Money That Grows Out Of Trees
Jeffrey Kushner, owner of Plants Alive in Silver
Spring, has rented to the Clintons and the Rolling Stones.
From The Washington Post - Washington Business - October 14, 1996
"Money That Grows Out of Trees -- Jeffrey Kushner sees That His Plants Make the Right Appearance"
by Cheryl D. Fields , Special to The Washington Post
Photo by Bill O'Leary, The Washington Post
Some people feel they haven't really experienced Washington unless they've seen the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, these trees only bloom once a year -- but that doesn't trouble Jeffrey Kushner [1976].
"We've done events where you have a replica of the Mall with the Lincoln Memorial at one end and the Washington Monument at the other," said Kushner, 38, owner of Plants Alive, Inc. in Silver Spring. "Then
we line it with these trees."
"These trees" are six-foot silk cherry blossoms that Kushner keeps for
such requests. "Our trees have pink and white flowers, and are perfect
for a Washington spring theme party," he said.
While the cherry trees are the only artificial ones among the company's
1,200-plant inventory, this flexibility has helped Kushner build Plants
Alive into one of the region's busiest plant-rental companies. Since
Kushner joined the company 17 years ago, it has serviced more than
23,700 special events in the region.
In the process, Kushner, a horticulturalist and Montgomery County
native, has transformed his boyhood love for plants into a company with
12 employees and $750,000 in revenue last year (he did not disclose
Plants Alive net earnings). He's also learned that his business
depends more on promptness than on plants.
"Our clientele includes people like the Clintons, the Reagans and the
Rolling Stones -- and they all expect fresh healthy-looking trees, but
that's the easy thing," Kushner said. "In this business, service is
the key."
Situated on 6.5 acres, Plants Alive's three greenhouses contain at
least two dozen varieties of plants that range from 15-foot coco palms
to 10-foot ficus trees, as well as tropical bromeliads, ferns, and
peace lilies. Kushner doesn't grow the plants from seedlings; he buys
mature plants and maintains them for several years.
The property also contains living quarters for his chief truck driver
and a single-story home where Kushner lives with his wife, Linda Jo,
and their children, Sara, 3, and Zackery, 9 months. It also has a pond
and a 135-yard driving range, on which Kushner hones his golf skills.
The Kushners' bedroom is wired with alarms programmed to sound when the
greenhouse heaters malfunction.
During peak season, from mid-April to June, Plants Alive may service as
many as 35 to 50 events a week. The work entails loading plants onto
trucks, delivering and arranging them, then retrieving them after the
event -- usually after midnight.
"People always ask how I stay so thin, but they don't realize how
physically demanding this work is," said Kushner, who stands 5 feet
7-1/2 inches tall and weighs about 125 pounds. "Sometimes, our days
run from 6 a.m. one morning to 4 a.m. the next."
Although Plants Alive has about 200 maintenance accounts, events are
the company's forte. These range from the National Republican
Committee meeting at the D.C. Armory in February to galas at the
Kennedy Center and the president's dinners at the White House. The
company also serves corporate parties and weddings.
"We call one of our halls the Palm Court, because of Jeff's palms,"
said Michele Jacobs, managing director of special events at Union
Station.
In June she needed plants for a dinner party for 300 guests in a closed
restaurant at the station. "I said, `Here is my budget, here is what
you have to work with,' and [Kushner] did the rest."
Plants Alive has several competitors in the Washington area, including
Plant farm Rental of La Plata and Rentokil Environmental Services, a
Bristish chain with affiliates throughout the United States.
"This is a healthy enough industry that there appears to be business
enough for all of us," said Dale Harmon, Rentokil's Washington special
events coordinator. The companies talk to and help one another
regularly, he said.
Kushner bought Plants Alive in 1982 from the founder, Milton Millon,
after working briefly as his apprentice. It was Kushner's first job
after graduating from the University of Maryland in 1979 with a degree
in horticulture.
"When I first started, I had no business experience," he said. "I
worked with Milt literally every day for two years and it just went from
there."
In 1986 Kushner consolidated the firm's plant inventory, stored
throughout the area, tot he Silver Spring property, which he purchased
for $475,000.
Of course, renting plants has not always been easy.
"We've had our problems," Kushner said. "Learning to care for the trees
themselves was part of the growing pains."
The company once forgot to pick up an order, and the client wound up
sitting with the plants most of the night.
"I don't like problems, so I make sure something like that never happens
again," Kushner said.
Other embarrassments include the time some years ago when Kushner
knocked over a cello in front of Willard Scott.
"This thing was like a Stradivarius of cellos, and he had just finished
talking to this guy about how valuable it was, and here I come with a
plant and boink," Kushner said.
"The cello was fine. Scott "said something like, `I hope your
insurance is good.'"
(END OF ARTICLE) -- Inset, Plants Alive:
Headquarters: On 6.2 acres in Silver Spring
Founded: 1974 by Milton Millon; sold in 1982 to Jeffrey Kushner, 38, who also is president.
Inventory: More than 1,200 plants and trees
Employees: 12
Revenue: $750,000
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