BUSINESS: Spring and landscaping — in bloom

By Joe Olenick<br><a href="mailto:olenickj@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Joe</a>
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

May 09, 2008 02:32 am

— t’s finally getting warm outside, and now it’s time to get some yard work done. And according to some business owners, most people have a good idea of what they want their yards to look like. To help with those projects, customers seem very much in the know about what products they need to accomplish their goal.
Melissa Skorik, owner of Faery’s Nursery and Landscaping in Ransomville, said there are customers who are shopping for certain landscaping products.
“People are looking for privacy screens, shade trees and anything with color,” she said.
Like several other landscaping businesses, Faery’s offers a designing service that helps customers plan out any project. The project can be planned out on site, if the customers want to do the work, themselves. Many have already taken advantage of the service, Skorik said.
“We’ve seen a lot of people come in with measurements,” she said. “It could be something like someone building a deck and they want something around it. Or something just to spruce up the yard.”
Although costs are increasing, like every other business and industry, Skorik said Faery’s has been able to manage those costs well. Fuel for transportation is a big one, as well as labor costs and materials. However, being able to grow most of what they sell, Faery’s is able to handle the rising costs.
Mark Van Buren, owner of Zehr’s Farm Market and Nursery in Burt, said with the Internet and the rise of gardening shows on television, customers usually know what they’re looking for. They have an idea of what they want and what they need.
“What we’re finding out is that customers are more knowledgeable,” he said. “They’re more savvy, more sophisticated.”
Van Buren said Zehr’s grows all of the plants it sells, and it usually draws the type of customer who is looking for something unusual. Because of its customer base, Zehr’s can grow what it wants to, instead of growing more mainstream plants. He added the larger stores, such as Home Depot, help by drawing customers looking for mainstream items while Zehr’s can concentrate on people looking for that unusual product.
Van Buren said Zehr’s Web site, www.zehrsonthelake.com, offers a lineup of what kinds of different flowers and plants are available. It also contains articles about different trends in gardening and landscaping. According to Zehr’s site, the color purple and red were pretty popular. Earth tones are pretty popular choices, too, for flowers.
Customers can also create a shopping list online and bring it to Zehr’s. They can have their projects designed on a computer to see how they look, or even see pictures of the yard or the plants they want.
“It’s not the same-old same-old,” he said of Zehr’s. “It’s an experience.”
Mark Chudzinski of Faery’s Plant Market, (no connection to Faery’s in Ransomville), on Transit Road in Lockport said all kinds of products were moving pretty evenly. But the most popular was fiber optic grass, a filler piece for most landscaping jobs. And if someone were in need of a little help with their project, Chudzinski said they would be more than willing to offer advice.
“Absolutely,” he said. “That’s what we do.”
He added there was quite of list of plants that sells pretty well, as business tends to pick up in May.
in 1966, Skorik’s father began the Faery’s in Ransomville, which is now owned by Skorik and her brother. She offered some advice for do-it-yourselfers who are beginning their landscaping projects soon.
“You have to have the right plants, the right location and the right fertilizer,” Skorik said.
And for the people who would rather have someone else do the work?
“Give us a call,” Skorik said.
Contact reporter Joe Olenick
at 439-9222, ext. 6241.

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