Former ranch sprouts thriving horticulture business

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

A wagonload of plants at Hines Horticulture-Houston awaits loading onto over-the-road trailers. In the peak season, 30 to 40 semi-truck loads will be shipped out of the center each day. -- Staff photo by Taylor

February 27, 2003 -- Over 25 years ago, the land that now is home to Hines Horticulture-Houston, was used for rice farming and ranching. Nowadays, the property that was adjacent to the Harris Ranch is home to over 350 acres of plants, four water reservoirs, 25 acres of greenhouses, 53 acres of shade houses and almost 50 miles of roads, built and kept up by Hines personnel.

The only Hines facility in Texas, the Houston store is part of the Hines Horticulture group that originated in California with the Hines family in the 1920s.

In an expansion mode, Hines started the Houston nursery in 1977, along with a third store in North Central California. These three nurseries were the core of what was to become a leader in horticulture. In 2000, the company went public and is a member of the NASDAQ stock exchange.

"We gained some capital that allowed us to acquire a few more nurseries and with that capital, I think we picked up about five or six more organizations around the country ... all different in their own way ... but the main reason they were purchased was to strategically allow us to ship to all the major market areas across the entire United States," explained Daniel Byerley, quality resource manager at the Houston store, who has a master's degree in soil management from Texas A&M University.

Hines is a strictly wholesale operation which provides plants and landscaping material to Lowe's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart stores across the nation.

The Houston store provides five, main products: color material (bedding plants and small annuals); Christmas crops (poinsettias, etc.); woody ornamentals (which was the original mainstay of the Hines corporation since 1920) which includes landscaping materials; tropicals; and ground covers and perennials. Trees are not included in the product line at this time.

"This is the most unique and complex nursery in that we have more major product groups here, which is unusual. Most nurseries are either wood ornamental nurseries (landscaping) or they're color nurseries, and we have one pure perennial nursery (in the group)," said Byerley.

The cycle of the plants includes the original planting, taking cuttings to place in a propagation area, and then starting the process all over again. Over 30 million cuttings were made in the last year, for plants sold in one-, two-, three- and five-gallon cans.

The site's four reservoirs supply approximately five million gallons of water, per day, in the summer.

Byerley said 50 percent of their sales include the woody ornamental, about 15 percent are tropical plants, 25 percent are color material and the rest are ground cover.

The major portion of the business' season has started, but due to heavy and frequent rains, plant sales have been down, since people can't get out in their yards to plant.

"The first six months of the year represents about 65-75 percent of our sales," added Byerley.

The other six months are used to start the planting all over again for the next year, and Byerley said that while the early planting season really starts in January and runs through March, their busiest season is from mid-March through May, when more people are putting in new yards and adding to already existing ones.

During this peak season, trucks are leased to help with the timely delivery. "We own a lot of trucks across the company, and because it's such a giant peak, we lease out and have organizations that work with us to bring all of their trucks in to get our loads out. At peak, we will ship 30-36 semi-loads a day," said Byerley.

He said 85 percent of the mass merchants they sell to are out of Houston, with 15 percent going to independent buyers. Other major areas of service include Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, along with "pretty much the southeast quarter of the United States, or one-fifth of the entire nation."

The 700-750 employees at the Houston Hines nursery work shifts that enable the facility to turn around orders in 24-36 hours, and many of the employees have been with the company over 15 years.

"One thing that Hines is very proud of ... we realize that what we grow is plants. But plants are kind of a byproduct of growing people, and that's a real different attitude toward it," he added.

With 90 team leaders in the different plant groups, the grounds work like a well-oiled clock, with employees pruning plants, driving tractors, working in buildings with the plants, loading trucks ... you name it and it is happening on the grounds of the facility. With the infrastructure included at the nursery, the place is like a little town all to itself.

"When economies get tight, people don't tend to go spend on big-ticket items. They stay home and tend to family-oriented things, such as gardening and yardwork ... that sort of thing," said Byerley.

Although the entire Hines company earns around $350 million, annually, and the Houston store weighs in at $40-50 million a year, management still values the people who work for them above all, and are looking to the skies for a break in the rain clouds for a successful planting season.