We may have new messaging, but that does not mean our values and operations are new. Our new messaging is a tool to better communicate and showcase what we at Loma Vista Nursery have been doing all along. This week we are featuring our resource message. It’s not just enough to say we are a resourceful company, so we want you know exactly what we do at our nursery each and everyday to make sure we use our resources wisely. Below are some highlights of our resource conscious practices.
Our resource message:
Resource Conscious ~ At Loma Vista Nursery, what we do and how we do it matters now and for future
generations.
Container Facility
Water recapture: The main reason our founder Mark Clear bought and moved to our 350 acre container facility in Ottawa, KS was because of the rock quarry the nursery sits on. The quarry lake holds enough water for us to be completely sustainable and need to get water elsewhere. On top of that, we’ve put practices into our nursery with our irrigation system to also recapture the water that we use.
above: The quarry water in the middle of our property
Internal propagation: We don’t truck as many plants in from far away because we propagate the majority of our plants ourselves here. This reduces the amount of trucks we use and allows for us to utilize our own plant resources here to produce our products.
Plant palette: We do not grow any invasive species of plants, and we are quick to respond if a plant gets deemed invasive. We then find a better solution by finding non-invasive varieties of the plant or substituting it with an entirely new plant altogether.
Minimization of chemicals: Without chemicals, we would not be able to manage our plant diseases and growth, but we want to make sure that we only use small and efficient amounts. To manage our usage, we have selected equipment that minimizes the amount of chemicals we use in our sprays such as our electrostatic mist blower. Read more about our facility HERE.
above: Electrostatic mist blower
Tree Farm
Terrace: All of our fields at our 650 acre in-ground tree facility in Willow Springs, KS are terraced. We do this to prevent erosion in order to help with the longevity of the land and to not interfere with the natural water sources around.
Ground rest: We value the land we have, and we want to treat it with as much care as we can. To do this, we rest our ground after growing trees on it, and we plant cover crops. These practices put nutrients back into the soil.
above: A section of our in-ground tree farm.
Recycling Initiatives
Nursery plastics: Inevitably, we have to use an assortment of plastic products on the nursery such as housing tarps and plant pots; however, we are extremely conscious of this, so we recycle all of our nursery plastics that can.
Company-wide initiative: We do more than just recycle products to make plants. We also have a company-wide initiative to recycle paper, aluminum, and plastic. Each department has its own recycling receptacles.
Compost plant waste: A facility full of plants will always end up having plant waste whether it be fallen leaves or plant trimmings from pruning. Rather than trash the waste in landfills like other facilities do, we compost all of our plant waste on our property and plant over it with native plants/grass mix.
Our Plants
Quality: We know that the plants we grow today will be planted into places that people gather, enjoy, and engage in such as parks, back yard patios, boulevards, personal gardens, trails, and landscapes, so we put pressure on ourselves to grow the best varieties using the best practices because we want our plants to last for future generations. A poorly grown plant won’t last long in a landscape and will have to be replaced time and time again, which ends up being a waste of resources from what went in to grow and sell the plant, and the plant itself ends up being a wasted resource. Our goal is to grow the best quality products that will thrive where they are planted.
above: An overhead shot of part of our container facility.
Messages
Stay tuned for blog posts about more of our Core Messages coming in the next few weeks. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at sales@lomavistanursery.com or (785) 229-7200
Check out all of our messages here: https://lomavistanursery.com/messages/