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Walking through Maas Nursery, customers encounter lush greenery, colorful blooms, as well as butterflies and birds sipping nectar out of the large assortment of flowering plants.
In May, the 8-acre plant nursery celebrated 75 years of business in Seabrook.
How it started
The nursery was founded by the current owner Jim Maas’ father, who opened a feed store in Downtown Houston before relocating to Seabrook and eventually growing the nursery into an 8-acre botanical wonder.
In addition to the 8 acres of plant varieties, Maas Nursery is a collection of oddities. For years, the nursery had kangaroos, ostriches and peacocks until a local bobcat began eating the peacocks.
The nursery also sold potbelly pigs that roamed the grounds for $10 if the customer caught the pig and $50 if staff caught it.
How it’s going
Along with offering a large variety of plant services, Maas Nursery offers free design consultations by appointment to enhance outdoor spaces.
The consultation consists of 15-20 minutes with an experienced designer to discuss plant choices, layout options and general design ideas, along with a quick concept sketch if appropriate for a project.
Employees at the nursery are experienced and stick with the nursery for a while, with Maas noting the nursery’s extremely low employee turnover, recalling one employee who worked at the nursery until he was nearly 100 years old.
Another employee, who began working at the nursery at age 15, returned to the business after a 20-year career at IBM because he missed the environment.
Maas said the secret to maintaining such a dedicated staff is looking for kindness when considering new hires.
“I can teach [employees] how to [take care of] your plants,” he said. “I can’t teach them how to be nice to people that easily.”
Since Maas was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he has had to rely more on his team as he’s withdrawn from the more physically demanding aspects of operating the nursery.
Maas said the movie “Moneyball” inspired him to alter his business model to focus on what makes sense for his lifestyle, rather than for pure profit.
Going forward
Maas prioritizes building relationships over efficiency, a practice he said is essential to Maas Nursery’s ethos.
“Customers come in and want one tomato plant? I’m going to spend 30 minutes with them,” Maas said. “Not a good business plan, but it just makes sense.”
