In March 2023, the new DeSantis Landscapes nursery and landscape maintenance branch in Cornelius, Oregon, opened its doors for operation. The 15-acre site anchors a regional landscape maintenance facility and a plant-growing hub specializing in ground cover and bioswale plants, a greenhouse, potting station and ample acreage to scale.
At its one-year mark, the high-tech operation has enabled the 50-year-old Oregon landscape business to directly source greenhouse-grown plants to its large portfolio of bioswale projects, serve a wider market, and advance innovation in customer service.
“The expansion marked a major milestone for us,” said VP Operations & Partner, Bryan Gyllen, who’s led the project from its inception. “It’s proving to be effective in strengthening our relationships in Washington Count and is one of many location-level initiatives that’s emerged as a success factor: the operation to-date is exceeding revenue targets and is on track to outperform by year-end.”
Inventory management is critical to nursery operations and finding the right formula took time. “We ran various scenarios for inventory management to track stock levels and logistics, and worked out a methodology for forecasting that’s allowed us to clean up our plant catalog, grow proactively, and monitor and adjust our efficiency model to boost production and productivity,” added Bryan who used internal software systems to customize nursery management.
“Bioswales have been required by the State of Oregon on new land development for nearly twenty years to improve groundwater health,” noted Bryan. “Swale systems, also known as water quality facilities, make it easier for the water to filter out pollutants and soak back into the soil rather than let it run into storm drains. Because the type of plant correlates to its ability to filter, we’re focused on growing plant material that delivers the highest value as well as be the hardest working: they have to tolerate extreme weather, need little to no maintenance, and be effective in doing an important job, which is to ultimately protect the environment and the wildlife of the Tualatin River and surrounding watershed.”
To learn more about bioswales, sustainability and stormwater management strategies, go to: https://desantislandscapes.com
To learn more about Oregon’s clean water initiative, go to: https://cleanwaterservices.org