Comments on Barnes Nursery, by Kym Dowdell

Since becoming exposed to public horticulture through working at Chadwick Arboretum, I've come to realize that public horticulture is were I belong. With that in mind, it seems only appropriate that I should write about our visit to The Toledo Botanical Garden. That was my original plan upon reading the itinerary before starting out on our journey. However, after touring Barnes Nursery in Huron, Ohio I've changed my mind (about the report, that is, not my career). Barnes is the most innovative, quality-oriented (regarding both its products/services as well as its employees) small business that I've yet seen in the horticulture industry.   In 1950, two brothers started a small business growing roses. It's name then was Barnes' Roses. As the years went by, one brother decided he wanted out of the business, so the other brother bought him out. The years passed by again until Barnes Nursery was born. Today, Barnes Nursery, Inc. is a family-owned and run business in Huron, Ohio that does a bit more than just growing roses. In addition to their production nursery, Barnes has a garden center; does landscaping design, installation and maintenance; lawn and tree care; and operates a highly successful composting facility.

The production side of their business includes both container- and field-grown plants which are sold either retail in their garden center or wholesale to other retail outlets, and used not only by their own landscape design/installation division but also sold wholesale to other landscape companies. The quality of plants sold in their garden center was remarkable, especially when considering we were there in late September. The quality of Barnes' landscape team is evident by the numerous awards they have won for their designs and installations. The two designers we met are both Ohio State graduates, one from Columbus the other from the ATI campus in Wooster. The installation crew foreman are promoted/trained from within the company. This proves Barnes' commitment to providing their customers/clients with the best possible people to do the best possible job.

Their maintenance team provides those customers that have no time to tend to their yards with upkeep such as weeding, pruning, mulching and seasonal activities such as edging, bulb planting and winterizing of gardens. Oddly separate from their landscape maintenance division are both their Lawn and Tree Care Services. The Lawn Care Service provides residential and commercial mowing, fertilizing, insect and weed control. The Tree Service provides its clients with experienced crews proficient in tree removal and planting, cabling and bracing, pruning, and clean-up. For these difficult tasks, Barnes uses a "14-ton crane and bucket-equipped truck." (1) Their most recent division, Organics Recovery, began as an answer to "What to do with all of the yard waste generated by the landscaping divisions?" Barnes' answer was to recycle the materials they receive from homeowners, business owners and local governments into compost, soils and mulch. Like a huge compost bin, there are large piles (or small hills) of materials in different stages of composting on the blacktopped grounds of the facility. Surrounded by residential homes, Barnes takes great care to ensure that their neighbors are not bothered by their operation. They not only located some of their production fields around the area to serve as a buffer zone, they also take into consideration the wind direction/velocity/speed when operating the elaborate machinery they use for breaking down the material. They prefer to be known as good neighbors.   The only commercial business that I would ever be interested in working for would be Barnes Nursery, Inc. (specifically in the Organics Recovery division). Those who spoke with us were enthusiastic and seemed to thoroughly love what they do. I've never seen this in any one single business. Had I not fulfilled my internship requirement at Chadwick, I would have felt fortunate to have done so at Barnes.