This interview is with Tammy Sons, Founder/CEO at TN Nursery.

Tammy Sons, Founder/CEO, TN Nursery

Welcome, Tammy! Can you tell us a little about yourself and what sparked your passion for gardening and horticulture?

I am a passionate horticulturist and the founder of Tennessee Wholesale Nursery. With over 30 years of experience in the industry, I am dedicated to promoting sustainable gardening practices and supporting pollinator-friendly landscapes. My plant cultivation and landscape design expertise have made me a respected voice in the gardening community. When not working in the nursery, I enjoy writing articles for therapy and sharing knowledge to help others create beautiful, thriving gardens.

Your journey in the world of gardening and marketing is truly inspiring! Could you share some key moments or experiences that shaped your career path?

During the early days of our marriage, we struggled to make enough money to cover our bills. To supplement our income, I sold plants on my days off. Despite having a degree in a field unrelated to horticulture, I realized that pursuing a career in cosmetology might not provide long-term financial stability.

You've mentioned the importance of user-generated content. Can you elaborate on how gardeners and horticulture enthusiasts can leverage this to benefit their businesses or projects?

AI benefits writers if they are hired to write about subject matter they know very little about. However, I never find it significant, as a rule of thumb, to use if you are knowledgeable about your subject matter.

In your experience, what are some common misconceptions people have about gardening, and how can they overcome these to achieve better results?

A lot of people are overwhelmed by excessive information on 'how to start a garden' or 'how to plant a specific type of plant.' It's mostly hogwash. The main challenge for new gardeners is to not believe everything they hear or read, but to speak to someone with experience, and they can offer some easy tips to garden successfully without all the jargon often read online by those without experience or that has been written by some AI tool.

You've successfully integrated technology, like the 'find my zone' feature, into your business. What other digital tools or platforms would you recommend for garden centers or horticulture businesses looking to enhance their online presence?

I'd love an area on our website where users (consumers and homeowners) could upload pictures of their lawns and virtually add specific plant choices to their yards to see how it would look. I would call it a 'virtual landscaper' tool.

Sustainability is a growing concern for many gardeners. What are your top tips for eco-conscious gardening practices?

Use organic when possible. For example, use table scraps for fertilizer, broken eggshells to add protein to plants, rainwater for irrigation, and topsoil for mulch.

Marketing seasonal trends seems crucial in your field. How do you identify these trends and effectively adapt your marketing strategies throughout the year?

Adaptive timing is crucial in marketing for a seasonal business. Trends and seasonality are significant because certain products can only be harvested during specific seasons. For example, trees and shrubs can only be harvested during the dormant season, when there are no leaves or foliage on them. Therefore, marketing strategies need to be based on the seasonal ability to harvest when it's safe to do so.

With the rise of online marketplaces, what advice would you give to small garden businesses looking to stand out and thrive in a competitive digital landscape?

Online marketplaces have offered us very little help with selling our products. Perhaps for a startup, it would be a good idea, but not for a company with 23 employees and over 3,000 acres of availability from other growers' fields and our own. We mainly rely on paid media ads, PPC, and social media marketing outside our organic rankings in the SERPs to sell our products.

Looking ahead, what emerging trends in gardening, horticulture, or marketing excite you the most, and why?

It excited me to see how the world, in general, is finally understanding the importance of native plants. I run a native plant nursery with one of the most extensive availabilities online or off, and I have tried to teach people for decades that native plants are the only way to go. They are pest- and disease-resistant, drought-tolerant, and require very little, if any, fertilizer to thrive and live for many years. In contrast, those fancy hybrid plants that humans have genetically modified are prime targets for pest invasions and diseases and seldom live over five to ten years at most.