Looking forward to the future
Last summer, we launched a series of extensive strategic planning discussions as a way to take a fresh look at our company, to help us identify our long-term development goals, and to create a clear vision for the future of Mariani Plants. We have known for several years that lack of inventory is one of our biggest weaknesses, but after our strategic planning sessions and conversations with many of our customers, we decided that now is the time to take aggressive action towards increasing production.
Since last August, we have been rethinking our traditional production practices and looking for ways to increase production in Garden Prairie and Kenosha. One simple step that we are taking in Garden Prairie is taking advantage of the available space we already have at the nursery. Historically, we have done one big shrub planting in March, followed by a few additional plantings later in spring. This leaves us with a lot of open space later in the summer after we sell through our overwintered inventory and begin to sell through our March-planted items. This year, we will pot over 62,000 more shrubs than in 2020, and most of this increase will take place in the next few weeks with a much more aggressive May planting. Last fall, with the help of our customers, we created what we call a “never-out” list of shrubs, or varieties that we and our customers feel that we should always have in stock. By potting a second crop of these “never-out” varieties in May, we will have a deliberate crop of inventory to overwinter for spring of 2022. We also have plans to increase shrub production by an additional 32,000 units next year.
Our plan to increase perennial production is extremely aggressive. This year, we are planting 180,000 more perennials than in 2020 simply by consolidating and replanting into open spaces all season and by sharing space in some of our shrub blocks when necessary. We increased the size of our perennial crew and purchased a new perennial planting machine that allows us to plant continuously with less people all season long. We are also excited to announce that we are planning a perennial expansion that we will begin construction on later this summer. This new perennial block will hold an additional 128,000 one-gallon perennials and will stretch behind our offices along Garden Prairie Road.
We have also increased our MPC inventory by bringing in significantly more outsourced material this spring. And we have plans to increase our Accelerator® container tree production over the next several years, in part by transitioning our Accelerator® program to Garden Prairie.
Over the past year, we have had an opportunity to take a fresh look at our traditional ways of doing things, at what works and what we can improve, and this exercise has inspired and unified us as a company. We couldn’t be more thrilled about the changes we are making to increase production, and we hope these changes will allow us to be a better partner to our customers going forward. We know that these changes won’t happen overnight, but we feel confident in the direction we are heading and are excited about the progress we have made so far.
