That’s helped us expand our season and have some more under-cover shopping, but the seasonality is one of the hardest things in keeping people employed long-term. We expanded and put up a 5,000-square-foot Nexus greenhouse six years ago. Either they find a temp job or they collect unemployment or we give them a few hours when we’re doing farmers markets. In January and February, we have to lay people off. We’re open five days a week in March, and then seven days a week from April through December 23rd. We have an outstanding core staff, but sometimes there just aren’t enough of us. Q: What are the biggest challenges Rolling Green faces?Ī: Our unemployment rate in New Hampshire is 2.5 percent, so hiring is sometimes very hard. We try to be able to help people with their projects. We keep a request book for all the different categories, which we refer to all the time. One of my bylines is “natives, edibles and ornamentals,” but we have a really nice selection of annuals and herbs, veggies, fruits, perennials, shrubs and trees - a little deeper in Japanese maples and dwarf conifers than most places.Īlso, we’re on the floor every single day, listening to our customers.
KEEP IT GREEN NURSERY PLUS
Q: What are the core strengths of your business?Ī: The depth of knowledge in our friendly staff, plus our uncommon palette of plants. Notable: Keeps busy in the slow season with Winter Farmers Market We’ve worked with an outside HR company for 10-plus years, so we also have an in-depth employee handbook we go over with them. It’s our expectations for customer service and what they can expect as far as physical demands of the job. We also have our “What It Takes,” which someone gets when they fill out an application. By example is the best way we communicate that to our employees.
We ask the right questions, greet everybody when they come in, and just check in with them. Q: How do you communicate your vision to employees?Ī: I’d love to be better at training, but I think it’s by example. They might go out with a perennial or two or five, but they come in and just chill. They like to come in and just wander around. We can be retail therapy for some people. There’s a commitment by everybody to keep things edged and raked, and the mats swept off. That commitment comes through with all our employees - they get it right away. That really stuck with my husband, who tends to be a purist and likes it neat and tidy. Around the time we started the nursery, Rick and I did Landscape Magic at Disney. Q: What is the foundation of Rolling Green's success?Ī: Our commitment to a good show every day. We spoke with Beth Simpson about Rolling Green’s journey to become a Top 100 IGC. Today, Rolling Green Nursery is the largest retail grower in New Hampshire’s Seacoast region. In 1990, Rick and Beth Simpson sold their landscape construction company and focused on building a nursery business.
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