Jill Owens
We recently had a chance to talk to Jill Owens at KAT Wholesale Outdoor about her experience working with Heinen Landscape and Irrigation. Here’s what she had to say:
What is your title?
Account Manager & Logistics Coordinator
How long have you worked with Heinen Landscape & Irrigation?
About 2.5 years
KAT Nursery trees, shrubs and flowers
What types of projects do you do with Heinen?
I mostly work with Tim and I do a lot of special ordering for him. He will usually give me an order for several jobs ahead of time. I work at the Kansas City, Missouri location where our main stone yard is. But most of the purchases for Heinen come out of the Olathe site, as they have the largest nursery of all of our sites.. But most of the purchases for Heinen come out of our Olathe Plant Nursery location. We order lots of trees and shrubs. This fall in particular, we ordered quite a few large conifers for Heinen – all about 12 feet tall.
Any particularly notable projects with Heinen?
Back in October, Heinen ordered some huge 12-foot Pines and Arborvitae A lot of these trees had a good 36-inch root ball and weighed about 1200 pounds!
Where does the plant material at KAT Nursery come from?
A lot of people don’t realize that our parent company (DCA Outdoor) owns several growing facilities throughout the country. Our supply chain is pretty extensive, so we are able to stock a wide variety of material and source special orders from many of our own growers in Oregon, Indiana, and even Kansas and Missouri.
What got you into this business?
I’ve always been attracted to fast paced environments that are changing all the time. We have some really great customers and It’s extremely gratifying to me to be able to find what the customer needs, especially when they can’t find it anywhere else.
What’s the best advice you can give folks when they have a new planting to give them the best chance of survival in the Kansas City weather?
This year, the humid and wet spring caused a lot of fungus. My piece of advice is to be patient and clean up your beds. And don’t be scared to plant in the fall! When the tree or plant is coming out of dormancy in the spring – it will already be happy and in its new home!
