Q&A with Katie Stanfield

Katie Stanfield is the second generation of Blankenship Farms and Nursery located in McMinnville, Tennessee. She’s also on the board of the Middle Tennessee Nursery Association and co-chair ofTNGRO’s Rooted, which is an industry event held on Oct. 15-16 in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Katie McDaniel: How did you get started in horticulture?

Katie Stanfield: I grew up in this industry. My parents, Beth and Jerry Blankenship, started Blankenship Farms and Nursery in 2003. I grew up counting trees on four wheelers, fertilizing trees on Saturdays and weeding trees, which is not a fun job at all. I remember going to different trade shows all around the U.S., like MANTS and the Southern Nursery Association show in Atlanta.

I went to college at Harding University, and when I graduated, I worked in marketing and communications in a big corporate company. Then my parents presented me with the opportunity to come home and work for them. I took it, and I’ve been here for the last five years.

KM: Do you have a first memory of being at the nursery?

KS: When I was growing up, we had this computer room. It was a really sunny room between my brother’s bedroom and my bedroom. My mom propagated hydrangeas in that room. We had rows and rows of cups and mason jars where she would be rooting all these hydrangeas. When I was wanting to go play my Webkinz, I would have to move the hydrangeas aside to play on the computer. When we say the nursery started at our home, I mean, it started in our home.

I also remember going to a nursery my dad used to work at and we’d always beg our parents for money because they had vending machines. My siblings and I loved a vending machine. We’d go over there and get our Honey Bun and a Coke and get to hang out at dad’s office and watch him work. And that was really cool.

KM: What do you do as sales and operations manager?

KS: I work with our customers and make sure we have the plants they need. Then I work with my team to make sure we’re able to tag the plant, dig the plant and get the plant on the truck in an efficient manner.

When I was in college, I was a marketing major and did web design, development and digital media. When I came back to the nursery, I created a system that hooks up to QuickBooks and a few different apps so we can all see where a plant is in production. Previously, we were all on paper, but now we can see all the orders at the same time. It’s making us more efficient and that has been a big part of my role and something I’ve really enjoyed.

KM: Is working outside the family business first beneficial, and would you recommend it to somebody else who was born in the industry?

KS: I really would. Because my dad and mom have been my boss for a long time. I think it was really important to see different leadership styles and work with different people. I was able to grow as a person by putting myself out there in situations that I wouldn’t have been in if I had just come straight from college onto the farm. So, that was very beneficial.

I also learned a lot of different skills that I took back here — different Photoshop skills that I use in our advertising, different things that I used to build our website and learned in my previous role.

KM: What do you do for fun?

KS: I really enjoy going on trips with my husband and my kids. We try to visit national parks. I also love to thrift, and I do crafts. I love to sew and make things. And I have chickens. I had a chicken for a while that would ride on my shoulder around the yard. It’s just so much fun.

KM: What is your favorite plant and why?

KS: My favorite plant right now is any rose bush. I’ve got a couple different rose bushes in my yard right now. I have a Julia Child rose bush; it’s a yellow rose that’s incredible and stunning. I have a JFK rose that’s a long-stem, white rose. It’s really pretty. I have Love rose; that’s a white rose with red around the edges. I’m looking out the window of my house every morning like has it broken bloom yet? What’s going on? So yeah, I love my roses.