18
THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • MAY 2018
• NURSERY 6ISIT
neighbouring farmer helps by growing cereal or oil seed
rape on their landwhen it is takenout of theplant growing
rota enablingdifferent herbicides tobe used inorder to
clean the land.Weed andpest control are important to
thequality of theplants. Tractor and hand hoeing is used
aUd [V Yed\JeWes[iJides IeUefiJial iUseJ[s aYe eTWlV`ed
in theprotectedgrowing areas. Thepermanent workers
are a truly important part of Howard’s business - long
serving and very experiencedpeoplewhodemonstrated
their knowledge and skill toTheCommercial Greenhouse
Grower during a recent visit. They seem tobe a very
happy and friendly “crew”whether in theproduction
department or thepackingoperation. ChristineHoward
said: “Their skills, carefulness and loyalty combined
with theirmany years of experience are the key toour
production.We’ve also a very positive attitude to young
people andwe currently have one apprentice. Also four
students from an agricultural college inVienna join us in
the summer and some local youngsters come tous for
work experience. I’m conscious of the fact that we need,
not just inour business but as an industry, to look hard at
the future and to attract the right quality and attitude of
youngpeople coming into the horticultural world - they’re
our future!” At the other endof the scale,MarcelWillems
has joined the company recently. Hebringsmany years
of retail and trade experience andwas previously a
general manager.
Over the years, the company haswonmany awards,
including a goldmedal in2015 at theChelseaShow in
collaborationwithSarahCook for tall bearded irises bred
bySir CedricMorris. Last year theywere thewinners in
the FamilyBusinessUnitedPeople’sChoice in theEast
andEast Anglia region. They have a gold level Carbon
Charter award for the third time and they are in the
Archant Green 100 list of sustainablebusinesses. Also,
in 2016, theywon theEnvironment Agency’sChairman’s
(^aYd MVY>a[eY ,MfiJieUJ` [Oe OiNOes[ a^aYd a]ailaIle iU
[Oe<2 MVY [OeiY
WeY JeU[ selM s\MfiJieU[ YeseY]ViY aUd
watermanagement system. In addition, theywon also
the Farming andHorticulture award for the sameproject,
beatingoff stiff competition from hundreds of other
companies inboth categories.
Many years agoDavidHoward introduced thedahlia
“DavidHoward”. Thiswas a chance seedling selected
fromdahlia “Bishopof Llandarf”, raised in the late 1950’s,
aUd Oas I\YU[ VYaUNe ÅV^eYs^i[OdaYR MVliaNe NYV^iUN
[V JT aUd ÅV^eYiUN iU 1\l` :eW[eTIeY ;OeU iU
David found the campanulap. “WorthamBelle” as a
chance seedling in stock beds and introduced this in
3iNO[ Il\edV\Ile ÅV^eYs NYV^iUN [V 7 JT aUd
ÅV^eYiUN 1\Ue 1\l` 4VYe YeJeU[l` s[aMMTeTIeY4iJOael
Foremandiscovered a chance seedling among a group
of hemerocallis “StelladeOro” and it was launched as
“Cathy’sSunset” in honour of his daughter. Theplant
Oas a[[YaJ[i]e `ellV^ aUd [eYYaJV[[aIi JVlV\Yed ÅV^eYs
Christine andMarcel explained that they have hadgrants
from various organisations in recentmonths. One of nearly
£3,000 from theGrants4Growth to help towards the cost
of lighting improvements; another inwhich they had a
50percentmatch-funded internship awarded from the
InnovationVoucher Scheme from theUniversity of East
Anglia andNewAnglia LEP. The internworkedwith the
company toboost their sales andmarketing, improved
their social networking, arranged a strongphoto-library
and helpedwith events andPR. Anothermajor grant
came from theEasternAgri-TechGrowth Initiative and
their £15,000 helped towards a £60,000project tobring
plant labelling in-house inorder toproducebespoke
labels for their customers and reduce cost by not having
to import labels. Christine said: “It was a two year project
aUdX\i[eda\U[iUN a[ fiYs[ I\[ ^e»Ye Yeall` Wleased^e
went for it.We’ve really started to see the resultswith
increasedorders”. HowardNurseries is a genuine family
businesswhich looks tobeprogressing stronglywith the
secondgeneration: Christine,Marcel, Peter, Aaron, Vicki
and the rest of the team atWortham. AsChristine said:
“We think of our customers virtually as family and friends.
>e»YeWYV\d [Oa[ ^e JaU sa`^e»Ye a fiYT^OeYe [Yadi[iVUs
aUd ]al\es ÅV\YisO¹
Pluggrownherbaceous for
pottingor planting.
Plugs grown inglasshouse.
Local youngsters getting a lesson inplantgrowing.
