Sustainability initiatives at Monrovia

Monrovia grows 4,000 varieties of plants in four states and aims to grow them sustainably.

Matt McClellan, Editor

Published May 03, 2024
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In early March, I travelled to Monrovia’s nursery in Visalia, California. The company was founded almost 100 years ago on a 10-acre plot in Monrovia, California, by a Danish immigrant named Harry Rosedale. Today, the company grows 4,000 varieties of plants in four states and aims to grow them sustainably.

In the 1970s, Monrovia began recycling irrigation water. The nursery has continued to push water conservation in its production practices, including irrigation automation, monitoring temperature and wind conditions in order to choose the most effective means of irrigation and micro-irrigation that prevents wetting plant foliage.

Along with water conservation, Monrovia works to increase energy efficiency. Due in part to its energy-efficient greenhouses and efficient loading and shipping practices, the Environmental Protection Agency recognized Monrovia with the EPA Evergreen Award, which recognizes outstanding pollution prevention efforts.

This canal runs through the nursery and accounts for about 55 percent of Monrovia’s water recycling at the Visalia location, according to Osvaldo Robles, the nursery’s general manager. The water refills the aquifer, and once it reaches the canal, it’s pumped back into the reservoir where it will be treated and reused until it evaporates. Across Monrovia’s four growing locations, the company saves 2.5 billion gallons of water each year.
Each section of the Visalia nursery is designed to maximize water conservation. Growing fields are sloped at a slight angle to allow irrigation runoff to return to retention ponds to be re-used.
Monrovia has eight HV-100 robots from Harvest Automation at its Visalia nursery. After a forklift drops off a load of containers can-tight, the robots handle the back-breaking work of moving and spacing all those green pots. Osvaldo Robles explains how this saves Monrovia craftsmen’s labor for other tasks.
Imagine hand weeding 22 million plants; Monrovia does just that. The nursery does still use herbicide, just not nearly as much. Top dressing plants with bark nuggets is another way to reduce the need to weed.
A picture in Monrovia’s conference room shows a sign with the company’s midcentury logo.
Monrovia craftsmen trim and shape boxwood spirals, juniper globes and pom-poms.
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