Where do you buy just the right pine cone? Peer inside Garden State Foliage in Manalapan
Susan Bloom
7 min read
MANALAPAN - Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and working for decades as a speech pathologist, Susan Roth never expected to become the principal owner of Garden State Foliage, the side business her husband owned.
But after his passing in 2014, she took the helm of the Manalapan-based company — a manufacturer and importer of natural floral accessories for floral wholesalers, florists, and big-box retail stores nationwide — and has since brought it to blooming new heights.
“I moved to the Shore area in 1980 when I married my husband Neil, a New Jersey native who was a practicing dentist in South Amboy,” said Roth, a Colts Neck resident. “He’d been an economics and pre-dental major in college and had always wanted to diversify and run a business, so after 40 years of practicing dentistry, he bought Garden State Foliage with a partner in the early 2000s as a side venture.”
Though Garden State Foliage had been in existence for 10 to 20 years before Neil bought it, Roth said that her husband made significant improvements.
Susan Roth, owner of Garden State Foliage, a nearly 20-year-old manufacturer and importer of natural floral accessories for floral wholesalers, florists, and big-box retail stores, talks about her business as she tours the new warehouse and office space in Manalapan, NJ Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
Among them, “he quadrupled the company’s sales and moved the business from Jackson to a 75,000-square-foot facility in Farmingdale, where he built the company’s offices and factory,” she said. “Neil ran it — working at nights and on weekends around his dental practice — up until nine years ago, when he passed away after an 18-month battle with lung cancer.”
With her world turned upside down, Roth was forced to determine her next move.
A licensed speech pathologist who’d practiced in schools and privately throughout Monmouth County and had no formal background in retail, “I inherited the business and decided to take it over solely without Neil’s partner, who went back to his native Hungary,” Roth said.
“I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the business — I was able to source and purchase products because I’d gone on at least four buying excursions to China with Neil over the years — but I didn’t know the clients, logistics, or pricing.”
As a result, she said, “for the first two years that I owned Garden State Foliage, I relied heavily on the team of people who’d been there for 10 years working with Neil.”
Susan Roth, owner of Garden State Foliage, a nearly 20-year-old manufacturer and importer of natural floral accessories for floral wholesalers, florists, and big-box retail stores, talks about her business as she tours the new warehouse and office space in Manalapan, NJ Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
Holiday decorations: Elegant and effortless
Nine years later and out of the new location in Manalapan that now houses the company’s operations as of this month, “we offer a broad range of natural accessories for floral design, including five different sizes of pine cones that we paint, glitter and insert picks into; birch branches, poles, and trees of various sizes; and a range of dried floral items,” Roth said.
The company also maintains a permanent showroom in Atlanta.
“These items are used for décor at weddings, seasonal and special events, and set designs for clients of ours like Universal Studios, Disney World and SeaWorld. Our products have appeared in store windows for such retailers as Talbot’s, Tiffany & Co., American Eagle Outfitters and Saks Fifth Avenue, and we also sell our products for resale to big-box retailers including Fortunoff, TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Ross Stores and Burlington.”
In terms of sourcing products, “our items come from a range of different places domestically and globally, depending on where they’re grown,” Roth said.
“For example, America’s western and southern states each produce certain-sized pine cones, while other types of pine cones and floral accessories come from China, India and Italy, and we also source some dried floral items from the Netherlands. Some of the biggest floral and set designers come to us for products and we ship everywhere, from Los Angeles to Canada, the Caribbean, and more.”
Arcadio Azpeitia of Lakewood works in the warehouse at Garden State Foliage, a nearly 20-year-old manufacturer and importer of natural floral accessories for floral wholesalers, florists, and big-box retail stores, in Manalapan, NJ Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
Among trends in natural floral design, “gold has been on the uptick for the last couple of years, especially at Christmas, and silk floral décor is on the decline in favor of more natural and organic products,” Roth said.
“For example, ruscus — a floral accessory often used on grave blankets and in wreaths — used to be made of plastic, but we import natural red ruscus from Italy at the holidays and there’s growing demand for this leafy stem because it’s natural, biodegradable and sustainable.”
While Garden State Foliage’s products add a touch of elegance to any décor and seem effortless, Roth confirmed that the business has its share of challenges.
“For one thing, we’re very dependent on Mother Nature,” she said. “For example, we source a certain-sized pine cone from down south, and last year that region suffered a drought and the cones were smaller. I had to explain to customers that Mother Nature determines the size and quantity of our product and that these are natural items, not manufactured items that come out of a press.”
With much of their product coming from overseas, pandemic-era freight, shipping and other supply chain issues created a range of unprecedented uncertainty and price volatility.
“Things were so backed up in the ports that they couldn’t unload the ships for weeks, which significantly delayed our team’s production,” said Roth of the additional work her employees must undertake to make their products retail-ready. “For example, I recently received a trailer load of raw pine cones in plastic bags that had to be unloaded, drilled and inserted with a pick, and then painted and/or glittered; the same is the case with our branches, so delays can really set us back.”
Within the industry, Roth said that businesses such as hers also bear a disproportionate degree of risk.
“I have to give my suppliers a deposit in January/February and then receive the product from them in July, but I don’t ship finished product out until September/October and my customers have 30 to 60 days to pay me,” she explained. “I lay out money, then store the product with no hope of getting paid for months, so there’s a lot of risk for us.”
On the plus side?
“There aren’t many other players like us. We’re one of only about a handful of U.S. suppliers in this space,” she said.
Susan Roth, owner of Garden State Foliage, a nearly 20-year-old manufacturer and importer of natural floral accessories for floral wholesalers, florists, and big-box retail stores, talks about her business as she tours the new warehouse and office space in Manalapan, NJ Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
'You'd be so proud'
Supported by a team of 11 employees, including a chief financial officer who oversees financials and a freight manager who handles the company’s shipping and logistics activities, as well as sales reps in different territories, Roth wears many hats in her role as principal owner.
“I source most of the product, speak to all of our customers on a personal basis, sell at industry shows, and oversee factory operations and ensure that our employees are happy and have what they need to do their jobs,” she said.
Looking ahead, “we’re working on growing the company while scaling back to the most popular natural branch and pine cone products in our line due to all of the risks inherent in this business,” Roth said. “We also look forward to importing more finished products to help meet our demand in addition to sourcing more products domestically, though they’re not always available.”
Among her favorite parts of the job, Roth takes pride in carrying out her beloved husband’s legacy. “I often look up and tell Neil that ‘I hope you’re watching, because you’d be so proud of all of the work I put into this!’”
Despite the challenges of a business that she says has “a lot of obstacles to contend with and so much out of our control,” Roth ultimately finds magic in her product line.
“I enjoy bringing these products in and selling them to people who appreciate their natural beauty,” she said. Relative to other players in the market, she added, “the quality of our products is extremely high and our processes are so thorough and elegant. That’s the difference.”
