America's Best Flowers Serves Dane County Wisconsin's Nursery Needs

America's Best Flowers Garden Center closed this winter for the first time since it opened its flower nursery in Cottage Grove 22 years ago.

The nearly three-fourths acre portion of greenhouse space that owners Ed and Carol Knapton kept open during the winter months was too costly to heat. The good news is that a return to a year-round operation is in the works, with the help of a little green.

But don't be confused. While greenbacks might be at the root of the issue here, Ed says they are using another type of green to help cut costs this time. He has spent the last five months heavily involved in the research of alternative energies and currently has plans to install a bio-fuel boiler next year that will eventually heat their entire greenhouse area - a space covering a little less than the area of two football fields. The boiler will burn switchgrass, a tall, fast-growing plant native to the American prairie. The Knaptons plan to grow half the fuel source themselves, using land at the nursery and additional farmland they own in Marshall. But even if they plant the switchgrass this fall, Ed says it will be next fall or the year after before they can harvest the crop.

"As a company, we have always been concerned about the environment," says Ed, adding that they installed an environmental control computer about 10 years ago to manage climate in their greenhouses. The automated system reads the sun's intensity and the outdoor temperature, so it knows when to turn the greenhouses' heat on and off, and when to open and close the greenhouse's roof to maintain an optimal temperature balance. "It can do it better than a human can," says Ed.

Staying atop technology is important and the cost savings that result allow for improvements in other areas, including the addition this year of 40 parking spots and an entire remodel of their perennial tree and shrub area.

At peak season, the nursery employs about 75 people. That's quite a jump from when it was just Ed and Carol starting their first business - a pick-your-own strawberry farm in Marshall back in 1977. Ed was fresh out of college with a horticultural degree from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He and Carol, who both grew up in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, had been married for about seven years when they started Berry Hill Farm. "I grew up on a dairy farm and basically I couldn't get farming out of my blood," said Ed.

But pick-your-own at they time was a relatively new business so it became a "trail-by-error" experience for the Knaptons. "There wasn't many examples of pick-your-own around at the time," said Ed. "There wasn't a lot of knowledge of small-scale vegetable growing either at that time. Nowadays, you've got community supported agriculture; there is a lot more information at the UW on specialty fresh market vegetables that just didn't exist."

The move to Cottage Grove, Wisconsin to open America's Best in 1990 came a few years after they started the transition from strawberries to specializing in flowers. "It took us three...maybe four years to figure it all out and we continue to grow them," says Ed. The experience gained during more than 20 years growing flowers has resulted in not only an intimate understanding of the many annuals and perennials that they sell, but how the plants grow and thrive in Wisconsin. It's something they say sets them apart from the big-box stores.

"Our goal is basically the best variety regardless of how hard it is for us to grow. So what you will find is that the big-box stores tend to have varieties that are a little different than ours and are easier for the wholesalers to grow. But they do not perform as well for the customer. We test a lot in our own gardens here so we know what grows well here in our local area and our soil."

It's an attention to quality that has lent to a fertile base from which the business has grown through the past 30 years - including four satellite sites at the Menards store parking lots in Monona, Wisconsin and near the East Towne Mall in Madison, Wisconsin; the Sears parking lot at the West Towne Mall in Madison; and at Sun Prairie Rentals in Sun Prairie. "Our strong point is on the east side, but because we are in those four locations we pretty much cover the city of Madison," says Ed.

Free workshops throughout the spring, summer and fall are offered to help customers make the most their gardens and gardening experiences. Seminars are offered on everything from container gardening to what plants are best for a shade garden.

The expertise is here, says Carol. "Our perennial tree and shrub manager and her group can always give advice on what kind of a flowering shrubs will help establish something in their yard. We can also teach how to amend the soil if you just built a home in soil that isn't the greatest." America's Best also takes its workshops on the road, to garden shows and other events throughout Dane County.

One part of the business that the Knaptons are especially proud of is a fundraising program where nonprofits, schools and churches sell America's Best gift cards.

"We don't mark them up at all," says Marketing and Events Coordinator Bonnie Marshall. "They can sell our gift cards from October to April 1 and they keep 25 percent of all the value of the gift cards that they sell. Churches like Door Creek and a lot of other churches have been able to send their youth on mission trips. They have gone down and worked on Katrina. They've gone down to Central America and Mexico."

A customer loyalty program they offer - similar to a customer rewards program at a grocery store - takes one percent of the participating customer's gross sales and donates it to either a church, school or charity of the customer's choosing. Between the gift cards and loyalty program, Ed estimates that they give about $55,000 to charity each year.

Giving to their community is a big part of doing business for the Knaptons and they attribute it entirely to their commitment to Christians. "We proudly proclaim that we are Christians. We let our staff know and our customers know that we are committed to acting in a kind and gentle manner, like Jesus did to all individuals. That's just who we are. I think customers respond well to that. They like to know who they're buying from and we tell them."

America's Best Flowers

4311 Vilas Hope Road

Cottage Grove WI. 53527 

Telephone: (608) 222-2269 

Web site: http://www.americasbestflowers.com/