Parson, Kansas — An old limestone rock quarry on the southern edge of Ottawa, Kansas has found new life as a water source for Loma Vista Nursery's 50 acres of trees and plants. At the same time, what may have once been considered an eyesore has been turned into an environmentally positive site visually and functionally.

Mark Clear, Loma Vista's owner, went into the nursery industry in 1991 and began the Ottawa operation in 2005. The 50-acre site which is already developed contains driveways, rows of greenhouses, storage buildings, equipment, extensive fields of nursery stock and an office. Eventually all of the 360-acre property will be developed to produce nursery stock.

“We raise a wide variety of trees and plants in containers that are hardy here in the Midwest and sell them throughout a nine-state area including Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Colorado,” Drew Sparnicht who is in charge of Loma's pruning and irrigation said.

Loma Vista’s is a wholesale only operation whose customer base is primarily residential and commercial landscapers as well as other nurseries and garden centers. In addition to the Ottawa site, which grows containerized plant material, the company has tree farms in the Baldwin City and Lawrence area, as well as a distribution center in Olathe.

Loma Vista, Spanish for “Hill View”, grows over 450 varieties and sizes of various perennials, shrubs and trees in containers. The company propagates approximately 70 percent of everything that they grow.

“We grow and sell plants which are easy for the individual customer to grow,” said Sparnicht. “We also grow licensed Proven Winners varieties, a standard in the nursery business.

“Water usage in 2009 from the quarry totaled 125 million gallons with 90 percent of it draining back into the quarry pit to be pumped out repeatedly to water the trees, shrubs and other perennials grown at the Ottawa site.

“This just appears to be a prairie land lake,” said  Sparnicht, “but about 40 feet from this bank there's a drop off that takes the depth down to about 100 feet. There is a little creek which overflows into the lake which helps to improve the water quality.”

The irrigation pumping system which is housed in a pump house on the edge of the lake pumps the water to overhead sprinklers which are used for 95 percent of the nursery stock and to drip water systems for the remaining five percent.

“We can use the more efficient overhead sprinklers for most of the plants and trees,” Sparnicht said, “but some plants need the drip water system because they don't respond well to overhead sprinklers which cause the plant leaves to be wet and develop diseases.”

The watering system is totally computerized and the pumps and sectional water systems are activated by computer and telephone. The system includes a “freedom program” which operates the individual water valves by telephone.

“This is a year-round business,” Robert “R.C.” Cutright, head horticulturist said, “About 80 percent of our stock is carried over the winter months to be sold in the spring because it takes six months to a year to make them saleable.”

During the spring and through the fall months about 60 seasonal employees are hired, and the permanent staff includes 15 full-time people.

“Our employment needs fluctuate seasonally. For instance we use a lot less water in the winter months for our residual nursery stock, but during the growing season we have five irrigation inspection technicians checking the plant pots for moisture,” Sparnicht said.

The duties of the management team for the wholesale nursery operation illustrate the complexity and size of the nursery. In addition to Cutright, the head horticulturist, and Sparnicht, who oversees the irrigation and pruning, there is Brian Mitchell, who is in charge of production and personnel, and Dave Kronoshek, operations manager. All have degrees from such well-known agricultural schools as Kansas State University and Purdue University.

Looking out across the property at the attractive lake and the fields filled with young trees, potted shrubs and other ornamental plants, it is difficult to picture the transformation of the old quarry site.