Page 11 - Priorities #26 2004-April

Once upon a time, acres of chrysanthemums bloomed on the south side of Woodside Road, just past El Camino Real, in Redwood City. Across the street, Rudy and Marlis Wegman operated their gardening and landscape supply store out of a small pale green stucco building with a cigar box for a cash till.
Today, the chrysanthemums are gone. In their place are apartment buildings and strip malls. Two other nurseries have given way to service stations, a PetcoandaDairyQueen.But,althoughthegreenbox of a building has been moved back a hundred yards or so to make way for the larger and more modern structure; the property has expanded to 2 acres; and the cigar box has given way to a modern cash register, the Wegman family is still tending the gardening center on Woodside Road.
“If my father had known about demographics,
he couldn’t have picked a better location,” says son Erhard Wegman.
Rudy, a landscaper and recent immigrant from Switzerland, bought the property in 1960 to serve as a landscape yard. But, as his son Erhard explains, “Whenyou’realandscaper,youalwayshaveextra plants.”
Rudy and his wife, Marlis, realized they could earn extra money stocking one-gallon plant pots and plots for bedding in their landscape-supply store. And their gardening business was born. Marlis operated the store, while Rudy landscaped. The couple and their three kids lived in a two-story ramshackle
house right on the property: “two bedrooms up, two bedrooms down,” according to Erhard, who was 2 when they started the business.
Erhard and Mark, both Woodside Priory alumni, now operate Wegman’s Nursery with their sister, Heidi Wegman Pellarin. Neither brother can imagine doing anything else.
The business, the two agree, keeps them grounded.
They both love the trees and shrubs, but more than that,theyloveimpartinginformation. “Knowledgeis the key,” Erhard says.
On a recent day, a regular customer comes to the store to ask Erhard some questions. Meanwhile, Mark loads up a Radio Flyer wagon with seedlings for another customers, all the while explaining where to plant them, what to mix in the soil and how to water them.
Alumni Profile
The Radio Flyer wagon is one of the Wegmans’ signature pieces of equipment. Before nursery carts were available, the family found the kid’s toy to be a convenient way to transport plants from the store to a customer’s car door, and you can see four or five red wagons in front of the parking lot at any given time.
The brothers credit the Priory with giving them a good foundation for picking up the family business.
The monks “taught discipline,” says Mark, who belonged to the Priory’s inaugural eighth grade class andgraduatedin1978. “Theywereverystrict.”They emphasized “you finish a task and do it the best you can.” Yet, that message was sent with a lot of warmth and fun along the way.
Mark recalls Brother Benedict, an amateur magician, making a tiger appear and disappear at the Emerald Ball (a precursor to the current annual auction and ball). Erhard remembers Father Maurus unable to keep a straight face during sex education class and Father Christopher loudly cheering his soccer team on.
Erhard graduated in 1976, then pursued his love of soccer while attending Foothill College in Los AltosHillsforayearandahalf. Later,hemovedto NewEngland,attended St.Anselm’sCollegeinNew Hampshire, and stayed in the area for 10 years. He fancied a career in restaurants for a while and spent a winter and a summer in Switzerland, working in
a youth hostel. Then he and a college friend started
a landscape and gardening maintenance business. Erhard finally decided to return to the family business.
Mark, a 1978 graduate, spent a year and half at the College of San Mateo before jumping right into the business.
The Wegmans view the Priory as more than just the place they went to school. The nursery continues to supply the Priory with greenery. And Mark’s two children are now attending the Priory. (Mark loves the fact that the Priory is coeducational.) When Marlis, aLutheran,diedin1989,FatherChristopher,Father Maurus and Father Egon said Mass at her funeral, Erhard says.
“We weren’t just students. We were part of a family,” Mark says.
—Gwynne Young
In the 1960’s, travelers along Woodside Road couldn’t miss the acres of blooms at Wegman’s gardening and landscape
supply store. Today, the nursery is different but the owners’ attitude—learned from the monks—hasn’t changed.
Photo provided by Wegman family
Erhard Wegman, Class of 1976
Lives in Redwood City
Wife: Vicky
Children: Tristan, 6, and Jackson, 5 Favorite activities: Aikido (martial art) and cooking
Professional field: Horticulture
Mark Wegman, Class of 1978
Lives in Redwood City
Wife: Graziella
Children: Stephanie, 18, and Greg, 14 Favorite activities: Hunting, skiing,
water-skiing and traveling Professional field: Horticulture
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