Blizzard & Bloom: Insights from the Ice and the Green Scene
Welcome to Blizzard and Bloom, the podcast where the green meets the white! Hosted by Jay Rotonnelli, a seasoned expert with over 36 years in the landscape and snow removal industries, this show dives deep into the business, operations, and stories behind both blooming landscapes and blizzard battles.
Whether you’re a property manager, business owner, snow fighter, or landscape professional, you’ll find valuable insights, industry trends, and real-world advice. Expect candid conversations with industry leaders, tips for growing your business, and even a few wild stories from the field.
It’s informative, it’s fun, and it’s designed to help you thrive—whether the ground is covered in grass or snow.
New episodes every other week. Subscribe now to stay ahead in the green and snow game!
Blizzard & Bloom: Insights from the Ice and the Green Scene
Beyond the Garden: Navigating Trust, Trends, and Timing in Landscape Supply
The relationship between landscapers and plant suppliers forms the backbone of successful outdoor projects—yet few understand the complex forecasting, growing processes, and industry knowledge required to bring the right plants to the right place at the right time.
Donnie Piccarello from Pearson Nurseries brings decades of horticultural wisdom to this enlightening conversation about what's happening in the nursery business today. With candid insights about post-pandemic plant availability challenges and thoughtful perspective on sustainability trends, Donnie articulates how the five-to-eight year growing cycle for many landscape specimens means today's planting decisions impact availability far into the future.
The discussion explores the delicate balance between trending native plant enthusiasm and practical applications, with Donnie offering nuanced thoughts on when and where sustainability practices make the most sense. "You can't take and flip the switch quickly," he explains when discussing landscape transitions, emphasizing that contextual plant selection trumps rigid adherence to any single approach. His passion for stewartia as an underutilized landscape tree reveals both his deep plant knowledge and eye for design potential.
Perhaps most valuable for landscape professionals is Donnie's advice on securing plant material in an increasingly competitive market. His recommendation to communicate needs early—even during winter months—could save countless headaches during busy seasons. "It's all level of trust," he emphasizes, describing the collaborative relationship between nurseries, designers, and installers that leads to successful projects.
Whether you're planning a major landscape installation, curious about plant trends for 2025, or interested in the behind-the-scenes reality of plant production, this conversation offers essential insights from someone whose family business continues to shape Northeast landscapes. Subscribe now and join us next week when Greg from SiteOne brings his industry perspective to the show!
Welcome to Blizzard and Bloom, the podcast where we navigate the storms and celebrate the triumphs in business and entrepreneurship. Join us as we dive into stories, insights and strategies from top professionals to help you thrive in today's evolving landscape. And now here is your host, jay Rotinelli. Here is your host, jay.
Speaker 2:Rotinelli. Hello everyone, Welcome back to another episode of Blizzard in Bloom. Our last episode we had Angelique Robb from Sinkton Publications, a new publication that's out there in the outdoor living industry, so I hope you all enjoyed that episode. Today, Fortunately, I was able to get some time with Donnie Piccarello from Pearson Nurseries. I can't say enough how helpful Donnie's been with the folks I know my team for sure at Piscataqua Landscaping and then just whoever else has had the opportunity to work with him. So without further ado, I want to introduce Donnie and Donnie, thanks for being on the show today. Glad to have you here and as I get and I echo the words of the team is just, you know you're always super helpful when we need something. So can you share a little bit about us, maybe some of your background and kind of how you got into the industry?
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah, my name is Joe or Pierce. We're a grower Things, landscape, herbaceous. I run the sales, but I've been in the industry my entire life in some way shape or form. I started at the garden center when I was old and a lot of summertime Just kept cracking. I tried a couple times in the industry and really really do I really love this industry. As time went on I furthered my education in the kind of climbing industry and it has just been a piercing fourth season. Enough good things to land land in the direction.
Speaker 2:That's great. I know I've personally seen, again, been in the industry my entire life, much like yourself, and you know there's a lot of nurseries out there and we've got great relationships with most everyone. But I've had the opportunity to watch Pearson's grow as a company and as a family business and the things that you folks are doing and the organizations that you're promoting and helping support and being a part of, and I think that's really cool stuff. As we talk about 2025 and coming into the growing season now, what's the general mood in the plant and nursery business this year? I mean, what are people talking about? What are some of the challenges, some of the opportunities maybe, that people are looking at?
Speaker 3:I think a lot is on exactly the edge of the industry. In the nursery world you sort of have a sale garden center that really can be a homeowner and then you've got three wholesalers buying in three wholesalers and then you really can be homeowner. You want to pick, and then you've got free wholesale, buying in free wholesale and then you've got your own. We kind of deal with that and I think often people are a little bit cautious, optimistic. Just you know right now where we stay, where we are a home business. As you know, the jobs we're not seeing in the houses are still government jobs. So I would say all the added is very good.
Speaker 2:That's good, I you know people ask you on time and again. You see the ebb and flows of this, of this industry, through the ups and downs, and it's interesting because while landscaping is affected in, I would consider it more of a luxury type of service. At times it's still a necessity. And I mean, you know you can't get a CO until your until your landscaping is done. Most often you know you can't. You're not going to rent out property if it's just a building and you know there's no asphalt, paver, walkways, plantings or whatever.
Speaker 2:You know people say do you see a change happening? And I see a little bit of a shift, but that's all it is. I don't think it's. You know it's going downhill. I think, and I kind of wanted your opinion on this but COVID was just such a falsifying term or a few years for us and it really not only did it screw up the industry, many industries, but there was a false sense of availability and workmanship and I feel like, you know, people were buying everything and then, in turn, when you wanted to get some sizable stuff, you couldn't because people were selling everything stuff. You couldn't because people were selling everything. Um, and do you see any effects of that now in the industry, or is that kind of we're past that point or any leftover challenges with that?
Speaker 3:yeah, I wish I could and I asked. Now, 2020 for the past. There's them telling everyone better on certain and there's a couple of markets that bounced back on this ability. Quality pricing For one market pick your screen, norway's screen, but really in 10, 10, 10, 12, it's pretty lean. And then that is a whole bunch of people at home looking at their neighbors. I wanted those, so they were on anything over the training. And we still have from that, maybe getting a year, but very challenging yeah.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you saying that it's. It's um, I think it's going to trail us for a little bit longer. You know, people can recover from an illness pretty quick but a plant takes a long time to grow so it takes a little bit of time to you know, to get into that. So what are some? Are you seeing any different trends or different plant material that people are really looking for this season that might be different from in the past? Have you seen any trends of kind of more in-demand trees and shrubs? I mean the buzzword.
Speaker 3:I mean, the buzzword for the past is green Sustainability. Green Sustainability, ecotypes, ecotypes, crazy. And sustainability, ecotypes, ecotypes, crazy, and, as you know, dale evolving around native reclamation. So now is as a lot of residential conservation, so that's so. Now is as though now is as a lot of the residential and residential conservation or recreation. So that's been a drift, yeah, a little bit less more meadow, yeah.
Speaker 2:I know you know, like to your point, when talking about sustainability and then reclamation, like I know you folks are really, from my perspective in the Northeast, leading the charge on that and you know, when we get a set of plans or something and they're looking for native plants and whatever else, like you know, immediately it's call Pearsons call.
Speaker 2:Pearsons call Pearsons. So you know, when I see that, I can see that as being a trend and a self-driven one and self-promoting one. That's been really awesome to see and to know that we have that resource with you folks, you know, so that you can actually get the material. So that's that's.
Speaker 3:That's been a good experience for sure the other trend is the large fact. It seems like a little bit grisier. They were almost always Bridge Connick 6, 7, 7, 10, 10, 12. Well, there's definitely larger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting too, as I see some of the plants. You know, you talk to developers and excavation companies and they're like all the good land is gone. It's definitely larger. Yeah, it's interesting too, as I see some of the plans. You know, you talk to developers and excavation companies and they're like all the good land is gone and it's like it's true and false, right, but when people now and I think I do think again COVID had a lot to do with this but people now are creating these little small oases where they build their homes and they want that privacy and they don't want just a big white fence.
Speaker 2:You know it's kind of a screw you neighbor type of thing, you know they're trying to soften the looks, and so I do see a lot of that happening and so, uh, to echo what you're saying, I could see how that's uh, very trendy right now and a thing that's that's happening and probably difficult to keep keep on hand with the demand. It is yeah, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, talk to us a little bit about the sustainability. So I wanted everybody to share if they're not familiar with Pearson's you guys have done some cool stuff with the solar panels that you've done. We talked about reclamation plants and things like that. Are people starting to lean into that sustainability factor more from your perspective, or is it still something that is something that people want to get into or take a look and really drive, you know, with their surroundings, but maybe are hesitant?
Speaker 3:That's an interesting question and it can be controversial, controversial.
Speaker 2:You know my point, not your point of view.
Speaker 3:But yes, you put straight people who cultivate the ego. It's often there's definitely a time, in my opinion, where I believe my world has the most diversity of life world, as in the most diversity of life. So to limit and accentuate things can pigeon you know where on the coast of supply and type of place with fragile locally locally, but then when you Boston does a really locally, is playing on Palm, but then when you're in Boston on a rooftop it doesn't really Well said.
Speaker 3:Good point, I like the fact that people are into it, but it's on the level of two To straight speed. I think. It's on the little um to straight speed. I think pendulum back to some more again.
Speaker 2:Very, very, very planted useful yeah, it's and it's not it's. You can't take and flip the switch quickly with it, either right like it's. You can't go from having you know and then just dial it and all of a sudden it's just everything's sustainable and natural and native, because that doesn't work, either right. One of the things we've been doing is working with the University of New Hampshire with the Living Shoreline stuff, and we did a project over in Portsmouth. Well, we finished last season, we started the season before and kind of back to my point, we were able to reach out to you folks and you had all of those, those native species, and if you didn't have them on hand you were able to get them, you know, pretty quickly. So that was really handy and we've been doing a little bit more of that.
Speaker 2:And then you know this has been kind of a field experience and unh has been working and they've been following up with it and what species are working and what meadow mixes are working and what isn't. So I think it's gaining ground. And, to your point, there's applications for everything. Right, it's applicable on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee or you know, whatever it might be in Maine and New Hampshire, but not applicable on the rooftops, so I guess there's a plant for everything, right? So what would you say? Um, or some of the new cultivars that people could get excited about? Is there anything out there that you're seeing that you really like, that could gain in popularity or that people might like? Is there anything that new, uh, in the past 12 to 18 months?
Speaker 3:so that's a bit of a pretty strong cultivar thing. I generally will not plan for less vaccines Almost too many. So you know, we've got wonderful games nowadays, and the list goes on, and they're fans of some of the best freaks in the world and they're on guard, they're in. So the plants. But again, man, it's really hot and pit kydra, I bet 25. How the heck high. I bet 25 is coming. How?
Speaker 3:the heck, good or bad, or there are cultivars that have low growing or like low snow, that I think may reap the fruit of the world. But yeah, for the most part, varieties come. You know, the dwarf I want to see them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, it's funny. I came from the retail world of nursery stock. My family has a garden center and it's always interesting to me when things come in. And let's face it, it in the retail world different plants are marketed at different times of the year, right Based on looms, and how great they look. It just fantastic. And you know, nobody's buying creeping flocks in September. Typically they're buying them in, you know, may, right Beginning of May.
Speaker 2:So I think about that from a client perspective and I think about when the calls come in sometimes to us and we go out and see a prospect and they say, well, at the garden center they had these beautiful hydrangeas and they were just, the blooms were magnificent and I want those because I want to make sure I get that. And you really need to take a step back and say, all, right time out. What I need you to understand is that those are either forced or you know they're at their peak right now and they've been grown in the most ideal conditions. Now you're going to take that and put it on the north side of a house on Lake Winnipesaukee or it's not going to be the same. Well, they're selling it.
Speaker 2:And those are the conversations. I'm sure you're not having a lot of those, but I don't doubt there's maybe some contractors. But when people log on to home and garden television or they're seeing some of these plants, this is where it takes folks like yourself that are professionals to truly say, hey, that looks great, but in the long run you're going to end up with just green foliage, or it's not going to bloom or it needs to do this. So do you? I know you folks have. You've been doing a lot getting out there in the community and supporting different organizations and stuff. Do you find yourself needing to educate and or providing some of that education to maybe smaller contractors or folks that maybe don't have a lot of background on that All the time?
Speaker 3:I miss the nail on either that.
Speaker 2:All the time.
Speaker 3:I hit the nail on either up and hardscape time to really so we do those you know, there's a lot of times of year that you can plant it.
Speaker 1:Even green green plant.
Speaker 3:That much Portland Maine are rolling. If you're warned, yeah, so try to be responsible. Flag on Educate, educate Homeowner yeah, and then again, trade shows.
Speaker 2:Sure, there's even things I think about that quite frankly, really didn't, really I didn't think about wholeheartedly and a lot of until later in my career. But you think about the timing right. Like we talk about spring digs or fall digs, like what. There's different material available at different times of the year. So you know, having a trusted partner like you folks, you know you can reach out and maybe you don't know everything about horticulture, but you know that's where the likes of yourself and pearson's comes in to say, hey, we want to be a trusted partner with you. Like don't, don't buy these right now. Or if you're thinking about doing that, let me know, because we got to put in for the dig, or this is going to be the better times I know for us that's. That's super helpful to the team and it helps drive our schedule and sales capabilities. So I know that's, you know that. That's that's really important. Yeah, you know that's really important.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's all level of trust. You know me team, team architect or whatever, when we're having reasons. You know one particular fall Indiana big ones, the Eastern Reds and if they weren't sitting? Your failure was so high. Talk more people. Can you do your better? The best we can do is educate and make sure every agent and then a lot whomever own decision that's helpful too.
Speaker 2:I know we've had some times where we've had to.
Speaker 2:You know we'll get a plan from a contractor in la or where it might be, and you know we'll reach out to folks like yourself and you'll offer some substitutions.
Speaker 2:And here this is the reason why you know I think you should go with this alternative, whether it's availability or microclimates or whatever it is, and that helps us, I know, as landscape contractors go back and have an intelligent conversation with the la and most oftentimes when you say, hey, I was talking to donnie over at pearson's and I know we're looking to do this, but the timing of the season and then we were talking about location you know he had some other suggestions maybe we'd want to entertain, and I think that really creates that trust relationship. And I know you folks have done a lot of outreach with landscape architects, some of those folks out there who are designing and speccing these things, and I think it kind of ties it all in together. When we get those plans and and you know we talk with you and maybe it wasn't a great selection, but when you have that ability and that that background and knowledge to support it, I think it makes for a better relationship, more harmonious relationship, and how we can actually execute that plan with maybe some substitutions.
Speaker 3:That also helps when you're in contact with a marketer Actually say we should not. I'm not just. I don't have or pick you. This is a reason. It allows the LCA decision, and then again back to trust.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great, what's you know? Know, as people come into the industry, they want to learn more. I know we have, we have the associations in maine and we have the association of hampshire, massachusetts. What's some of the best ways people can educate themselves on? Plant material? Folks that are even in the industry like what, what's a? What's a good avenue for them is it is it something you know? An online thing they could look for? Or they could come by the nursery or some of your thoughts on that?
Speaker 3:So if younger, people interested in wanting to get into the garden center, wherever that is whatever it may be, even if you're in E Neal's plants that come in. Remember those, whatever it may be, even if your eneolus plants are coming. Remember those, learn about them, google them, but really visit your local whenever you can. Booth Bay, the coastal you know you've got the urban tree up the coastal.
Speaker 2:You know, got the urban urban tree up like that, but asking the questions is certainly fulfilling in the sense that most people will share their knowledge, like yourself or if you deal with, you know, let's say, a hardscape manufacturer or something. So again, creating those partnerships is really ideal. How do you balance? How do you balance the season, the inventory, the demand, the forecasting and the labor? Talk to me at a higher level about what goes into the nursery, because I don't think a lot of people know. I think people say, oh, I just go on and I'm sure Donnie's got 50 of these five gallon or whatever it might be, and don't understand what really goes into it. You're right.
Speaker 3:And I'm covering a task force with Boston's associate architect. It is a plant source realistic design industry production site. It's a five-year by the time we appear here and we put it already if somebody's grown, yeah, and then five years have a two-win Seven years, eight years, so it's a four-cast Is a wild most of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I, I was going to say that that's a, that's a wags, a wild ass guess. Because I mean I'm sure you can look at trends, but then you throw a COVID into it or I mean, you know, and it's like boy, how do you, how do you really gauge that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we look at ourselves. Yeah, we historical data look at ourselves for many years and we also look at casting A lot of what we do. We live in the bidding world, so we're consulting, we're on the line, we're quoting down the line. So we're sorting, let's say the A Gotcha. So you know we're pretty key. I'm going to probably carry production, my procurement, and say listen, process this, we've got to do something. And then what happens? For three years We've got a list. Yeah, yeah, right, right, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got a couple quick questions for you. What probably would? I got a couple of bullet questions, a couple of quick hit questions. What's probably would you say is your most favorite underused plant? I always wonder, like I look at folks like yourself right, you're dealing with these things all day, every day, and I'm like I always wonder, like in their mind, like what might be something that they say. But I can't believe people don't use this more.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'd be like I can't believe people don't use this more. It gets more popular the longer you use it. But I absolutely love it. It's a tree, it's so porcy. You've got this, you've got nice clean, you've got flowers and the sun. But what if it? If a little mess um stewartia, rainbow or season?
Speaker 2:yeah, uh, that's a cool plant too, stewartia for sure. Yeah. Yeah, let me ask you because we kind of wrap up here a couple more quick things what's kind of if, if you could have some advice for folks coming into the the heavy growing season and they're going to be looking for plant material and and knowing that they're going to need like what's some advice you could give to to somebody to be better prepared when they see you?
Speaker 3:I mean, I can't hold on to these light papers as soon as you reach out to whether it's somebody and get especially if it's left on the nursing. We will hold you. So if you do, even in the winter, you know you'll feel secure.
Speaker 2:That's great For someone that's ready to ship good to go.
Speaker 3:It's rambling at the moment. If you're a game and I understand the landscape, because we're dealing with peers and municipalities and reporters, because we're dealing with peers and municipalities and disorders. Either educate the LA making these decisions or connect them Real. Talk to them about availability, if the thing they're looking for or maybe it's a different tree, but it's really just stay ahead of it Availability.
Speaker 2:Certain things, things never be too early, exactly, yeah, and stress, we have a lot of plants yeah, you're good at handling all of that, yeah, and and I guess kind of my last comment to that is you know, be flexible, or try to educate the client on being flexible. And I think to your point, if there's an LA or a designer involved, you know, get back to them and try to, you know, create that harmonious relationship where there's that trust factor and people know that you're, you know, out for their best interest, um, and not just to sell them something that because that's not going to help anybody in the long run and that that doesn't create good, good business no, no, in the early nation, the better.
Speaker 3:Better might be involved conversation, right, don't don't wait until when nurse, nurse read it talking about it's, they're, they're, it's 99, very, very um, but they just surprised nobody likes surprises to human nature to human nature oh, that's great.
Speaker 2:well, listen, I, I I can't thank you enough and your team. You've been a great partner, uh for all of us here at piscataqua uh landscaping and uh seareeze when they were, and now we've merged with them and that it's truly meaningful and super helpful to our team. You know it's kind of the old cliche thing what you don't know, you don't know, right. So I know a couple of times you've came in and spoken to our team and talked about different things and when I tell you it pays dividends for both for us and for you, I hope it really does. It means a lot. So if people wanted to find Pearson Nurseries, where are you folks located?
Speaker 3:We're in St James. We come to the corner of Redford. Our address is there.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks. I appreciate you taking the time to jump on today and you really hit on some key things. And, as I shared with you, the better part of the audience is really looking for real life, real situational things and I think some of the things we talked about today are meaningful and impactful. There's always little tidbits of information to give to somebody and I think we nailed that today. And again, we appreciate the partnership and relationship and, for all the listeners out there, if you're in the Northeast, do yourself a favor and reach out to Donnie at Pearson's Nurseries. Whether he would be your sales rep or not, I don't know, but great company, great family business and glad to partner with them. So thanks again, donnie, for being on the show today. Really appreciate it For everybody.
Speaker 1:Again, donnie, for being on the show today.
Speaker 2:Really appreciate it. For everybody else, we're going to have Greg on the show next week from SiteOne, so he'll be a guest here. So we'll see you all soon.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thanks for tuning in to Blizzard Bloom with Jay Rotinelli. We hope you feel inspired and empowered. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Join us next week for more insights and stories to help you bloom in your business journey.