10 questions with Jonah Nelson

In this series, Associate Editor Katie McDaniel asks industry leaders to spill the tea about everything from trends and biggest challenges to their best advice. In this issue, she speaks with Jonah Nelson, CEO and owner of Family Tree Nursery, an IGC with three retail locations and two growing facilities in the Kansas City area. Nelson is also a member of the Garden Center magazine Advisory Board.

1. What industry trends are you most excited about?

The specific trend that I love and I’m so excited about because I believe we do pretty well at Family Tree is color. People love color, and they’re drawn to it. I really believe annual color is trending up. We’ve seen that at least to be true in the Kansas City market.

I really think technology is critical for the future. Are we on trend with what customers want and how they want to interact with our product? Their first touch of a plant may not be the physical touch; it’s actually a digital touch. So, are we reaching them in that way? Are we getting them interacting with plants at that level and then driving them and drawing them in to the physical part of interacting with the plant?

2. What’s been your biggest success in the past year?

We’re working on a training and development program where we can bring people up internally and help them acquire the skills that are needed for that next position. That task is never done, but it’s exciting to see the success that we’ve had over the past year in getting that closer.

I really think we got our product mix dialed in better this past year. Our customers responded to that, and we had a good sell-through from our farms. They crushed it, knocked it out of the park.

3. Success is often in the details. What routines do you follow each day?

I’m a routine person; I love it. We have a morning huddle every morning to get everybody going. Because of the nature of our work, sunup to sundown, you have people coming in at different shifts. We always want to put eyeballs on eyeballs to see who’s on the team, and that morning huddle has a rhythm of always going through what we’re promoting, either on our e-blast or through our social media, in addition to some of the daily tasks. Once that store-wide or location-wide huddle happens, we break out into smaller groups of teams that are going to go and execute the day.

4. What’s something most people don’t realize about running an independent garden center?

People will look at IGCs and romanticize it, like, I’m going to open this thing up, sell flowers and water flowers all day. It’s going to be so peaceful working in the garden. That’s not what it is. We’re putting out fires, and we’re hopefully coaching, leading and teaching the team, then ultimately building relationships with our customers.

5. What aspect of your business keeps you up at night?

That’s anxiety, and I want to pray against anxiety and get that out of my life. But, in those moments when we’re overwhelmed, it oftentimes ends up being things that are completely out of my control: the weather, the economy or things that are going on on the global scale that could affect us, like supply chains and tariffs. The other things that keep me up at night sometimes are actually positive things, and those are more fun, like dreaming about the future and what that can look like.

6. What is something you would do differently if you started over today?

If I could restart today, I wouldn’t have built the greenhouses with an 8-foot gutter at our store that does the highest volume because it’s a pain every time we’re bringing carts in. I wish all my concrete was flat. But besides that, it would have been really nice to have embraced e-commerce sooner.

7. How do you stay ahead in the garden center industry?

Because I’m a second-born, I don’t ever feel like I’m ahead; maybe it’s a birth order thing. I’m always second; I’m never first. I don’t know if we are ever ahead. We have an internal saying that we use at Family Tree: Stay ready to keep from getting ready. It’s our hopeful insurance policy of being prepared and ready for the next thing.

8. What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Treating others as you’d like to be treated, the golden rule. That may be cliche as the best advice I’ve ever received, but it’s critical. I believe what goes around comes around. We have to use kindness and respect to build trust with others, and when that happens, you can do a lot.

9. What makes you hopeful about the future of the retail garden center industry?

I think we were originally, way back in human history, hunters and gatherers, and we have a desire to return to the garden in so many weird ways, so these things that make me hopeful are that we will continually be relevant because we’re trying to get back to our roots. Super cheesy, I’m aware. My kids tell me all the time I’m super corny.

10. Other than your business, what are your favorite independent garden centers to visit?

I really like IGCs who are also growers. So, it’s fun to see places who not only produce high-quality, but they’re really intentional about design; that’s inspiring. Up north (in Minnesota), Tonkadale(owner) Jessie Jacobson does a fantastic job. Groovy Plants Ranch in Ohio, I think they’re awesome. I get really drawn to places that create an experience or create spaces for community where you know people are going there. That’s always fun and inspiring to see.

WATCH NEXT: More video from Jonah Nelson and Family Tree Nursery: Garden Center Conference & Expo tours Kansas City IGCs