If you want to take a peek into the future of greenhouse production, you might want to make a trip to Mantua, Ohio; home of Eagle Creek Wholesale. While everyone may be talking about the environment and global warming, Eagle Creek is actually doing something about it. They are on the cutting edge of environmentally responsible operations in addition to instituting some very creative approaches to business. They have found going "green" actually saves some "green;" savings which they are happy to pass on to their customers.

Eagle Creek Growers, a small one acre wholesale business, was founded in 1998 by Jill (Bonner) Cain. Although the original company began in 1998, the roots go much deeper; back through two generations of horticultural endeavors. Jill's grandfather, John Gander, founded BFG Supply, a horticultural equipment and supply company. Her parents, Richard and Ellen Bonner, started Dillen Garden Center and Dillen Products. In fact, BFG Supply and Dillen Products both provide many products and supplies to Eagle Creek. At a young age Jill Bonner began to discover a love for gardening. To quote Eagle Creek's website, "Jill got involved in gardening so young, 'fertilizer' was practically her first word'." Her brother, John Bonner, also grew up helping at Dillen Garden Center and years later came on board with his sister to help run and manage her businesses.

To further her knowledge and get the training she needed to run a successful business, Jill attended Ohio University where she majored in plant biology and entrepreneurial business. Eagle Creek Growers was her fledgling start at creating a unique, service driven, high quality garden center. In 2001 Eagle Creek Garden Center began in Bainbridge, Ohio, as a small roadside stand offering the public a place to purchase seasonal flowers. It was a natural outgrowth of the wholesale business and the beginning of even bigger things to come.

The growing success of the small retail outlet, created an opportunity to expand their operation into the two current divisions: Eagle Creek Garden Center and Eagle Creek Wholesale. The garden center can be described as more of an experience than a retail store. Jill wanted a comfortable and inviting place for gardeners of all ages to come in any season. Included as part of the experience is an aquatic garden, gift shop, coffee shop, produce market and a petting zoo. She also sponsors family festivals such as Easter egg hunts, open houses and fall festivals.

Eagle Creek Wholesale is undergoing many changes and is in the midst of a 2 acre expansion, which will increase their production to 5.25 total acres with 4.25 acres under cover. In 20013 the new retail facility was completed and John Bonner along with Todd Cain took over management of the wholesale operation, so Jill could focus her time on the retail business. In the first two years, John went after more business and was able to double sales with the same acreage. John said, "We were having trouble keeping up with customer orders and decided to expand." Eagle Creek supplies many local independent garden centers as well as smaller chain stores. They deliver to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York and West Virginia. The wholesale side supplies all the annuals and some of the perennials sold in the retail store. Growing all the plants and flowers right down the road in their own wholesale greenhouse, gives Eagle Creek the ability to carefully oversee the whole growing process. This also gives them complete control over choosing product to grow and in what amounts. Consequently, they have a large variety of products to offer not found in most garden centers. With this clear advantage Jill can confidently tell customers, "You'll take home the healthiest, most beautiful and affordable plants and flowers possible."

Just because the Bonners have a long history of farming and gardening doesn't mean they don't keep up with the times. In fact, Eagle Creek utilizes current technology to their advantage in streamlining production and using energy efficiently. They use Priva Integro environmental controls, Cherry Creek automated boom and echo equipment, Ebb and Flood floors, Prins USA greenhouses and DeCloet ground-to-ground greenhouses. They also use Fleer automated transplanting equipment as well as True Leaf Technology water filtration equipment. All of their heating systems use radiant heat technology; floor heat as well as heat from the top down. In addition, they use double heat curtains in all the Prins USA greenhouses.

The most exciting component of the expansion at Eagle Creek is the installation of a new alternative fuel heating system. This new wood fired boiler will run on waste wood chips, sawdust, cow manure and recycled tires. Hurst Boiler & Welding Company, a major supplier of gas, oil & wood fired boilers in Coolidge, Georgia, makes this special heating system. The system is self loading and allows for a fuel ratio mix based on what is economical and available at any given time. Not only is this system environmentally responsible by recycling waste, it is expected to save Eagle Creek 60% to 70% on raw fuel costs depending on the price of natural gas. The initial investment pay back period is between four to six years, also depending on the market price of fuel. The 1000 head of Angus cattle being raised on the Bonner family farm supplies the cow manure. When mentioning this fact, John Bonner remarked, "A thousand cows…that's a lot of output!"

Eagle Creek is passionate about energy and resource conservation and believe the economics associated with it can and will work. They have a vision for building a fully sustainable business. To make this happen they are working to close the loop between agriculture, livestock farming and floriculture. Crops from the field would feed the livestock or be used as fuel. The manure byproduct from the livestock could be composted and sold in the garden center, used as fuel or spread back on the field as fertilizer. John took a trip to Europe for a conference and was impressed at how Europeans seemed to be much more active and in tune to issues of the environment. This challenged him and he came back with a renewed commitment to learn and implement conservation and sustainability at Eagle Creek. John commented, "We want to be known as an environmentally responsible, sustainable brand in the marketplace." Eagle Creek has also begun the one year process through the FDA to become certified organic.

Eagle Creek Wholesale has increased sales an average of 32% over the last three years with the garden center growing about 11% during the same time period. They fully expect to continue aggressive growth and have the infrastructure in place to double in size after the completion of their current expansion. Eagle Creek attributes their success to quality product at fair prices, breadth of product mix and superior customer service. John keeps in touch with customers to make sure they are happy because service is number one. Orders come in and if possible, are filled right away. For this next year John indicates, "My personal goal is to consistently turn orders around in twenty-four hours or less."

It is very satisfying to see a company like Eagle Creek make use of technology not only to run a profitable business, but use state of the art equipment towards ecologically responsible business practices. If more greenhouse growers and businesses took the environment seriously enough to change the way they do business, we might all breathe easier in the future.

In less than 10 years, Eagle Creek Growers in Mantua, Ohio, has emerged as a model mid-sized operation with room to grow. The modern growing operation was founded in 1998 by Jill (Bonner) Cain about an hour's drive southeast of Cleveland. She was fresh out of college, implementing a business plan she drafted for a course at Ohio University. Up until recently, Eagle Creek's primary customer was Eagle Creek Garden Center, an upscale destination garden center she opened in nearby Bainbridge four years later. In 2003, her brother, John Bonner, and husband, Todd Cain, took over the wholesale operation while Jill focused most of her time on retail.

Both John and Jill are third-generation entrepreneurs in our industry. Their grandfather, John Gander, founded horticultural distributor BFG Supply, and their father, Dick Bonner, founded Dillen Plastics, which is now part of Myers Industries. They grew up in Northeast Ohio's floricultural epicenter surrounded by many of the best in the field, including Green Circle Growers and Petitti Garden Centers. The pair is young enough to try fresh and innovative approaches but also wise enough to tap the expertise that is available to them.

In the beginning, their own garden center was the dominant customer, representing 70 percent of sales. Now it only accounts for 15 percent of what Eagle Creek grows. The rest goes to independent retailers and hardware and grocery chains in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia. Sales have been brisk, growing at an average of 32 percent a year the past three years.

"Our customer base ranges from Super Value to high-end garden centers," Bonner says. "We grow a lot of different stuff. We grow standard baskets, Proven Winners in 10-inch and combos. We are also rooting more and developing our own 10-inch line. We also contract grow 25,000 roses for Jackson & Perkins."

The new Web site - www.eaglecreekwholesale.com - allows customers to check availability, view pictures, order what they want and select delivery day.

Heating Up New Houses
Eagle Creek Growers just completed a 2-acre expansion, bringing greenhouse capacity to 5 acres with nearly another acre for outdoor production. While the new structures are from Prins, an acre and a half are from DeCloet. Infrastructure has been laid to double greenhouse facilities to 10 acres.

Expanding from three to five acres has made a big difference, Bonner says. "It has gotten easier as we've grown," he says. "We're starting to realize economies of scale and are able to hire more people and delegate. It's also nice to do what the big places do with tractors to move product around.

All production is on ebb-and-flood floors. Bells and whistles include double heat curtains, Echo and Boomerang basket systems, boom systems, Priva Integro environmental controls, Flier automated transplanting equipment and True Leaf Technology water filtration equipment. Water is stored on site in two 15,000-gallon tanks. One is fertilized and one is clear.

You can't beat basket systems for quick return on investment, Bonner says. "It's a big return in space and labor savings," he says. "We're hung and sold by May first and then we rehang the place. We're growing more and more baskets."

All heating systems use radiant heat technology - floor heat as well as top heat - generated by a new alternative fuel-fired biomass boiler Eagle Creek installed last fall. It burns waste wood chips, saw dust and cow manure to fire a 300 horsepower Hurst boiler.

The system is self loading, using a "walking floor system" vibrating conveyor and inclined auger and horizontal stoker as a feed system. The cow manure comes from the nearby Bonner family farm, where 900 head of Angus cattle are being raised. One source of wood waste is local Amish carpenters.

Eagle Creek has set up a spinoff company to deliver these raw materials to themselves along with two larger area growing operations using biomass boilers - Green Circle Growers and Willoway Nurseries. They compare notes on optimizing results. The key is striking the right balance of dry and moist biomass materials.

Dry is better than wet to get the fire started but wet burns longer. "As the boiler gets hotter, we can burn wetter stuff," Bonner explains. "I'm always asking can we burn more cow manure, because it's free. The keys are what are you burning, where can you get it and how long can you get it for? We're also getting a permit to burn recycled tires, which produce 10 times the BTUs of wood." EPA also monitors Eagle Creek's use of this boiler and conducts a stack test once a year.

The Hurst boiler is expected to save Eagle Creek as much as 70 percent on raw fuel costs depending on the market price of natural gas. Investment payback is between four and six years, depending on traditional fuel pricing.

"With our new boiler, heating the greenhouses is so much cheaper," he says. "We usually have a bare house in the winter. We monitor what we put in the furnace everyday, and at the end of the week we calculate per ton what we pay and track average temperatures outside and in the greenhouse. It costs us between $90 and $100 per acre per day. Before we were spending $350 per acre a day."

Progressive Promotion
With its innovations, Eagle Creek Growers is in a great position to promote itself as an eco-friendly company. "Our delivery trucks run on vegetable oil, we retain and recycle water. We continue to audit ourselves and be that type of company," Bonner says. "We want to let the public know we have a responsible brand, especially younger people. We're getting certified organic for our herbs and veggies. That takes a year. And we're recycling pots and cardboard, too." He is especially excited about branding Eagle Creek plants in the Cleveland, Akron and Canton areas through a partnership with a regional grocery chain.

"We have a vendor-managed inventory program for grocery stores. We put up Poly-Tex displays with our banners in plants," he says. "The banner says, 'Delivered by the only oil you can eat!' Next year, we will have pots and tags designed by John Henry. We will also be tying this all together with television ads. This is the beginning of our branding process."

Pat Belrose has 75,000 sq. ft. in Missouri. John Bonner has 5 acres in Ohio. But they've got one thing in common: Both are finding success using alternative heat sources for the greenhouses - Pat is burning a mixture of corn and wood chips in his rustic-but-serviceable 1910 boiler, while John is burning biomass (including cow chips from his family's cattle ranch) in a brand new $750,000 system from Hurst Boiler Inc. Together, they prove there's an alternative fuel in the future of nearly any grower.

Eagle Creek's Biomass Boiler
John Bonner, general manager of Eagle Creek Growers, calls his new biomass boiler, just installed last fall, a "viable alternative" to traditional fuels. "It takes our raw fuel cost - say we're paying $10 per million BTU to the gas company or $16 if we're burning oil - it takes our raw cost down somewhere close to $2.50, or maybe $2 depending on what we're burning."

John's system is a 300 hp Hurst "vertical underfeed" boiler that can burn nearly any fuel that has about 20% moisture content or less. John's fuel of choice: cow manure from his family's 1,000 acre farm, blended with sawdust or wood chips and shredded tires. A 50%/40%/10% mix seems to be working, although they're still experimenting. He's been running it since November; during the January cold snap when temperatures went down to 0F he burned roughly 35,000 lbs. of biomass per day.

The system heats water, which is then circulated through a 30,000 gal. insulated tank (an old propane tank) that acts as a buffer for when the greenhouse demands heat all at once when the sun sets. The whole deal is controlled by a Priva environmental control computer. The two existing boilers now serve strictly for backup, as John has enough capacity to heat 8 or 9 acres with the biomass boiler.

When asked about his expectations for the system, John replied that it depends on the cost of natural gas. But payback should be in four to five years, he says.

"It was a pretty easy decision for me: We're either going to pay the gas and oil companies or we're going to put in the infrastructure, pay the bank for 3 or 4 years and get the thing paid off. That will put us in a position to be responsible, conserve, have some sustainability here, and also stay competitive."

It doesn't hurt that two other large Ohio greenhouses, Willoway Nurseries and Green Circle Growers, have also recently invested in biomass boilers. The three openly share information about the technology.

Another benefit to low-cost heat: John doesn't think about cutting corners with heat and sacrificing plant quality. He opens up greenhouse bays when he needs the space, and he doesn't have to grow extra cool to save a degree or two. "The growers love it," he says.

John may have a built-in supply of cow chips to burn, but does he worry that demand for biomass will push up the cost of even things like wood chips and shredded tires?

"That's a great question, but I'm not worried about it," he replies. "If I can get through four or five years and even just break even, then I have the choice to burn anything I want to burn-I can burn gas or oil if I want or cow manure and tires if I want."

Fahr Greenhouses' corn/wood combo
Ever since natural gas prices started going skyward, Pat Belrose has been looking at alternative fuels.

"We originally looked at burning either waste oil or vegetable oil, but those had a lot of environmental risks and problems that I didn't feel real comfortable with," Pat says. But some internet research, plus knowing folks who burned corn at home, got him looking at corn. Via the Web, he got help from a Penn State researcher who gave him some cost analysis info.

"At that point we were looking at $2 a bushel for corn, and Wow! That looked fantastic over $1.25 per therm natural gas."

Pat's old coal boiler had sat inactive since the late 1980s. A call to the Will-Burt Stoker company, the manufacturer of his coal stoker, revealed that they didn't know how to successfully burn corn in it, due to improper air/fuel ratios. Pat's brother-in-law came up with a solution using a DC motor to feed air into the fire box; with some tweaking, they soon were burning corn quite successfully. Pat says corn burns clean, with little smoke or ash.

But then corn got expensive-up to $3.50 a bushel now. So it was back to the Internet, where Pat found a source in St. Louis for ground-up wood pallets. The stuff is so abundant, he only pays for the trucking-about $600 for 100 cubic yards of chips.

The problem with burning straight wood is that is doesn't flow easily from the hopper to the boiler, whereas corn is extremely fluid, so Pat experimented with a blend of corn and wood, settling on one part corn to two parts wood. With that, he can heat 35,000 sq. ft. of greenhouse at a savings of at 25% or more over natural gas (he calculates his cost per million BTUs at $1.93 for natural gas when gas is a 90 cents per therm, and at $8.66 for a 50/50 mixture of corn and wood, when corn is $3.30 a bushel).

For additional savings, Pat has lined his entire greenhouse with a layer of 3-mil winter poly. He calculates that that saved him $4000 in fuel last winter.

"My goal is to maintain or reduce fuel cost without having an adverse effect on the environment," Pat says. "We hope by conservation and alternate fuels to take out the dramatic shifts in fuel cost from year to year so we have a more stable cost structure."

When Jill Bonner hired Jane Gonczy to help her start Eagle Creek Garden Center near Chagrin Falls, OH in 2002, they "weren't real sure how it was going to go", according to Gonczy. All they knew for certain was that they "wanted it to be different". By all standards, just three and a half years into their bustling retail business, Eagle Creek is a tremendous success. Customers love the store, business grows regularly, and employees are happy and take pride in their work.

By Bonner and Gonczy's standards, Eagle Creek is a success as well. The store is very much a distinctive part of its upscale community and sets new standards for garden center retail. Gone are the days of strictly seeds and sun catchers. Eagle Creek is showing that garden gift stores don't have to be outdoorsy or earthy to be successful. In fact, Eagle Creek has no theme at all.

"We don't buy themes or try to embody a personality", said Gonczy, Eagle Creek's gift buyer. "We just use quality and taste when buying. We want customers to be proud to give anything we carry as a gift or be thrilled to receive it", she explained.

This simple guiding principle, to rely primarily on quality and not on themes or trends, has served Eagle Creek extremely well. As Gonczy attests, they very rarely have to discount or close out merchandise. Almost everything sells through…quickly.

Eagle Creek also uses another tool when merchandising for the store, according to Gonczy. "I keep a notebook of requests and take it to market to ensure our customers' needs are being addressed", she said.

The fact that Eagle Creek doesn't stock too deeply on any one item and perfectly matches merchandise to customers' tastes helps promote additional sales. Customers have learned said Gonczy "that they have to buy things when they see them or else they won't be available anymore." This helps to ensure regular and consistent sales and prevent stale inventory.

The product mix at Eagle Creek is varies (sic) between traditional and classic, and is always very tasteful. Greeting cards, tabletop, quilts and potpourri are among the store's top sellers. And while quality is a clear virtue in Eagle Creeks products, that doesn't mean that the pricing is high. "We are very value conscious", Gonczy pointed out.

Gonczy visits markets several times a year. She travels to Columbus Chicago and Atlanta and says she places most of her orders at the Columbus MarketPlace. She conducts big buys for the holidays at the beginning of the year and fills in with several small orders throughout the annual cycle. "We travel to shows to see what's out there and to get excited about new product", she said. Many of the ideas for Eagle Creek's displays and merchandise come from what she gleams from market showrooms.

For the first couple of years Gonczy, who has a background in furniture and apparel sales, traveled to market alone. Now, her merchandiser Barbara Tortorro joins her on buying trips.

"She has a great eye and we have the same vision for the store", Gonczy said of Tortorro. Tortorro does a lot of the displays for the store with the idea that customers should be "shown what they can do with the merchandise and see the whole look in one place", said Gonczy. "We put everything together for them so they can see how to replicate the product in their homes."

Antique furnishings and room sets enhance the atmosphere of the 12,000 square foot gift department and encourage customers to "weave through the displays", explained Gonczy. Eagle Creek boasts a fabulous atmosphere. The gift department was built from scratch within the framework of 20-foot ceilings, glass and virtually no interior walls.

Besides needing to create a homelike environment in a wide open space, Gonczy and crew had to learn lessons about merchandising and positioning in a garden center. Ultraviolet light, lots of dirt and moisture have compromised merchandise and displays, she pointed out.

Eagle Creek is closed the first two months of the year, during which the store is re-displayed and customers wait anxiously for the reopening.

"We are in the snowbelt", explained Gonczy, "so when we open with fresh and new merchandise and displays in the spring, people are ready and they come in to interrupt the grayness outside and to see what we're doing".

Eagle Creek promotes itself through special events in the spring and fall, Christmas open houses, newsletters and club cards for regulars. The store draws mostly locals-not many tourists-and is situated amongst a highway corridor full of similar businesses. Gonczy said that Eagle Creek distinguishes itself by growing its own live plants "so we can control quality and price" and by the "uniqueness of items" it offers.

Truly, then, the residents of Northern Ohio must consider Eagle Creek a success by the same standards as the founders. A store that was opened with an open mind and a desire to always promote quality will have a strong place in its community for many years to come.

What started off as an assignment for a college course has turned into a dream come true for Jill Bonner, owner of Eagle Creek Growers in Mantua, OH, and Eagle Creek Garden Center in Chagrin Falls, OH. Raised working in her family's growing operation and garden center as the third generation of a family steeped in horticulture, Jill knew her calling from a young age and couldn't imagine doing anything else. Now 25, Jill has accomplished more in three years than many do in a lifetime.

Making It Happen
Enrolled in an entrepreneurial business course as a senior at Ohio University (OU), Jill's final project was to develop a business plan. By questioning those experienced in the industry, including her dad, founder of Dillen Plastics Dick Bonner, as well as owners and suppliers of BFG Supply, which was founded and built by Jill's grandfather John Gander as Burton Flower & Garden Supply, Jill constructed her plan of action to open a wholesale greenhouse operation. At the end of the semester, when she made her final business presentation, Jill told her professor and fellow students to look for her on the cover of Greenhouse Grower magazine someday.

The summer of 1999, Jill graduated from OU and, with the help of her family- Dick, her mother Ellen, and brother John- built the first acre of Eagle Creek Growers. Having shadowed John Van Wingerden, owner of Green Circle Growers in Oberlin, OH, and a number of growers and managers there, Jill's inaugural year as a grower went smoothly. "I didn't learn anything about growing from books-just from shadowing people, learning the business, and asking questions", she says.

With the foundation laid, Eagle Creek has expanded one acre per year. Two acres of wholesale production under glass includes flood floors, irrigation booms, and two 30,000-gallon flood tanks-one as a feed tank and one holding clear water. The facilities floors are heated with hot water in the winter. Currently, construction of five new hoophouses is underway to house the operation's expansion into a larger perennials offering. By changing the operations product mix to include more perennials and a larger variety of four-inch annuals, Jill hopes to achieve 100% vertical integration in the near future.

In addition to serving its own 65,000-sqare-foot Eagle Creek Garden Center, Eagle Creek Growers currently supplies 25 Giant Eagle grocery stores in the grater Cleveland area.

Growing a Destination Market
Opening the doors to customers in April, Eagle Creek Garden Center has had a fantastic start, despite Ohio's wet spring and dry summer. With attractions like Jim Wilson, TV host of The Victory Garden and Great Gardeners, speaking at Eagle Creek's grand opening celebration, the store's parking lot overflowed all spring and on average, customers spent about two hours there. Other attractions to Eagle Creek include the full service "Potting Shed", which allows customers to buy pots or drop off their own and have them filled with attractive combinations and delivered two weeks later; Jillybean's Café, where customers can have a cup of cappuccino and a pastry; and a petting zoo. The Green Room, a full conference center, hosts garden clubs and other group meetings.

A full gardening gift section features high quality items unique to the area and the patio and garden furniture department offers only the best name brands, Jill says. The retail center is also expanding its statuary offerings in the coming year.

In the slow months of summer, Eagle Creek is generating traffic by selling fresh produce from local Amish grower auctions and this month, a corn festival will feature sweet corn from the Bonners' vegetable farm. Fall, Harvest, and Christmas festivals are also planned in the coming months, Jill says.

Before building the destination garden center, Jill did her homework by visiting several retail operations, including the newest of the seven nearby Petitti Garden Centers, Petitti's Garden Gallery. Owner Angelo Petitti shared helpful tips and ideas, as well as some problems he's had and things he wishes he'd done differently in opening the 125,000-square-foot retail center in Strongsville, OH.

Jill commissioned Prins USA, which built Petitti's Garden Gallery, to build both her wholesale and retail facilities, and hired a local architect to design the retail store's elaborate foyer.

Growing With Experience
Any young company experiences its share of growing pains but part of being successful is learning from experience. With the popularity of combination containers in recent years, Eagle Creek Growers decided to produce several combos-but forgot one big detail.

"We learned that when you do combos, you have to have a lot of the plants you used in the combos available in four-inch pots because people see the combos and think, 'Hey I can do that'", Jill says. "We bought in a lot of four-inches for variety".

Another difficulty lies in getting the word out about Eagle Creek, Jill says. "The hardest part is marketing and it's a challenge to increase traffic during the slow months," Jill says. "We have to spend a lot of money to get our message out."

Teaming up with brother John, 24, the operation's chief financial officer and part owner; sales manager Jaime Pengal, Jill's best friend since fifth grade; and a retail general manager Carl Branek, the four have come up with some creative marketing schemes.

Inspired by English Gardens in Michigan, Eagle Creek has introduced the Garden Club savings card, which saves customers 10% on each purchase. It also allows the company to track purchases and market specials based on customer buying habits. The "Potting Shed" has also gained a nice customer base, with files on all its patrons, allowing Eagle Creek to effectively promote fall and winter combinations. Jill's "15 minutes with Fred" spots on Cleveland's Channel 3 News with Fred Griffith every Friday have generated some invaluable awareness throughout the area as well.

Despite all of this, Jill credits her 15 employees' knack for customer service with most of Eagle Creek's forthcoming success. "My job is to get people in the front door-the rest of it is up to the employees", she says. "They have done an outstanding job. The number of people walking in the door has been low but the number will triple because of word-of-mouth. Taking that extra personal time with customers is going to pay off."

Customer service-oriented ideas are already in the works to build Eagle Creek's future, like starting a personal shopping service and horticulture therapy gardens and classes. An aquatics gardening department also recently made its debut, answering a huge demand in the area.

"We're so young but our goal is to make it a destination for all ages, whether it be a petting zoo for kids or horticulture therapy gardens for the elderly, we're really looking into the future", Jill says.

Putting Gen X On The Map
Aside from her business ambitions, Jill has become heavily involved in the industry as a champion of America In Bloom, a member of the Ohio Florists' Association, a board member of the Greater Cleveland Flower Growers, and a member of the Burton and Garrettsville OH, Chambers of Commerce.

It's clear that Jill is a role model for aspiring growers and business owners of all ages. To them, she offers some candid advice: "Be prepared to work very hard, long hours. Ask a lot of questions. If you don't know something, ask. There's so much information out there-on the web and through other growers-that you just have to ask questions".

They're good at talking the talk, but they also know how to walk the walk. With a state-of-the-art garden center, a thriving wholesale business and a team of young, forward-thinking individuals at the helm, Eagle Creek Growers Inc., Mantua, Ohio, has an impressive setup that would make any grower or retailer envious. Founded by Jill (Bonner) Cain in 1998, when she was just out of college, and now owned by Jill and her husband, Todd, the business has evolved into two vibrant divisions. One is Eagle Creek Growers, a high-end destination garden center that has found its niche in more than plants; they also specialize in gifts, food, and landscape design services. The other division, Eagle Creek Wholesale, has grown in leaps and bounds, with the help of good salesmanship, technology and, more recently, the pursuit of a more sustainable business model.

On the retail side, Jill and her team have created a shopping environment that caters to even the most discerning customers. The 65,000-sq. ft. area includes flowers, houseplants, trees, hardscape supplies, and traditional gardening accessories, along with a diverse collection of gift and décor items and outdoor furniture. Within that setting, there's also Creekside Farm Market, which features produce, dairy products, baked goods and even Boar's Head meats and cheeses.

If there's one thing that Gen X and Gen Y scream for, it's for retailers to have a web presence, and Eagle Creek's cyber image is as sleek as their bricks-and-mortar image. They even have a virtual tour, with a map and clickable photos, to introduce viewers to the garden center and its offerings.

The plants at the garden center are grown by Eagle Creek Wholesale. However, the two divisions of the company share more than just a plant supply. They also share a commitment to sustainability. Both facilities have been designed for efficiency, and they have a keen eye for reducing waste and recycling.

Eagle Creek's biggest challenge to date has been the purchase of a 300 hp Hurst boiler that can burn anything from wood chips to shredded tires. The ideal fuel for Eagle Creek, though, is cow manure from the family farm (a separate business), with about 1,000 head of cattle. For Eagle Creek, it's a local, cheap fuel source. For Bonner Farms, they don't have to pay the diesel fuel cost of shipping or spreading the cow manure, says Jill's brother, John Bonner, who is general manager of the wholesale division.

In 2008, they expect to burn a fuel mixture of 90% cow manure. John hopes that the farm can be a source of even more "close the loop" efforts. "The cow pot thing is really interesting to me," he says of the possibility of eventually making containers with cow manure as a component. (John and Jill's parents started Dillen Garden Center and Dillen Products.) Incorporating manure into their growing mix is another wish.

For now, Eagle Creek is using Summit Plastic's biodegradable pots made of rice hulls, and they're currently trying out the Biopot from Bellan International. Other sustainable efforts include the fact that they already recycle 80 to 90% of their water, use heat-retention curtains, and IPM. In fact, they've already filed the initial paperwork to become VeriFlora certified. "I think we're pretty far along in the process already," says John, referring to how many of the VeriFlora requirements they already meet. "We want to get to the point where we're Tier Two certified." This spring Eagle Creek will be taking sustainability one step further, to the consumer. They'll be trialing a branded program in select locations this spring to see if "sustainable" and "regular" plants look the same side by side, will consumers at least pay the same (or perhaps even more) for their eco-brand.

"I think it's here to stay," says John of the sustainability issue. For this business, though, it's not just a feel-good philosophy; it's also a money-saving strategy in many areas. In addition to saving money in heating and efficiency, they're looking into tax credits for such measures. They also tell wholesale customers that Eagle Creek's new biofuel boiler ensures them a greater price security over the long term (as compared to an oil-heated greenhouse). Right now, they're exploring grants that might help fund harnessing wind for electricity. They sit on the highest point in the county, with tons of wind, explains John.

As for the future, we expect to see Eagle Creek Growers pioneering new paths in sustainability, retail experiences, and how a business can be successful at both.

We asked the experts for basic tips on moving greenhouse production toward a more sustainable model. Here's what John Bonner, Sales Manager at Eagle Creek Wholesale Greenhouses, had to say:

- Convert to alternative fuel sources for heating. Our new boiler system burns wood chips and wood byproducts mixed with manure. We're looking at using a higher percentage of cow manure and how systems are linked on the agricultural end. In addition to using manure to heat the greenhouse, we can use it to create methane, which can be used to cogenerate heat and electricity at the same time. Right now, we're buying electricity off the grid. Creating our own electricity and selling it back to the grid is our next thing.

- Convert your vehicles to alternative fuel sources. The vehicles we own are run on vegetable oil. The conversion is very doable. We run trucks on biofuel, gas and ethanol with a two tank system. We can use straight diesel or vegetable oil/soy oil. There is a conversion involved.

- Recycle water by installing ebb and flood benches and/or floors. Eighty percent of our greenhouse utilizes recycled water with ebb and flood floors.

- Find ways to make the finished plant product more sustainable. One example is using biodegradable pots. We tried cowpots but they don't work with automation. We're starting to use the Enviropot this year in the retail environment. There's a big movement to use rice hulls instead of perlite. Perlite production is derived from using petroleum and fossil fuels.

- Use heat retention curtains to conserve energy and promote that you're doing it.

- Recycle plastics and cardboard.

- Reuse wooden pallets. When we get supplies shipped in on skids, we take the pallets apart and build racks to ship the roses we grow in containers for Jackson & Perkins. It saves money and it's not wasteful.

Pursue grants to implement sustainability programs and invest in technology and systems. We believe in it. Once you really look into it, it's financially viable and makes sense and helps save money. If you take the time to look for grants, you'll kick yourself for not doing it. We're looking into 2008 grants and have met with people who write grants. There's a plethora of money out there waiting to be applied