| FFA Nation

Planting While Planning: Business Major Nurtures Nursery Goal

Chris Hayhurst | 05/10/2010 |

The bat-faced cuphea is the kind of plant anyone could love. As its name implies, its flowers look just like bats – if bats were purple, that is, with big scarlet-red ears. It’s easy to grow, it’s a hit with birds and insects, and, thanks to its stunning good looks, it’s guaranteed to draw attention from all passersby.

But don’t plan on growing the bat-faced cuphea if you live in the North; it hates the cold, and it won’t survive a frost. This plant, also known by its Latin name, Cuphea llavea, thrives in the hot and dry South – places like Temple, Texas, where one of its biggest fans, Temple College student Alicia Moeller, spends her days preparing for a future career in horticulture.

“We call it the butterfly plant,” says Alicia, who works part time at a local nursery as she earns a degree in business. “It really attracts the butterflies.”

Learning on the Job

You might wonder, why would a person who is interested in something like the bat-faced cuphea, and horticulture in general, make business her major? But talk to Alicia, who first learned about plants as an FFA member at nearby Academy High School, and the reason is clear. There’s a lot more to the job than you think, especially if you’re ambitious. “I’d like to own my own nursery,” says Alicia, who’s already started looking for a greenhouse to buy. “And there’s all kinds of work that goes into that.”

You have to run the business like a business, she says, but you also need to have a knack for customer service – a skill she’s currently honing in a human relations class.

“That’s very important,” she explains. “You meet all kinds of people coming from all backgrounds, and you have to be able to communicate with them effectively.”

The plant and horticulture courses will come, she says. For now, though, she’s focused on the core requirements she needs in order to graduate on time.

Meanwhile, Alicia says, her job at the nursery – the same place she has worked since her sophomore year in high school – enables her to keep her green thumb. “When I started,” she recalls, “I couldn’t tell a weed from a plant. But over time, by pruning and repotting and labeling and watering and doing a little of everything, I figured it out.”

Now, she says, she’s really developed an understanding of each species. Alicia has learned the plants' basic sunlight, water and soil requirements, but she’s also developed an eye for “what works” and can advise the nursery’s customers on appropriate choices for their particular needs.

“It’s always challenging,” she says, “but it does get easier the more you do it.”

Xeriscaping

Back to that butterfly plant. The bat-faced cuphea is a perfect fit for what those in the trade call “xeriscaping.” Xeriscaping is a gardening technique that relies on smart and minimal use of water. Through use of drought-resistant and native plants, abundant mulch, and careful watering with well-placed drip lines, the gardener who xeriscapes can create elaborate arrays of flowers, shrubs and trees requiring very little maintenance. In xeriscaping, Alicia says, if a plant is too thirsty, or can’t take the heat, it’s out.

“I see people using sprinkler systems all the time,” she says. “It’s so hot here and so dry that they’re really wasting water. Then they use pesticides to kill bugs and other chemicals to control weeds, and all that water causes everything to run off into the creeks and rivers.”

Xeriscaping, she says, may require more thought up front, especially in the planning and design stages, but in the long run it’s easier, it’s environmentally friendly and it just makes sense.

“You put in the plants that belong there,” she says, noting that you don’t have to sacrifice flair or style in the process since there are lots of drought-resistant species from which to choose. “Shade-loving plants go with other shady plants, while those that need more sun go in the sun.”

Mix up your colors by using lots of different varieties, she says, and the results can be beautiful.

Big Plans

Alicia isn’t all about plants. In addition to her nursery work, which she does on weekends, she has a full-time job in the Texas Health Department’s WIC program (she goes to school at night). She also likes showing heifers, and she spends a lot of time helping her boyfriend and his family on their 5,000-acre farm. Still, her heart is in the garden, and in xeriscaping in particular, and she hopes it won’t be long before she can really launch her career. She longs to start her own native plants from seed, to watch her own trees grow tall in the heat of the Texas sun, and to work with her very own customers in the light and open spaces of her personal nursery.

“That’s the plan,” she says. “I can’t wait.”