John Teas, Houston Nurseryman Passes

For Immediate Release BELLAIRE (August 24, 2009)

JOHN FREDERICK TEAS made his appearance in Bellaire, TX on October 10, 1934. He passed away August 24, 2009. His parents were Frederick Augustus Teas and Blanche Bryant
Teas. John was born upstairs in the 1916 house on Teas Nursery property.
John grew up being around his father, grandfather, and uncles. Surrounded by these expert nurserymen, he soon learned about the nursery business and developed his life-long love of flowers shrubs, and trees - anything that grows in the ground. He is a fourth generation nurseryman. The family business started in Henry County, Indiana in 1843 and came to Bellaire, TX in 1910 — and continues to help new and long-time gardeners.

His four years at Teas A&M University helped to further his understanding of plants. He then joined the family business and remained working at Teas Nursery until his passing. He celebrated 50 years at Teas in 2007.

For a number of years he taught plant identification at the University of Houston and the Houston Community College. He enjoyed these classes because he took the students to different garden centers, arboretums, and gardens every week.
His interest in helping disadvantaged children led him to join the Salesmanship Club of Houston that helped children to have the opportunity to go to summer camp. He served as president of this organization for many years until it merged with the YMCA and became "Camp Pine Tree."

John served as president of Garden Centers of America, Houston Landscape and Nurserymen Association, and Texas Society of Landscape Architects. He served as governor of
Region II of the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association. He enjoyed serving as chairman of the beautification committee of the Bellaire Chamber of Commerce. John also served on the Scholarship committee of the Rotary Club of Houston to award Rodeo scholarships. His involvement on the committee in his Rotary Club led him to provide Christmas trees for the Burnet Bayland Home for Children.

The Houston Jaycees honored him by giving the "Faith in God" award to him for his love of church and his participation in its many activities. John is a charter member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist-Bellaire and has served it in many capacities.
The YMCA also honored John with a plaque for his participation with the disadvantaged children and placed the plaque in one of their summer camps.
John gave a number of garden club talks every year and participated in the Houston Rose Society and Camillia Society. He often gave talks at the Houston Rose Society. His many customers have enjoyed the wealth of his knowledge of plants and gardening.
He provided information for several publications about plants. John was on TV and radio programs talking about plants and in the Teas Nursery TV commercials.
As a young man, John personally helped to plant trees along Fannin Street in Houston. Bob Hope (the entertainer) always stayed at the Warwick Hotel, which was between Fannin Street and Main Street, when he came to Houston. When asked what
hotel he most enjoyed staying at during his many travels, he always said it was the "Warwick Hotel" because of the beautiful view of the trees and landscaping from his hotel window. This always pleased John because he considered those trees "his" trees.

In 1967, John married Patsy Ann Tutt and they enjoyed traveling and visiting beautiful gardens and garden centers. Many long-lasting friendships were formed during these travels.
John is survived by his beloved wife Patsy; his brothers, Thomas S. Teas and wife Diann, Charles B. Teas from Corpus Christi and wife Karen; many nieces, nephews, cousins, and numerous friends.

Special thanks to all the doctors and nurses at St Luke's Episcopal Hospital and the care-givers at the Houston Hospice.

Donations in loving remembrance of John may be made to: First Church of Christ, Scientist, 4527 Bellaire Blvd., Bellaire, TX 77401; or Camp Pine Tree-YMCA, 709 Riley Fuzzel Road, Houston, TX 77373.

Honorary pallbearers are the employees at Teas Nursery Company.

A Memorial Service for John Teas will be held at 2:00 pm on Friday, August 28, 2009. at the Methodist Church across the street from Teas Nursery in Bellaire.

The Survey says...

Last month the Region II Newsletter staff decided to send out a survey asking how companies were doing in the slower economy. Now for the results! 31 people answered the survey, not a huge number, but not too bad either. Hopefully in the future we can get better participation, more responses mean more information! We got responses from the following companies: Kris Bitner Horticultural Consultant, Greenleaf Nursery Company, JenScapes, Inc., Simmons Oak Farms, Dennis Newton, Turf and Landscape Consultant, Living Expression Landscapes, Enchanted Trees of Texas, Pearl Acres Nursery, Joshua’s Native Plants, Home Depot, Clepper’s Landscaping, Bare Spot Solutions Grass & Installation, Orchis Obsession, JNM Technologies, Inc., Southerwest Property Landscaping, Elways Indutries, Inc., Glueck Tree Farm, Sam Houston State University, Magnolia Garden Nursery, Triangle Nursery, Inc., Verdant Tree Farm, Landscape Art and Plants for All Seasons. Thanks to all that participated! Mostly growers answered the survey at 45.2%. See the graph here:

http://tnlaonline.org/regions/reg2/images/Survey1.gif

Interesting to us was that the sales being up or down was 50/50. Some companies seem to be cooking along even with the slow economy while others are falling behind. From the responses it looks like companies that are becoming experts in their area such as consulting are doing better this year. Also companies offering the total package, such as irrigation, landscape design and installation together so the homeowner only has to choose one contractor. In the grower area it seems larger material is moving more slowly as consumers are on a tighter budget, also because of slower home sales bread and butter items are moving slower as well. Smaller items such as annual and perennials and specialty items are selling well. Along the specialty item line, organics and edibles are gaining in popularity as people are more aware of what they eat, even growing their own food to save money. Drought tolerant plants still remain popular and will continue to do so as water restrictions pick up. On the landscaping side of things it seems commercial is down, probably due to the slow down in construction but residential is up. Homeowners are putting money into the home, as this will become a vacation spot or “staycation” on tight budgets. Some recommendations to stay ahead of the game during the slowdown were to keep the product fresh, and in particular for retail to spruce up the store with some inexpensive fixes, maybe a new paint job, new signs. Let people know you are in business and make them want to come back, nobody wants to shop at a place that looks tired and done. For everyone the biggest recommendation was good customer service, you have customers now, don’t let them go! Some firms have hired extra staff to provide superior customer service. In this economy you have to work twice as hard to get a customer and even harder to keep a customer.

Several changes have been implemented to help survive the slowdown as seen from the graph below. The most popular were to offer more unique services and products and to look at ways to make processes more efficient. Most people increased the marketing budget, which is recommended during a slowdown, you don’t want to disappear! See the graph here:

http://tnlaonline.org/regions/reg2/images/Survey3.gif

These are the results, let us know what you think!