Successful partnership spurs growth in multi-generational business

When the leadership of a successful family business is passed from one generation to the next, it comes with a lot of responsibility for those newly at the helm: the responsibility to successfully carry on the legacy that the previous generation worked so hard to build.

So when Richard May, president and general manager of May Nursery of Havana, Florida, took over leadership a few years ago as a third-generation grower together with his brother Ashley May and their cousins John Bradford and Joel May, he took that responsibility to heart. The combination of valuable lessons learned from the previous generation and a strategic plan with a focus on lean principles and efficiency allowed Richard and his team to continue to lead the company to the growth and success it enjoys today.

Part of a company’s success lies with the partners it aligns with, and May Nursery has found one such partner in Emerald Coast Growers of Pensacola, Florida. May Nursery grows more than 400 different types of evergreens, flowering shrubs, perennials and ornamental grasses that it sells to wholesalers, landscape contractors and independent garden centers throughout the eastern United States. The company buys almost all of its perennial liners and a large percentage of its ornamental grass liners from Emerald Coast.

“Working with Emerald Coast makes my life easier,” Richard May says. “I just don’t have to worry about anything. The quality is always top-notch, the pricing is very competitive and the people are great to work with. Knowing that I can get so much of what I need from one company is a huge help.”

May Nursery has been buying from Emerald Coast since the late '90s, when Richard’s father did the purchasing. Over time — and as Richard “became better at purchasing,” as he puts it — he started to purchase more and more from them. “The value I’m getting from Emerald Coast is simply better,” May states.

May Nursery propagates most of its shrubs itself, but for perennials and ornamental grasses, it is more cost-effective to buy in liners from Emerald Coast. They buy most of their perennial starts as 72-cell liners, which are then finished in 1-gallon pots. Grasses are mostly purchased as 38-cell liners and finished in 3-gallon pots.

“We’ve tried propagating our own in the past, but it’s just not worth it,” May says. “It’s too tedious, and we don’t have the labor. It’s much more cost-efficient for us to purchase from Emerald Coast. And since I can get so much of what I need from them, it saves me on freight costs.”

May is excited to see that Emerald Coast is adding 32 new perennial varieties to its 2025-2026 lineup, making it even more of a one-stop shop. Asked if there’s anything else he’s planning to add from them, he points to the selection of infertile grasses he’s planning to try this fall. “I think it’s the future of grasses, especially for Miscanthus,” May says. “Miscanthus is beautiful, but it can get out of hand in some places. I think Emerald Coast’s infertile selections will be the better alternative for those situations.”