Johnson’s: more than a plant nursery
A plant nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to usable size. They include retail plant nurseries which sell to the general public, wholesale plant nurseries which sell only to businesses such as other nursery companies and to commercial gardeners, and private plant nurseries which supply the needs of institutions or private estates. Some retail and wholesale nurseries sell by mail.
Some plant nurseries specialize in one phase of the process: propagation, growing out, or retail sale; or in one type of plant: e.g., groundcovers, garden plants, semi-mature fruit trees, or rock garden plants.
Plant nursery growing methods
Plant nurseries often grow plants in a greenhouse, a building of glass or in plastic tunnels, designed to protect young specimen plants from harsh weather (especially frost), while allowing access to light and ventilation. Modern greenhouses allow automated control of temperature, ventilation and light and semi-automated watering and feeding. The occasional plant nursery also has fold-back roofs to allow "hardening-off" of quality plants without the need for manual transfer to outdoor beds.
Although some processes have been mechanised and automated by plant nurseries, others have not. Most plant nurseries remain highly labour intensive. It remains highly unlikely that all plants from a plant nursery treated in the same way at the same time will arrive at the same condition together, so plant care requires observation, judgement and manual dexterity; selection for sale requires comparison and judgement.