WES FLEMING, MANAGING DIRECTOR, FLEMING'S GROUP

Q What are the three biggest challenges facing your industry in 2024?

A Costs, labour and skill. I believe now is one of the most challenging times to be owning and operating a business in Australia. Why? Costs.

It is exceedingly expensive to run a business right now. We are at the mercy of the economy, inflation, and the costs of fuels, materials and labour. Each are at an all-time high and require extremely close management to remain profitable. In addition to that, we have a very low labour pool.

Finding people that will join our workforce and do the tough work from the ground up — and be able to retain them for the long term — is becoming impossible. This has forced us to look to new ways of doing things. The knock-on effect is a shortage of experience as people are moving in and out of the industry faster, taking with them the skills they have learned in horticulture or landscaping.

Q What opportunities do you predict for the growth of your industry in 2024?

A The good news is that people are coming back to gardening and gaining a greater appreciation for well-designed gardens. While the economy is forcing people to stay home more, that also means they tend to play in the garden more, which is a benefit to selling plants.

On the landscaping side of things, people are starting to appreciate that a well-designed and -built outdoor space adds huge value to their property and improves their personal interaction with outdoor spaces. If this trend continues to grow, we can expect more people in garden centres and more people seeking homelandscaping improvements.

Q In what direction would you like to see your company move over the next five years?

A As a director moving into the latter part of his working career, I am working closely with my senior management teams to futureproof the business. To establish a coreand stable senior management team that can manage the business independently from me, as I shape up for retirement. This will be a big change for our businesses, but I believe professionalising the upper management will allow Fleming’s to grow and develop in the future without relying on the day-to-day input of the owners. As for what we do, I believe all business must remain nimble enough to be able to respond to the market and what the market wants and needs. Fleming’s will always take a direction that serves to provide value and to ensure we continue to make our stamp on the liveability of Australian communities.

Q What do you feel is your industry’s biggest contribution to the public space arena over the last decade, and what lasting changes has it supported?

A Our dedicated Research and Innovation department is one of the things I am most proud of. This department has been responsible for the introduction of many new tree varieties in Australia. Not only have these trees changed the shape of Australian streets, parks and gardens, but we have invested heavily into new propagation methods and are breaking new ground with our Tissue Culture for Australian native trees and fruit, which will benefit the consumer for many years to come.

On top of this, we have developed amazing trial programs to assess trees in the urban environment. We have incorporated cutting-edge technology to track all trees we plant in the urban environment, to ensure perfect management and assessment and ultimately success. We have also developed a team of architects and landscape construction specialists to plan and execute superior landscapes that focus on horticultural outcomes. It’s been a busy 20 years!

Q What is unique to your company this is not being widely done by others in your industry, and why is it valuable?

A I believe, to date, Fleming’s is the only holistic-nursery-to-landscape-business of scale in Australia. We provide true end-to-end services from contract and nursery growing, nursery sourcing, landscape and garden design services, project management, construction and maintenance and research and innovation — among many other supporting services.

Fleming’s focus is always on the best horticultural outcomes possible. We can bring expertise from across our businesses and business divisions to execute a high level of service or be an invaluable resource to others, by simply having access to knowledge within our own ranks.

We are also owned and operated by the same family, which means we can be flexible and make decisions that can be actioned quickly, without red-tape or a drawn-out approval process, affording us the capacity to bend and shape to the requirements of the industry, to the marketplace, or to the business itself, quickly and easily.

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WES FLEMING
Wes Fleming was “born and bred” growing trees. Established in the early 1920s, Fleming’s Nurseries (FN) is now Australia’s leading wholesaler of deciduous fruiting and ornamental trees and shrubs to retail garden centres, urban development, landscape industries and local government. The Group employs approximately 200 people across FN Victoria, FN Queensland, and Fleming’s Landscapes and includes Tissue Culture, five production nurseries, landscape architecture, landscape construction and landscape maintenance.