To John Rozett, running a nursery is more than just planting, watering and picking. It's a science that he's cultivated over the past 32 years as a horticulture student, manager of a foliage farm and now owner of his own company, Rozett's Nursery, which he runs with his wife, Donna, on the Big Island.

Rozett said some in the foliage business, particularly at the big box stores, just sell plants. Very little consideration is given to the customer's needs, such as what the plants, trees or shrubs will be used for, or the climate and soil that the plants will grow in.

The 52-year-old Rozett said he takes these things seriously and makes an effort to explain the science of horticulture to customers at his Puna farm. His radio ads feature tips on landscaping, rather than sales events, and he offers six free seminars each year on how to make good choices on different themes, such as fruit trees, shrubs and hedges.

The seminars, he said, are well-attended, which tells him that people are interested in the proper way to landscape.

"We share a lot of information with people about plants, which is something that they're not finding necessarily in all of the other stores," Rozett said. "The people who are interested in gardening and landscaping are really hungry for knowledge and we try and feed that hunger."

It is this passion that led Rozett to switch from a landscape architecture major to tropical horticulture when he transferred from the University of Oregon to the University of Hawai'i-Hilo in 1976. He said he found it difficult to design a landscape when he didn't know much about the foliage he would be using.

"I determined that they don't teach landscape architects enough about growing plants to really know what they need to know to deal with it because you're designing with a living thing," Rozett said.

After graduating, Rozett was a manager for a Big Island export foliage farm while Donna stayed at home and raised their two children. But in 1989, Donna and another mother decided to start growing cuttings in a 10,000-square-foot shade house in the Rozett's backyard.

Much of the items were sold through John Rozett's employer and the tiny Rozett business began to grow. In 1993, Rozett quit his "day job" to join Donna full time to run their nursery.

"I was comfortable at the other situation so it took me a while to really jump off and make sure my parachute worked," he said.

The couple added a second acre to their operations and expanded the nursery's inventory. Rozett's Nursery now spans 5 acres and includes a large retail sales yard.

Rozett said about 35 percent of his company's sales are done from the retail shop, while the balance is through the wholesale market to Big Island stores and contractors. The farm grows more than 200 varieties of ornamental plants and trees and employs 16 people.

Although his earlier job was involved in exporting, Rozett said he no longer dabbles in that market.

"You're sending out about $5,000 to $8,000 worth of plants minimum at a time to somebody 2,500 miles away and there's less control over the transaction and the collection of bills and other issues," Rozett said. Besides, he added, the export market is "reasonably well-served" by the other nurseries on the Island.

In the early 1990s, Rozett said his company was able to grow while many others folded. Many of these companies fed the landscape construction industry, which was severely impacted by the slowdown in the economy in Japan.

"We found that more people were leaving the market than the market really wanted so we found good opportunities in growing and brokering products," Rozett said.

He said the current downturn in the economy hasn't really affected his business. In fact, Rozett said, he's seeing an increase in sales because the high cost of fuel and airfare are causing more people to stay close to home, meaning they're spending more time and money on home improvements.

Rozett said his nursery also is selling more fruit trees, as well as vegetable and herb plants, because people want to grow their own food.

"It's a healthy thing for people to want to be a little more self-sufficient, so we're trying to encourage that," Rozett said.

It's his attention to detail that has helped make his company succeed, he said. The Rozetts' hard work recently was rewarded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, which named them its Small Business Persons of the Year for Hawai'i County.

John Rozett said he's pleased with the award because it has brought more attention, as well as customers, to his business. But Rozett said his nursery isn't all about just making money because he's also on a mission to educate the public.

Rozett said he spends a lot of time sharing his knowledge with his customers who visit his 5-acre farm.

"I'm kind of famous for burying people in information," Rozett said. "But I'm very passionate about what I do and all of us at the nursery enjoy working with plants and really are genuinely motivated by it."