<b>Trees, Ornamental & Bedding Plant:</b> Contractor's Choice

Shrubs and Staycations
Jamie Jamison Jr.
President, Brandywine Nurseries, Wilmington, Del.

Business split:
50 percent landscape installation; 30 percent residential and commercial maintenance; 20 percent site work (environmental restoration, erosion control, etc.)

Number of employees:
30 year round

Annual revenue:
$1.5 million

Typical annual spend on plant materials:
$300,000-$400,000

What plants are you most commonly installing?
Whatever is specked, that’s what we install. So it’s a lot of Ilex glabras, fothergillas and a lot of freaking liriope. We still use a fair amount of  Leylands and do a lot of spiraeas. Because of last winter with all the cold and snow we’re doing a lot of shrub replacements in 2010. And people are still spending money on color replacements.

Since people are staying home more on their ‘staycations,’ we’re seeing people spending money to upgrade their patios and backyards. Stuff like that.


Where do you buy your plants?
Mainly growers within a 50-mile radius. We’ll have shipments of trees delivered, otherwise we’ll drive out and pick up what we need.

Why do you buy them there?
We literally have hundreds of good nursery growers within that 50-mile radius in Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. We have long-term relationships with all of them. Each has specific products they do really well and we know where to go to get what we need.