations, municipalities had budgets cut upwards of 30% and in Michigan, they cannot do anything. The plants stayed on stride with their cycles set by the light, temperature changes, and moon cycles.

By the time, many customers were ready to order the trees pushed to the point they are a hazard to dig. We learned to adapt our summer offerings. Lake County Nursery has increased our inventory over the past several years and plan to continue the expansion.  This has given us the opportunity to “spade” trees in the fields to offer throughout the summer months.  They can be dug safely for your planting needs.  We have a limited number available, please allow 1-2 weeks for your pickup or delivery.  Call for the current availability.

 

Field Grown Boxwood

Trying to find boxwood in any size and quantity can be frustrating for you and the suppliers.  Do you know how long it takes to grow a boxwood to a 24-36” size?  It can take upwards of 5-8 years! In those years there are multiple sprays to make sure we are free of the boxwood blight, trimming and shaping the plants along with fertilizing to name a few of the tedious tasks of growing a nice boxwood.

Lake County Nursery has committed many acres and several years for crop rotations of 30,000 boxwood (yes that is a lot of zero’s!) in the fields.  We have multiple years planted and a nice selection to offer and we are committed to digging the best stock possible.  Please send us your needs and let us become your trusted boxwood supplier.

Virtual Tours

Well, the CoVid19 virus has Joe and Marie grounded!  They are ready to make sales visits and invite you to the nursery to tour BUT at this time for their and your health we had to become creative.  For the past several weeks we have had a virtual video attached to our email with the plants’ progression through spring.

We understand your time is valuable so our videos are under 4 minutes and if you do not fall asleep on the video you will notice at the end there is a one week special on some great plants.  The sales prices in the video are 25-35% off the book price.  This sale is our way of thanking you for taking time out of your day to “tour” with us!  If you are not on our weekly email list and interested in seeing what we have to offer please sign up here.

In Conclusion

Lake County Nursery wants to extend a warm hand to you in hopes we can meet your product and service needs. As an industry, we have weathered many storms, maybe not as big as this one but we can work together to make each other stronger.

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