The challenge of finding seasonal workers in the landscape industry and other seasonal industries has been an ongoing challenge for at least a couple of decades.

Mari Medrano, human resources director at CoCal Landscape, Denver has more than 20 years’ experience working with foreign workers on H-2B legal guest worker visas. In spring 2021, Medrano wrote the article, H-2B: An Employer Perspective for Turf magazine and in spring 2022 her article received first place from the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association.

This editorial/opinion article highlighted her real-life experiences, and subsequent learning, from two decades of working with foreign workers on H-2B visas. She said the process is time-consuming and there are no guarantees a company will be granted workers from the program. “If you think you know what you’re doing, this program— with constantly changing government regulations and attacks from H-2B opponents—will knock you to your knees. It’s anguishing, hair-pulling, frustrating and dumbfounding, but also very fulfilling and rewarding,” she wrote.

Medrano thinks of the people who depend on her to get those visas, most especially the ones who have returned over many years. On top of the pressure to complete the process correctly and quickly, she also feels a personal burden for the workers and their families who depend on the visas.

The diverse plant palette you once enjoyed with consistent availability and a range of sizes may not only be up in the air this year, but for years to come. What to expect going forward depends on more complex scenarios than how rising fuel costs in 2022 drove up freight costs and then plant costs.

Behind-the-scenes insights came from two reps for wholesale plant growers and the owners of three wholesale nurseries along the Front Range: Wholesale grower reps Kent Broome (Rocky Mountain Horticulture Services) and David Dickey (DWD Plant Sales) joined Front Range nursery professionals, Dan Wise (Fort Collins Wholesale Nursery), Stanley Brown, Jr., (Alameda Wholesale Nursery, Englewood) and Matt Edmundson (Arbor Valley Nursery, Brighton) to share perspectives.

What’s up with plant supply?

Wholesale growers and nurseries have risk-taking in their DNA. They live or die by the weather as it’s either their best friend or their worst enemy. As Stanley Brown, Jr., notes, “Hail and drought will always be factors beyond our control. Hail can destroy an entire operation in an afternoon.”

Then there’s demand. Wholesale growers say they do their best to assess future demand and plant trees and shrubs accordingly. And sometimes information they get changes. “There is a disconnect between the supply side and the demand,” shared Matt Edmundson. For example, “Cities wanting more diversity in their tree canopy specify trees and after those trees are in the ground for a while, they change from one oak variety to another. We growers can’t hit a switch for instant change.”