Profile: Franz Witte Nursery & Landscape Contracting: The Coolest Landscape Company on Earth

By Leslie McGuire, managing editor

Franz Witte with his daughter Seneca Hull, now the president of Franz Witte Landscape Contracting.
Photos courtesy of Franz Witte Landscape Contracting

The “coolest landscape company on earth” handles in-house design, water features, paving, plus commercial and residential business and a maintenance division. Seneca Hull, the daughter of Franz Witte, now runs the company. Her son also works at the nursery. It’s a real family business.

“We are the coolest landscape company because we have fun at what we do and always produce something we’re proud of. We provide careers for our people because they are what keeps this whole big thing going. If your employees feel like they’re valued and feel like they’re doing something others see as worthwhile, your customer service will be great and everyone else will be glad to be a part of it.”

When Franz Witte started his Landscape Contracting business in 1971, it was just Witte and a partner who left to become a banker. Witte started getting a few jobs up in the foothills, which was the prominent area at that time. The company has grown on word of mouth and repeat customers. Franz Witte did commercial projects here and there because of relationships with builders.

It has grown every year. They hit a small dip in the 80s as most places did. “We built it to be a company that gives the people who work here a place to grow,” says Witte’s daughter, Seneca Hull, now the company president. “There’ve been times when we thought we should slow it down, but we decided to keep growing to be there for the people who worked for us.”

The Franz Witte Nursery has grown by leaps and bounds since the 1980s, and now specializes in the larger materials and are well known for 20-inch caliper, 10 to 15 foot weeping white pines. They also have a large selection of dwarf conifers, and Japanese maples providing everything from the meat and potatoes for commercial projects to one gallon grasses, and 5-gallon dogwoods.

The Birth of the Nursery

Since it opened in the early 80s the nursery has also grown exponentially. “We do a very large wholesale business, selling to other landscapers who are looking for high-end plantings as well as unique specimens,” says Ms. Hull. “In addition, we carry everything from a 6-pack of petunias to 6-inch caliper autumn glaze maples.” They now specialize in the larger materials and are well known for 20-inch caliper, 10 to 15 foot weeping white pines, which is about $3500 dollars for just the plant. They also have a large selection of dwarf conifers, and Japanese maples—everything from the meat and potatoes for commercial projects to one gallon grasses, and 5-gallon dogwoods.

The firm has a couple of project supervisors that specialize in the commercial projects. They do everything from the initial meeting with the customers to being the project manager. Merrill Park is an example of one of their commercial projects.

The More People, the Merrier

In addition to a sales and operations staff of about 25 people in the nursery division, they also have an arborist and several certified nursery professionals. “We hire people who love plants,” says Ms. Hull.

They do hire seasonal workers. ”We’re definitely in a four season type of place,” says Ms. Hull. “Some months the nursery isn’t open and we can’t do installation, so we need a large amount of seasonal labor.”

This past year it was decided their mission was to be the Coolest Landscape Company Ever! In the past they used all the professional and quality buzz words everyone else uses, but they just said, “Hey, what are we really trying to do?” This property, located right on the Boise river was such a beautiful spot that it was easy to also create the coolest landscape ever.

Handling the Range of Jobs

They act as a general contractor on the residential projects and sub contract out areas such as pools, acting as the coordinator. With pools, they generally design where it goes and what goes around it. They also do small amounts of lighting, but for big projects where there’s a lot of detail and they really want it done well, they use a professional landscape lighting company, “After Dark Lighting.”

The firms acts as a general contractor on the residential projects and also sub contracts out areas such as pools, acting as the coordinator. With pools and complex water features, they generally design where it goes and what goes around it. Brookwood, a large subdivision the firm designed and built, features streams that run through the whole project. They created scenic water features every so often using sandstone with river rock at the bottom.

They do much of their own irrigation but on much larger projects, they sub out.

As far as maintenance is concerned, they’ve done maintenance off and on during the years, but now they’re going into it with a great deal more intent. The company just hired a new manager who’s going to really grow that side of the business.

As the company started growing, they did more and bigger projects. Witte started bringing in his own plant materials. People started coming in to buy those plant materials and that was what led to the birth of the nursery, which led to even more growth. The nursery now sits on 20 acres.

Other Profit Centers

Regarding water feature installation, “There’s been a huge trend towards pondless water features,” says Ms. Hull. “There’s so much less maintenance, and customers like the ‘idea of a water feature but not the maintenance. They like the sound and now they can get it without the maintenance. We’re not alone in this. It’s a very popular option all across the country.”

Seneca started there when she was ten. “As a kid I was essentially forced to work here. I worked through college at Boise State. I have a marketing degree and never intended to stay, but as I got closer and closer to graduation, I realized I loved the industry and the people who are in it. Being able to walk outside and be involved with the outdoors wasn’t such a bad deal once it was my own choice.”

This property was level with the street, and very noisy, so they dug down to create a sunken patio. The walls are made of sandstone, a local product. The quarry is up in the foothills. They use a lot of sandstone and have craftsmen that work for them and handcraft the stone so it goes in well and easily.

Seneca actually became president of the company last July. She was VP of the nursery division. The nursery had been her focus in the past, but now she’s just trying to keep the team moving in the right direction and help her Dad who now only works 6 days a week. “Someday he may be able to step back and enjoy life,” she says.

For the patio on this project, they used a regular brick paver in conjunction with a sandstone edging.

Thinking Forward

This past year is when they really decided their mission was to be the Coolest Landscape Company Ever! They used to use all the professional and quality buzz words everyone else uses, but they just said, Hey, what are we really trying to do? Since they are around each other more than their families, they decided they might as well have a good time doing it. Last year they did $5.2 million and this year they are projecting $7 million with the landscape division being the largest money maker. Says Seneca, “We need to have fun at what we do and always produce something we’re proud of. We need to provide careers for our people because they are what keeps this whole big thing going. If your employees feel like they’re valued and feel like they’re doing something others see as worthwhile, your customer service will be great and everyone else will be glad to be a part of it.”

There are 25 people in the nursery division, however, because they are located in a four season type of place, there are some months when the nursery isn’t open. Company wide, they currently have 87 employees. The majority of their business is in the landscape division with about 40 employees. All of the designers are also the salesmen of which there are four, including Franz. The nursery provides the plantings for the majority of their projects.