After four decades, Landscaping & Nursery continues to grow
By Steve Yablonski
More than 40 years ago, Andy Lasnicki planted the seeds of a business that has grown like a weed — Lasnicki Landscaping & Nursery, 521 county Route 32, Hastings.
In 1984, upon completion of his studies at SUNY Morrisville, Lasnicki started the business focusing on landscape installation and maintenance as well as lawn maintenance.
“I started the company with a $100 pickup and my dad’s lawn mower,” he said. “We just kind of built it from there.”
The business, continued to grow and they needed to expand their infrastructure to meet demand.
“We were living in Mattydale at the time and Andy ran into a gentleman who was selling topsoil off his property in Hastings in preparation of selling the lot,”Lasnicki’s wife, Susan, explained. “We were initially interested in the property to build our home. However, we ended up purchasing a home almost adjacent to that property, allowing us the opportunity to purchase the 22-acre property solely for our landscaping operation.”
“In 1989, we bought the property on county Route 32 and planted 2,000 Christmas trees with the help of my dad,” Andy said.
“We only had the landscaping business at the time, so we built a pole barn to store our equipment and materials,” Susan added.
The family-owned business has served the Central New York area’s landscaping needs for more than 40 years. They have experience in commercial and residential landscaping; specializing in a broad range of landscaping techniques with a team of designers and horticulturists.
Lasnicki offers full-service landscaping, including hardscaping design and construction of sidewalks, driveways and patios, landscape design and construction, retaining walls constructed with manufactured wall stone as well as limestone boulders, design and construction of outdoor living areas including fire pits and kitchen areas, landscape lighting, lawn installations, etc. Recently, the business installed a putting green for a client who operates several apartment complexes.
Lawn maintenance remains a small percentage of their total sales.
“What sets our landscaping company apart from many others in the area is that we grow a large percentage of the plant materials that are incorporated into our landscaping designs resulting in economies of scale,” Andy explained.
Lasnicki has up to 40 employees during peak season. The landscaping and the nursery are of course seasonal; in the winter time a crew of about 10 performs commercial snow plowing, allowing them to retain their key employees on a full-time basis..
There hasn’t been a great deal of work so far this winter, Andy quipped.
“The people we have are very good. We have excellent people,” Susan said. “We have employees that have been with us 20-plus years and we are very proud of that.”
“From a management perspective, we believe that our success is derived from our continuous pursuit of an often-changing vision — never allowing ourselves to become complacent,” Susan added. “We have dedicated our lives to growing this business and we want nothing more than to see it continue to prosper.
Agway experience
Susan Lasnicki worked at Agway, with her last position as director of finance and control for the agriculture and retail division. She was also keeping the books and doing the accounting for the landscaping business since its onset. As Agway began shutting down its operations in 2003, the couple was faced with a major decision.
“I’d either go to work for someone or we expand our business,” she recalled.
At about the same time, they had an opportunity to purchase the 16-acre lot sitting between the 22 acres purchased in 1989 and the property where they live.
“This opportunity, along with Andy’s passion for horticulture is what solidified our decision to expand our business and build the nursery,” Susan said.
They opened the doors in 2004; exactly 20 years after starting the landscape company.
“This upcoming year is exciting as we celebrate 40 years of landscaping and 20 years in the nursery business,” Andy said.
A family affair
The landscaping division of the company is currently being managed by the couple’s son, Andrew, who completed his studies at Morrisville College in 2013.
He began working alongside his dad when barely a teenager and has assumed more and more responsibility with the passing of each season. Under his leadership, the business is continually growing and adapting to customers’ needs.
In adapting to customers’ needs, “we are constantly learning about new equipment, products and techniques,” Andrew said.
The nursery is managed by Addison Moran, their son’s college roommate.
The operation grows and sells annual bedding plants, hanging baskets, grow bags, patio containers, vegetable and herb plants, perennials, berry bushes, fruit trees, ornamental grasses, roses and a variety of trees as well as lawn and garden supplies, aggregates and more.
How many greenhouses?
“I lose count,” Andy said.
“It’s at least 20,” Susan said.
“Yeah, 20,” he agreed.
The greenhouses are where much of their growing and propagation takes place.
“We grow a wide variety of plants in our greenhouses — shrubs, trees, ornamental annuals and perennials and fruit trees of all kinds,” Andy said.
Abby Lasnicki, Andrew’s wife and an alumnus of Morrisville College as well, plays a major role in the management of the nursery and is their annual and perennial grower.
She is continually assessing customer demand, researching new varieties and retail trends.
COVID’s boost
“A significant catalyst in our industry and our business specifically was the COVID-19 era. While we recognize that many businesses suffered during COVID-19, we will never take for granted the boost that it gave our industry. Fortunately for us, that trend has continued to strengthen and the focus on outdoor living and home gardening has flourished,” said Susan.
“At the onset of COVID-19, we were in fear of being forced to shut down operations. The greenhouses were full of live plants — we worried that we couldn’t continue to employee others to care for them; predominantly watering and performing disease resistant measures,” she continued.
Lasnicki is part of The New York State Nursery and Landscape Association — there were a lot of groups that were advocating for them to stay open. And the decision was made to do so.
“We could also continue to do our landscaping because we were considered ‘essential.’ We basically sold out that year. It was the craziest year that we ever had on record because that is where people went just to be outside. Home gardening became quite a hit then — vegetables and herbs,” she said.
“Folks couldn’t work, so they’d come to the nursery,” Andy recalled. “I remember the first time, it was a Tuesday and a lot of people were here and we were scratching our heads saying ‘what is going on here? Where are all these customers coming from?’ I’d spend the day directing traffic. I remember at the end of the day saying, ‘well that will never happen again.’ And then the next day, it happened again! So it was kind of a positive thing for our industry … if you can take any positive out of COVID.”
What began as a time of great concern ended in complete mayhem — the floodgates opened and customers came in droves to safely experience the outdoors. Many were simply interested in socializing; others in planting their first vegetable gardens ever, as they were distancing themselves from the supermarkets. Many others wanted to invest in building or improving their outdoor living areas as many people were staying home in lieu of traveling or vacationing.
“During a time of immeasurable fear of the unknown, we could never have imagined a better recipe for our business” Andy said.
“We recognize that others did suffer terribly during this time and as a token of appreciation for the community that did support us during this time, we have had an increased focus on giving back to the community,” he added. “In addition to the fundraisers, we now host community events such as our Small Business Saturday Craft Fair and Summer Craft Fair. These host local artists, crafters and small businesses, giving them an additional outlet to sell their products. Last fall’s Small Business Craft Fair had 100 plus vendors! We also held our first ever Trunk or Treat this past fall with the proceeds donated to North Country HUB located in Central Square, which is a facility dedicated to building up the youth and families of our community, restoring hope for our future.’”
“We definitely know a lot of people whose businesses suffered,” Susan agreed. “So we were very appreciative that we were fortunately able to go through it as well as we did.”
“Looking back, this is a far cry from the origination of our nursery operations. Andy’s passion for growing inspired him to put up a 17’ x 50’ greenhouse in the backyard in the early 2000s, prior to building the nursery,” Susan said. “His initial thought was to grow for our own gardening and landscape needs as well as growing bedding plants for a handful of landscape accounts.”
With the greenhouse on site, neighbors began showing up at their home to purchase flowers. The greenhouse was eventually taken down and moved next door. It is now being utilized in the nursery operations.
Lasnicki Landscaping & Nursery has come a long way from its roots — beginning with Andy’s purchase of a $100 pickup truck and his father’s lawn mower. It is currently the largest nursery in Oswego County and operating one of the most reputable landscaping companies in the Central New York area.
“Much of our success can be attributed to the hard work, dedication and sacrifices we have made over the years,” he said. “And more recently our exceptional, youthful management team that continuously strives to achieve greater measures, never settling for the norm.
“It has been exciting watching all of this grow through the years. Our employees are so passionate, it invigorates my passion. We take great pride in the small business, family-owned atmosphere that we are known for.”
