Sunborne Nursery is not only in partnership with our suppliers and customers, we are also in partnership with the Bayview - it provides us with our greenhouse facility and a great worforce that we appreciate tremendously.

While we employ a number of Bayview residents already, including our General Manager and our highest paid employee, we fully appreciate the fact that we can do more for the community with our business and horticulture experience and connections. That is the reason why we have taken on a number of community outreach programs.

Below is a quick summary of some of the work that we are involved with, and some that will begin very shortly. If you would like more information on any of the programs described below, please reach out to Dan at 415-821-7726 (or dan@sunborne.com). Similarly, if you would like to participate in any of the programs we are leading, or if you have other ideas for community outreach opportunities, please give Dan a call. We are always open to new people and new ideas.

Sunborne created a partnership with Young Community Developers (YCD) in early 2011 focused on providing employment and job training to residents of the Bayview Hunter’s Point community. While the relationship continues to grow and evolve, here are some of our successes and plans for the future;

1) Sunborne has hired 20 graduates of YCD’s Job Readiness Training program (JRT) for part-time employment since early 2011.

2) All of the Job Readiness Training (JRT) program graduates that are hired by Sunborne receive comprehensive hands-on training on such things as plant ID and care, greenhouse operation, customer service, shipping and receiving, and sales instruction. With this training, the JRT graduates are positioned well to have successful careers at Sunborne or at another horticultural business in the area should they want to try something else. In that case, we will use our industry contacts to find them a job, coach them through the interview process, and provide mentorship them should they be interested.

3) Sunborne participates in YCD’s Job Readiness Training program as a guest speaker and local employer with insight into the needs and expectations of the businesses in Bayview Hunter’s Point area. To date we have spoken to 9 JRT classes to reinforce the principles of the JRT program, as well as to provide an overview of Sunborne, career opportunities in the horticultural industry, and the skills and attitudes that businesses like Sunborne look for in new employees. Sunborne has been asked to continue participating in the JRT program as a guest speaker at future JRT classes.

Quality Plant Material

• We only sell high quality, clean, well-rooted, insect-free plants. We always choose quality over price in making our purchasing decisions.

• As a preventive against gnats, scale, whitefly and mealy bugs, we treat our plant material with a combination of Safari (systemic) and Nemasis (beneficial). The only plants that do not get this treatment are plants from Hawaii that are grown in lava rock, as well as bromeliads, where the extra water can be harmful. In addition, as we prepare your orders for pick up or delivery, we wash all plants with Sunspray, a horticultural oil. Besides washing off pesticide residues and mineral deposits, Sunspray works to smothers spider mites and their eggs. The combination of these products is unsurpassed in providing you with bug free plants.

• We trim and manicure all plants so that they are installation ready when you receive them. This saves you time, labor and money.

• We have a dedicated Quality Control specialist who inspects every order to make sure everything is correct, the quality meets our rigorous quality standards and the plants are clean and disease and bug free.

Customer Service

• We have 6 full-time sales representatives, with an average of 25 years of nursery and interiorscape experience each. Our large sales staff is extremely knowledgeable and available to provide support and advice to our customers Monday through Friday from as early as 7am to as late as 5pm.

• We can supply plants with labels free of charge. The labels can include as much or as little information as needed. For instance our labels can include the customer name, the technician, the service route, the delivery location, the customer logo, the plant name, the retail price, a SKU, and the recommended lighting and watering requirements for each plant.

• We load our trucks at night so we can begin delivering as early as 6am to meet the needs of our customers.

• We have no delivery charges on orders over $400 and do not apply fuel surcharges on deliveries.

• We do not charge a re-stocking fee on returned plants as long as they are in good shape and are returned in a reasonable amount of time.