Miss. Nursery Sells Bonsai

Rick Guy/The Clarion-Ledger

Dana Quattlebaum with Brussel's Bonsai trims one of the trees in the greenhouse at the facility just outside Olive Branch.

Brussel Martin of Memphis, 54, established the nursery in 1978 after years of growing bonsai in his parent's back yard.
"When I was 5 years old, I can remember being instantly captivated by several bonsai my father brought back from a California business trip," he said. "As a teenager, I began to seriously study the art of bonsai. What started out as an artistic endeavor in my parent's back yard quickly grew into a business."
Martin began selling bonsai through the mail and traveled to shows across the country in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, he made annual buying trips to Asia. About 60 percent of the stock is imported.
The nursery moved last May into a $2.5 million complex with a pagoda-influenced roofline and an entrance flanked by Chinese foo dogs, symbols of good luck.
It has 60,000 square feet of greenhouse space and 8,000 of shipping, production space and a showroom and lecture hall. The nursery has 22 employees.
The greenhouses are rows and rows of small wonders planted in small containers, each filled with a special soil-less mix composed of clay aggregate and finely ground pine bark. Ficus, maple, jade, cypress, pine, juniper, holly, ginkgo — and even Redwood forests — fit in containers many of which are small enough to decorate coffee tables or fireplace mantels.<>

Rick Guy/The Clarion-Ledger Heidy Morales checks rows of bonsai trees in the greenhouse at Brussel's Bonsai just outside Olive Branch.

"Starting in April, we'll have azaleas and gardenias blooming," McDonnell said.
Employees use golf carts to move plants from greenhouses to the packing area where hoppers filled with styrofoam peanuts hang overhead.
A 4-year-old, 6-inch-tall ficus sells for $23 — and that's a starting point for a hobby that can grow into a serious addiction. "Orchids have the same type of collector," McDonnell said.
Trees known as specimen plants cost $500 or more and occupy their own greenhouse. Some of them sport "sold" tags — although the owners must wait two years to take them home. The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires plants to be quarantined for two years after they're imported.
Amory lawyer Michael Malski, who keeps a collection of 35 bonsai outside his home and flies in specialists two or three times a year to prune them, said Brussel's Bonsai is well-respected among collectors.
Malski said he's taken with bonsai because he likes the way they look. "Bonsai are very peaceful and very pleasant," he said.
Martin specializes in pruning, wiring and shaping the trees. McDonnell handles the technology. "Our contributions to the business are very much equal," McDonnell said.
About 60 percent of the nursery's business comes from catalogs and online sites for 10-12 companies such as FTD, ProFlowers and Hallmark; 30 percent comes from its own catalog and Web sit (www.brusselsbonsai.com); and 10 percent from wholesale customers such as garden centers, McDonnell said.
"Seven years ago our largest customer was Home Depot," McDonnell said. "Home Depot relied on us to merchandise and order and fill its stores. That became a big headache, and we pulled back from that."
The nursery owners turned to technology to expand the customer base to Internet shoppers who wanted to send bonsai trees as gifts.
"We realized we could import and grow bonsai very well and we were good at shipping," McDonnell said. "The Internet allows us to focus on those two things without having personnel maintain displays and go to garden centers."
Holidays drive sales. "We filled more than 14,000 orders last Mother's Day," he said.
The company is privately owned and wouldn't release its earnings.
Brussel's Bonsai mails out its catalog at the end of each March, and business typically picks up in April due to catalog customers placing orders, he said.
"Seven years ago, we sent out 15,000 catalogs," he said. "We'll send out 130,000 this year."
Olive Branch is ideal for a bonsai nursery. Its water contains a level of acidity that's healthy for the plants, its climate is similar to Japan where some of the trees originate, and Memphis is a 20-minute drive away and home to the Federal Express hub.
"We can receive orders until 7 p.m., and any order we receive before then we'll ship today," McDonnell said.
In March, the company will expand its reach to QVC TV, the home shopping channel. Martin is scheduled to appear March 21 and sell ficus bonsai and azalea bonsai.
"We expect to sell 1,700 trees in eight minutes," McDonnell said. "If we do well, they'll invite us back."
Olive Branch Mayor Sam Rikarddoubts many of the 29,000 residents of his city know Brussel's Bonsai is there or what it is.
"I think people across the country know it's there, but it's a quiet, little secret to those in our area," he said.