Spring Hill Nurseries
110 W. Elm St. - Tipp City, OH 45371 - Tel: 937-667-2491

A retail garden center and regional mail order (focus on perennials)

Comments by Patrick Peterson

What I originally thought would be an easy credit towards my major, turned out to be one of the most enlightening weekends I have spent on the road. I did not know what to expect at first, but after visiting a couple of different organizations with similar goals I figured out why this field trip was offered. The speakers at the various places became valuable connections to the environmental "Green" industry. I am often asked by my teachers, "What is your primary focus for your career?" I usually avoid answering this question, but after what I saw over the weekend I have a clear answer. The Spring Hill Nurseries is not where I see myself working in five years, but the company makes for a great topic. This is because Spring Hill Nurseries is one of the great factory farms of the landscape industry.

Spring Hill Nurseries started selling to the Dayton area in 1849. The mail order explosion did not begin until the 1930's. The First World War was over, people had more money and time, and they could now pick the plants for their new front yard out of a catalog full of variety. No more dirt in the new Ford, the plants arrived at your doorstep ready for installation. Spring Hill Nurseries was soon bought up by Foster & Gallagher, Inc. Foster & Gallagher, Inc. encompasses a wide variety of different companies. They incorporate everything from a tulip supplier to a toy factory.

Fig 1. Spring Hill Nurseries is part of a large corporate structure named Foster & Gallagher, Inc. that specializes in various horticultural and other products.

There are two primary selling seasons; one is the spring and one in the fall. The peak planting time is around mother's day or when the ground is frost-free. The regional sales reflect the climatic changes in North America as they work their way North in the spring and South in the fall. The nursery/garden center in Tipp City, OH is the hub of Spring Hill Nurseries. The site contains a six-acre test garden, which also serves as a park to the public. The garden center is one of the largest I have ever seen. Most of the staff was well prepared for questions a prospective buyer might have. The most common inquisition concerns plant material identification. Customers also like to know disease problems and what the solution.

The garden center is not why Spring Hill Nurseries has grown to be a household name. They are world renowned because of their mail-order catalog division. There were two primary areas, which our tour was broken down into. One is the shipping area, and the other being the propagation area. Migrant workers form a large percentage of the employees, which is not all too uncommon for this line of work. I also noted that the shipping area was comprised of around 80% female workers. Our tour guide had nothing to say regarding this situation.

Fig 2. Large-scale propagation of herbaceous perennials is done at the Tipp City facilities.

The shipping area is divided up into four sections: stocking, picking, packing, and truck loading. Stocking is where they monitor the production flow. There are separate areas for each of the products; for example there is one area for bulbs and one for perennials. In each of the areas are bins with numerical codes corresponding to the plant material. These bins are about 6 feet tall and 3 feet deep, with trays that are clearly marked with a number. Each order starts as an empty box with a list pinned to the lid on a conveyor belt. Belts go up through the ceiling and down through the floor, not to mention the countless rings of belts around the same level. The worker pulls the list off of the box, fills with any material from her area, and places the box back on the belt. As soon as an order is started, the box is assessed a piece of colored tape. A different color of tape for each day allows them to make sure no product has been circulating around for more than three days.

Fig 3. Packaging for satisfying mail-order requests keeps hundreds of employees busy throughout much of the year.

Now that an order is filled, we see the next step. Packing is what I thought to be one of the most crucial steps in the shipping area. On average the boxes are not that big, and could easily be crushed if not properly labeled. Plants are protected by bubble wrap, environment friendly foam peanuts, and for some items shrink-wrapping. Literature is added to the boxes in this area. This includes a new catalog, care instructions, and advertisements. A company can advertise this way for about a penny a box. The packing area is full of surge belts, which act as a buffer zone between pickers and packers. Bar codes are placed on each box in the final steps toward the door. These sum up the customer name, weight, and mode of shipment. Spring Hill uses primarily the United States Postal Service, but also falls back on United Parcel Service. Anything being sent into a restricted state ends up with a pack slip on the outside of the box. Time did not allow us to tour the truck loading area.

I have explained the procedures behind exporting the products, and the next leg of our tour led us into the greenhouses. Our tour guide was Dave Abernathy. Dave graduated from OSU in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and Floriculture. We started out in the seeding room, where a really big seeding machine is used to create flats of all sorts. These are then placed in cold storage awaiting a spot on a greenhouse bench. Most varieties are grown as plugs using a metal halide bulb system for high intensity discharge. They have the equipment to extend the winter day length, and the tables are equipped with under the table heat bars, and hanging heat lamps. The next room we toured was the bare root storage, which was a refreshing chill between greenhouses.

The largest area of plant production is the Greenhouse Prepack. The motto hanging from the ceiling read, "Where quality is in the bag. Tucked tight and twisted."

This area has more gender balance, and is where most of the migrant workers appeared. The growing ranges were top of the line. They used to water everything by hand, which was explained to be extremely labor intensive. A couple of years ago, they spent over $100,000 on an overhead spray irrigation system. They experience few insect problems, other than spidermites and aphids. The Ohio Department of Agriculture regularly inspects for bacterial blight, and any appearance of powdery mildew is drenched with fungicide.

Fig 4. A detailed presentation of the complex logistics associated with preparing and shipping thousands of orders was given to to the students.

I had no idea what kind of labor intensive factory setting was hidden behind the relaxed garden shop doors. Spring Hill makes a lot of money with their mail order catalog offers, and I witnessed why. They know how to select items, and have repeat customers who count on only top-notch plant material. My only concerns regarding our tour were along the lines of safety for the workers, but our tour guides insured of no problems. If there is one thing that I took home from my tour, then it would be that Spring Hill Nurseries knows how to grow it, show it, and throw it out the door.