R.A. Dudley Nurseries: Keeping it simple

Mike and Tommy Dudley’s family has been producing and selling shrubs, perennials and trees from its Georgia location since the 1940s. Currently, Mike’s son Bennett represents the fifth generation to work at the nursery. Tommy has three children who may also come back to the nursery.

“We’ve really been blessed to be able to keep things going for five generations,” Mike says.

When Tommy and Mike joined the nursery in 1974 and 1978, respectively, the business was a lot different. At that point, the nursery had about 12 employees. Today it has about 115. The nursery was 65 acres then. Now, it sprawls across 763 acres, with 175 being irrigated bed space.

“Our children’s generation is like getting on a train going 60 mph,” he says. “Tommy and I were able to get on it going 10-12 miles per hour.”

That doesn’t mean the brothers didn’t make any changes. The nursery was all field-grown B&B material at that point. Tommy made the call to switch to containers, and now the nursery produces exclusively 1-gallon to 7-gallon material.

The nursery is licensed for many branded plants, and it sells to rewholesalers, retail garden centers and mass merchants. Although the highest volume goes to rewholesalers, Dudley made a strategic choice to diversify with customers from all three branches.

“You have to have a good mix between all three of them to make it work,” Mike says. “I don’t think you can make it on one segment.”

The last year was a good one for R.A. Dudley Nurseries – Mike says 2014 not only was the first year to hit pre-recession sales numbers, but it was the best year the nursery has ever had.

For more: www.radudley.com