'Landscaping is much more than pretty plants'

The family behind Gardens of Babylon has green principles powering growth [From our print edition featured in Monday's City Paper]

Email | Print By William Williams

From left: Mark, Matt and Marcus Kerkse

Marcus Kerske is chief executive officer of Nashville-based Gardens of Babylon Inc., with the company’s Farmers Market retail center arguably the area’s most recognized lawn and garden care retail business. Kerske joins father Mark (company founder and president) and brother Matt (retail operations president) in running the business, which last fiscal year generated $1.4 million in sales.

Recently, Kerske and Post correspondent William Williams met to discuss Gardens of Babylon and the lawn/garden business.

You’ve enjoyed five consecutive years of revenue growth, with 2009 revenues up 40 percent compared to 2008 figures. How have you managed this?

I think a number of factors come into play. First, as a full-range garden center and landscaping company, we serve a wide variety of clients — from homeowners who need regular yard maintenance and landscape design to general contractors, landscape architects and commercial property managers who need full work crews. Those many lines of business keep us in high demand.

The first few years in business, we had maybe a couple different types of customers. But we worked hard then to define what that Gardens of Babylon brand would mean to them. It’s a few years later and we're all proud of who we've become. Our name has become synonymous with healthy, natural outdoor solutions — that’s probably the single strongest brand attribute people identify with Gardens of Babylon. The early years of defining our customer service and unique business offerings are what continue to help us grow into the larger service sectors.

The company’s 2009 revenues were about $1.4 million. Any revenue goals for this year?

If we’re as successful as our goals are ambitious, we will see another strong year. Our projections call for about a 40 percent increase in business. We’re already exceeding our first-quarter projections, thanks to our commercial maintenance division adding a few apartment complexes and a large condo development. We expect commercial maintenance as well as residential maintenance and design to be strong leaders for us in 2010.

Your landscaping business grew 35 percent last year and you also totaled $100,000 in revenues with a new irrigation services division. What’s driving that growth?

Landscaping is much more than pretty plants. A good landscape design can add 20 percent to the value of your property and save up to 25 percent in heating and cooling costs. That’s a figure that rivals the return on a new kitchen or bath. We have a strong base in Green Hills, Franklin, Brentwood, Hendersonville and about seven other parts of Middle Tennessee where that value equation makes sense to our customers.

Our customers want better-looking, low-maintenance spaces, so we've specialized in those that require minimal trimming, weeding, fertilizing and insects. And that’s where irrigation comes into play. We don’t do a lot of new installations.

Most of the time, we’re retrofitting first-generation irrigation systems with smarter systems — more efficient spray heads, pulsing systems that reduce runoff and systems that are triggered by evapotranspiration rates or weather monitoring stations when watering is actually necessary. We figure a good retrofit can save about 30 percent in water, which is considerable for the apartments and commercial clients we serve.

You’re focused on all-natural products. What is the state of the Nashville area’s community of similar companies? Where might it be in, say, 10 years?

Right now, I'm aware of only one other company dedicated to vegetable garden installations, and one or two landscape companies that promote green and sustainable practices. I don’t know any garden centers that are dedicated to all-natural pesticides and fertilizers. I suspect there will be in several years.

Consumers have been trained for so long that it’s just commonplace in landscape to kill weeds and kill pests with toxic chemicals. The big-box stores dedicate only small amount of shelf space to the natural concept. We’re always pushing the boundaries. For example, this year we’ll begin offering full-range commercial landscaping and maintenance with alternatively fueled propane equipment.

Why go with the all-natural theme?

Quite honestly, it’s just who we are and we’ve built a company that represents that. We’re environmentally focused through our work, yes, but personally, too, with our support of community gardens, community-supported agriculture shares, recycling and more. When my father started the company (in 2002), it was probably similar to other garden centers. But he quickly realized there is a better, more natural way.

Late last year, you moved your business office to south Nashville, where you share a complex on Fort Negley Court with the Tennessee Concrete Association. Why make that move?

The location is exciting for an eco-focused company like ours. TCA transformed a former warehouse location into a model urban retrofit. They installed a pervious concrete parking lot, which allows water to seep into the ground. They installed a 4,500-gallon rainwater harvesting cistern and other earth-friendly features. The site offers plenty of space for storing our mulches and topsoils.

It’s also a model for responsibly sized office space. Our part of the building is about 525 square feet and eight employees work from this location.

This is truly a family business. On that note, your father Mark is one of the city’s most interesting and well-rounded businessmen. What’s your take on the Gardens of Babylon family element?

A true family business definitely has its advantages. Knowing the guy who has your back at work is the same guy or couple of guys who have always been there your entire life — there’s nothing like that feeling. If you think about it, so much of a successful business is creating that right environment with matching values and work ethics. Sure, we have areas of the business where we sometimes disagree, but I can tell you we understand and respect one other more than typical colleagues.

The Farmers Market garden center comprises 18,000 square feet. Is there room for expansion? What are the main challenges to maintaining it?

It’s a great location for us, with built-in traffic and a good amount of cross-marketing opportunities both on-site and off. The Farmers Market customer has proved to be a good Gardens of Babylon customer. I’d say almost 85 percent of our new customers come from the Farmers Market.

After moving our landscape and other service divisions, we gained about 30 percent more space. That should satisfy us this year. But future growth at the market is somewhat limited, so growth to more locations is probably in our future.

Could the company locate in other markets?

Within the next three to five years, we’ve got our sights set on a couple of other Tennessee cities and possibly other cities in the Southeast. We would mainly focus on our services (landscaping and maintenance). Then we could expand with the retail.

What can you tell us about your work with more than 60 families who have begun growing their own food through your “personal farming” concept?

The personal farmer for us has been a large blessing. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed helping our clients become more self-sufficient and grow their own food. The most enjoyable part is seeing their children get involved and educated by the garden.

This spring has been a busy one so far with a demand for our vegetable gardens. We offer a service whereby you pick out the size of garden you want, and we come in with all the necessary elements — from soil to seeds — and help you create a personal farm that makes sense for you at home. We’re thrilled to be a part of a much larger movement of local food and farming.