Sally Benson \u2014 May 13, 2015<\/p>\n

Kelly Norris has a lot of energy. True, it could be his youth, but it\u2019s really the kind of contagious energy that\u2019s driven by passion. If you\u2019ve had the opportunity to hear him speak at industry conferences, if you\u2019ve read his books, if you\u2019ve met him, you can\u2019t help but be energized by his enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Ask Norris a question, and prepare for an earful \u2013 in a good way. It\u2019s obvious within the first few seconds of a conversation that he\u2019s determined to do what he can to make this industry thrive. He\u2019s in a unique position to offer the younger generation\u2019s point of view, with a twist. He\u2019s been there; he\u2019s done that. He\u2019s in touch with the Millennials, but he also has a wealth of knowledge, insight and experience that belie his years. He\u2019s been called a \u201crising star of horticulture,\u201d and that very well may be so. But this star is on a fast track.<\/p>\n

At the age of 15, he convinced his family to purchase the stock of an iris grower in Texas and start their own iris farm in Bedford, Iowa. At 24, he received his master\u2019s degree in horticulture from Iowa State University; in 2012, at the age of 25, he published his book, A Guide to Bearded Irises. That same year he accepted the position of horticulture manager for the newly renovated Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden. He speaks to crowded rooms at industry and public events, where he shares his passion \u2013 and his knowledge \u2013 with curious growers and eager gardeners.<\/p>\n

We recently asked Norris to share his perspective on the industry and, more specifically, how the industry can capture \u2013 and cultivate \u2013 the younger generation of gardeners. Norris calls it the \u201cmillion dollar question.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photo: iStock|bogay22<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the reasons we\u2019re not connecting with people is because we don\u2019t understand why we\u2019re in business,\u201d he states. \u201cI think the purpose of what we do is unclear, and I think it\u2019s because the links in our chain are shorter and shorter. The liner producer sees his end user as the rewholesaler and the finisher who buys his liners, instead of realizing that somewhere along the way, that liner is going to grow up to be a tree that a Latino worker is planting on a commercial job site somewhere, or that my sister-in-law is planting in her back yard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to understand vertically how our business works,\u201d he continues. \u201cBut we spend so much time focusing on the interface at retail that we tend to forget that when there\u2019s pain at retail, it\u2019s going to shake all the way up through the supply chain, and that\u2019s what\u2019s happening. And so the producers are asking, what do I do about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Norris has a few answers, and he begins with food.<\/p>\n

Inspiration from the food movement<\/h3>\n

That\u2019s right: Food. But we\u2019re not just talking about incorporating edibles into the production program, or offering herbs and vegetables at retail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to think through the supply chain,\u201d Norris explains, \u201cand the analogy that I give is about the food movement. There\u2019s a really incredible template for how the industry could see its future in what\u2019s happened in the last 60 years in this country as it relates to food. You have these luminary, culinary figures, like James Beard and Julia Child, who created a new conversation around food at the American table 60 years ago. They did so by challenging the notion of what inspired the American meal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next phase of that movement, in some ways, was thinking about where the ingredients came from,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt was very much about the provenance of food; it was about the provenance of ingredients, and it led to this flourishing local farms and local producers movement that we\u2019re still very much in the middle of.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd at some point in the last 10 to 15 years we\u2019ve entered a third chapter of the food movement, which I think is really striking out and defining what is the American original cuisine,\u201d Norris continues. \u201cWhat does this new American food movement actually mean? What does it mean to create an American meal that isn\u2019t just a composite of its immigrant culture?<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some ways, if you look at those three levels \u2013 the inspiration, the ingredients and the fusion of an original movement \u2013 that parallel to horticulture is very strong. We have bits and pieces of each of those chapters in parallel, just not as well organized or as well tuned in to a narrative that the food movement has had in the last 50 or 60 years, and particularly in the last decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly food for thought.<\/p>\n

Celebrity chefs have made food intriguing to younger consumers, who are inspired to be adventurous with meal planning and consumption. Lore \u2013 a little bit of background, some interesting trivia \u2013 makes the ingredients that much more interesting. Further, there\u2019s a purpose to their pursuit. And that\u2019s what Millennials want: a purpose.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the purpose?<\/h3>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something we all need to think about, whether we\u2019re producers, landscape professionals, public horticulturists, or we\u2019re in retail: What is the purpose of horticulture?\u201d Norris poses. \u201cWhat is the value of having horticulture in our lives? We know that a life, a city, a living space without horticulture is a blank, destitute, depauperate kind of existence. We know that green space is critical to our quality of life, yet, we don\u2019t do a very great job of selling that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intrinsic values are naturally the hardest to sell,\u201d he continues. \u201cAnd I think we trivialize the extrinsic values, too. We try to base the conversation on things that, ultimately, maybe don\u2019t matter to people. It\u2019s not just how long it blooms; maybe it\u2019s deeper than that. So we\u2019ve got work to do: Thinking through the supply chain, from producers to consumers, and really thinking about what relationship and experience we want our end users to have when they come in contact with our services, our products and, ultimately, the total nature of the experience we offer people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is this the way to attract that next generation? Norris thinks so.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new way of thinking about gardening,\u201d he claims. \u201cIt\u2019s a more holistic, more integrated approach to gardening that I think gets to that Three-P notion: Horticulture is about People, Plants and Passion. It\u2019s an act of humanity. People, plants and passion equate to this idea of gardening with some sense of purpose. People are already doing it, and I think that if the industry could get one step ahead of it and actually think about how to strategically go after this in an economic sense, I think there\u2019s some real powerful momentum that we could have.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo first and foremost we have to understand that horticulture is an act of humanity,\u201d Norris says. \u201cWe have to understand that it\u2019s a choice that people are making about how to spend a certain amount of time in their life. But it\u2019s an act of humanity that\u2019s born from a passionate interaction with plants. There\u2019s an economic scale to that, too. People who don\u2019t have much motivation to garden don\u2019t spend a lot of money on gardening. People who are highly motivated to garden spend a lot of money on gardening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardening with a purpose is a powerful motivator, and perhaps that means concentrating our efforts on those who are, well, ripe for motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur industry has so often focused on the lowest end of the spectrum; we\u2019re driving after the lowest common denominator, because we think that\u2019s the majority \u2026 and it is the majority,\u201d Norris explains. \u201cBut going back to what I said about the food movement, the food movement didn\u2019t evolve because it was driving after getting the majority of people to do French-style cooking in their home kitchens; it was trying to drive the average higher. Trying to look at that tribal sense of devotion and dedication and passion that comes when people really get plugged into an avocation or a lifestyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so that\u2019s the track record we have to move on. We have to drive people to a place of purpose, where gardening becomes not just raising your own food, it doesn\u2019t become just beautifying your lawn, it doesn\u2019t become cleaning the air in your house with houseplants, or all these other little things that we seem to spend so much of our time marketing with. It becomes all of this; it becomes the idea that gardening is a right and purposeful and sort of quintessential thing for an American household to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nNew perennial movement<\/h3>\n

Just as the food movement helped to create a passionate population of food enthusiasts, Norris says the new perennial movement can do the same for horticulture. And it ties in with the search for purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the production side of things, I think the big thing is to take a look at the inventory and study the numbers,\u201d he says. \u201cLet\u2019s talk about more diversity in the landscape and in the marketplace. We\u2019re going to trend that way. The new perennial movement, if it has any impact long term on the way people think about design and construction in building landscapes, it\u2019s going to be about adding diversity in the landscape. It\u2019s why we\u2019re talking obsessively about planting for pollinators and really gardening with a greater sense of purpose. Not just for aesthetic enjoyment, but for the functions of the landscape.<\/p>\n

Photo: iStock|sematadesign<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt means there\u2019s going to be a whole new craving on the part of consumers, saying, hey, we want to grow bladder nut in our back yard because those little flowers are great nectar sources for early butterflies. I think those questions are going to become more common. It may not be this year, it may not be next year, but it will be in five years, and it certainly will be in 10 years. There\u2019s going to be more demand for that, and so the production chain is going to have to consider how to get outside of the boxwood, red maple, barberry block and figure out how to become a real green industry and actually start righting the course and actually being a partner in developing these new markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe market is there; we just have to tap into it<\/h3>\n

We read the doom-and-gloom reports about the changing garden market \u2013 Baby Boomers, who are most likely to spend on gardening, are slowing down, and the younger generation isn\u2019t interested, either in gardening or in the business of horticulture. Not so, says Norris. The recession took a toll on the industry, to be sure, but those businesses that were flexible managed to survive. And many have found there\u2019s a new market to address.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe market has really changed, but I don\u2019t think the market is smaller; I don\u2019t think that\u2019s true at all,\u201d Norris says. \u201cEven if you just assume the percentage of the population that gardens \u2013 some estimate it\u2019s as high as 30 percent, but they count people who buy weed-and-feed in that category \u2013 nothing about that percentage changes. Our population is growing; there are 15 million more Gen Ys than there were Baby Boomers. In 10 years, there will still be more consumers in our marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe market is not shrinking,\u201d Norris continues. \u201cI think in many ways the marketplace itself doesn\u2019t understand how to adapt to a growing market. It\u2019s creating opportunities; I think there\u2019s going to be a lot of opportunities for young entrepreneurs to enter into the new business concepts. It\u2019s happening. And fortunately, they have access to some loan monies to make some of that happen. The same kind of struggles are still there, and bankers still look very shrewdly at people trying to get into the nursery and the production industry; it\u2019s an industry that historically has low margins, high operating costs. You know, those questions aren\u2019t going away. \u2026 I know this well, because I grew up in a farm family, who also ran a nursery and ran a construction business through the downturn. I get it; I know what it\u2019s like to have sobering conversations about cash flow; I know what it\u2019s like to have a sobering conversation with your lender, saying, I can\u2019t do this, something\u2019s got to change here, I can\u2019t make this payment; I need different terms. I get that; I\u2019ve been there, I\u2019ve done it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so I understand that the conservativeness of that business model, and the nature of slim margins can motivate people to be very, very cautious about how they approach new ideas. But someone, somewhere has to take a risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the ultimate optimist: I\u2019m not worried or stressed by the recalcitrant business models, because the fact of the matter is we live in a world where creative destructionism is probably at an all time high. The world has chosen a new course of how it communicates, for how it does business. The very nature of our society has changed drastically in the last decade, just in terms of how we communicate and what we communicate about. It\u2019s really going to challenge the business structures that are more rigid and less dynamic and flexible; it\u2019s really going to challenge their sustainability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a niche right now for young people to try new business concepts and business models because banks are anxious to try and get some money out there into the market to invest. I think there\u2019s opportunity here; I think there\u2019s opportunity ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cover Photo courtesy of Kelly D. Norris<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sally Benson \u2014 May 13, 2015 Kelly Norris has a lot of energy. True, it could be his youth, but it\u2019s really the kind of contagious energy that\u2019s driven by passion. If you\u2019ve had the opportunity to hear him speak at industry conferences, if you\u2019ve read his books, if you\u2019ve met him, you can\u2019t help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nursery","tag-profile"],"yoast_head":"\n