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About Us
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| Z(left) and John(right) The business owners. |
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| A staff member on the job. |
Our growing
roots go back to our Grandfather in the Czech Republic. There he and my father budded over a hundred thousand roses annually.When
our father left the Czech Republic after WWII he came to Canada and followed his career in Horticulture working at Sheridan
Nursery.
Once married our parents resided in Villa Park, where they had a small nursery called Dennis' Nursery.My
mother raised flowers for cutting while our father raised trees and shrubs in the field.
In the late sixties our parents
moved their small nursery to our current location here in Plainfield.After our fathers retirement in the mid 80's the
nursery became a grain farm for several years.
In early 1990 I(John) began my independent career in horticulture
as the Nursery Manager for Franks Nursery and Crafts in Naperville Ill.In 1997 I took a position at Naperville Park District
as a Parks Foreman on The Riverwalk in charge of horticulture maintenance and special events.Here I broadened my knowledge
becoming a Certified Arborist.
Z worked many years as an Agricultural Engineer, also serving in our Nation's
Military.He also held positions as an estimator for Emerald Green Sod Farm,and a Foreman at Mundy Landscaping. For awhile
in the 80's he also owned and operated Riverheights Landscaping in Oswego ILL.
In 1997 Z and I decided to begin
growing trees and shrubs again at our Plainfield farm. We called our part time nursery Garden Visions Nursery.
In 2001
Z and I left our full time jobs and expanded Garden Visions to a Landscape Installation and Garden Center Operation.
Below is an article written about us in Country Folks Grower, if you have a chance we would like you to read it. It was
written by Mark Scheer, a writer, for Country Folks Grower.
When you have a chance stop by we love meeting our neighbors
and making new friends, and hopefully we can be of some service to you.
Garden Visions Keeps
Sight Set on Service
Article from Country Folks Grower
June 2006 edition Vol. 15
by Mark Scheer
Do what you do, and do it well. Sage advice for most everyone, though sometimes
easier said than done in business. The lure of chasing opportunities wherever they may exist can often lead some astray, resulting
in a decline in attention to those core services that likely brought initial success to the enterprise. But for brothers Zbynek
(affectionately known more simply as 'Z') and John Zidlicky, co-owners of Garden Visions Nurseries in Plainfield,
IL, focusing on service, value and expertise is precisely what they have done. And that discipline to stay focused and proceed
cautiously has rewarded them with a very successful nursery and landscaping business that continues to grow quite handsomely
year after year.
Garden Visions started about six years ago. John and Z’s father had owned a small nursery,
and upon his retirement, the two brothers thought they would use their experience to start their own nursery business. Z was
working for a commercial landscaping company at the time, and John worked for the Naperville Park District. Both had accumulated
significant experience, and were prepared to put that knowledge to action for their own venture. “We both had the knowledge,
and learned the business by being around our father,” said Z. “After he retired, we decided to just go for it.”
Garden
Visions was a completely new start-up for John and Z, independent of their father’s former business. The fresh start
allowed the brothers to create a business that was best suited for their experiences, and serve the customer base according
to how they saw area demands. The result was a company that is well-focused on a few specialized services.
There are two major centers of
business for Garden Visions. “Our base operation is the garden center, which is the retail sales business,” Z
explained. “We offer a full line of trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and other products related to the care of those
plants.” Garden Visions also supplies a range of soils, mulches and compost to complement their plant inventory. “From
a product standpoint, our selection and variety provides the customer plenty of options.” With the garden center being
the product-based segment of the company, their contract landscaping capabilities are the service-based segment. “We
do residential and commercial landscaping projects, though about 95 percent of our customers are residential,” Z continued.
“We mostly focus on developing home landscapes, whether on an existing property, or with a builder for new construction.”
In
the garden center, Garden Visions adds value and expertise in a number of ways. “Our knowledge of plants is our biggest
competitive advantage,” explained Z. “We offer our customers a wide variety of choices, and ensure we only sell
the highest quality product-all our plants are guaranteed.” To ensure the quality, Garden Visions has even begun growing
some of their own inventory. “We do some growing here on site now, and hope to expand that as we move forward.”
Added
to that quality is also expertise. “I’m a certified nurseryman in Illinois,” added John. “I first
became certified about four years ago.” To become certified, the Illinois Nurseryman’s Association administers
a two-part exam consisting of a very extensive written portion, as well as a intensive identification exam. Two disciplines
are offered for specialization. “I chose to focus on the woody ornamentals” John said. “The other focus
is perennials and herbaceous.” Getting certified requires a great deal of knowledge and effort, but maintaining certification
is also a dedicated task. “Once you become certified, you are required to attend seminars and other continuing education
sessions to earn points each year to maintain certification. It is a constant, ongoing process.” Z believes the value
of having John as a certified nurseryman is immeasurable. “John’s certification instills a lot of security and
confidence in our customers,” said Z. “They know they are receiving qualified advice and direction when they come
to Garden Visions.”
On the landscaping side of their business, Garden Visions also maintains a focus and expertise. As
a result, they do not provide maintenance services such as mowing, trimming and pruning; rather, they specialize in the design,
planting and installation of new landscaping projects. “Our landscaping projects begin with an on-site design consultation,”
explained John. “We utilize CAD software to create the landscape plan, and have customers visit our garden center to
see plant options and provide input to what they'd like to include in the design.” This close attention to the customer’s
wants is where Garden Visions excels. “We really focus on customer service,” added Z. “We want that customer’s
experience to be completely satisfying, and we want their results to go beyond what they hoped for.” John agreed. “Our
customer satisfaction is very high.” As a result, Garden Visions enjoys strong referral and repeat business.
“We don’t often
do the very large projects,” Z continued. “Our typical plan will range from $2500 to $7500, and our crew is in
and out in one or two days. It's rare for us to be on a job for more than three [days].” But the quality, service
and attentive planning brings customers back quite frequently. “Since we do smaller-budget jobs, we might do a front
yard for one customer, and later in the season, or in the next year, they may come back to have us to the back yard. Or maybe
their neighbor comes in because they like what we did next door.”
Such grassroots marketing (no pun intended)
has helped build Garden Visions into a strong, stable business. Overall, they employ a team of more than a dozen people; landscaping
is performed by two dedicated crews of three and four people each. In addition, a small inventory of equipment is maintained
to handle the on-site tasks. “We have the usual fleet of equipment: dump trucks, a skid steer, a Vermeer track…for
doing patios and other small excavating projects when landscaping,” said Z.
Since starting in 2000, Garden
Visions has remained locally focused, rarely extending beyond a 20-mile geographic market. By not spreading themselves to
far, John and Z have been able to maintain quality and value in their products and services, and the business has been rewarded
for that discipline. “Since we opened, we have been enjoying 35 to 40 percent growth year over year,” said Z.
They both see great potential for further growth, but even with their success, are cautious to not erode the advantages they
have worked hard to build in the marketplace. “We have a good thing going here,” added Z. “We’re just
going to continue to make improvements on what we have already. If you expand too fast, that creates it’s own problems.”
Even
mindful of the competition, continuing to do what they do best is always the priority. “Our biggest challenge continues
to be the big-box stores. They do a lot of damage to pricing, and have pretty much turned plants into a commodity,”
said Z. “But the clientele understands what they are, and they are not going to the big-box stores for designs or advice
or knowledge. Our customer service is the key, and that additional value that we can bring easily offsets the pricing difference
they might offer.” Sometimes it can be very difficult to maintain one’s focus in the middle of a crowded marketplace.
But John and Z Zidlicky have successfully done just that. Not ones to be intimidated by price wars, they have continued to
concentrate on providing the service, attention and expertise that has more and more become a rare commodity in this economic
landscape. With a strong following of satisfied and loyal customers returning year after year, it is clear that Garden Visions
has found its niche.
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