In 1980, Doug Zick left Monsanto’s research and development department with an old truck and a shovel.
He started knocking on doors.
Two years later, he leased a piece of undeveloped ground along Clayton Road in western St. Louis County. A few years after that, he purchased it. What began as 4.5 acres of raw land has grown into nearly 12 acres of pathways, bridges, specimen trees, retail displays, hoop houses, and commercial operations.
Today, Zick’s Great Outdoors is one of the most distinctive nurseries in the Midwest, serving retail customers, managing commercial design-build projects, and navigating everything from tornadoes to exploding deer populations.
And through it all, Doug has relied on a few core principles: passion, planning, and practical solutions that work in the real world.
A Nursery That’s Always in Motion
On the surface, customers see a beautifully laid-out nursery. Rock paths wind through mature plantings. Bridges cross water features. Displays are clean, well-spaced, and thoughtfully arranged.
Behind the scenes, it’s constant work. “We’re reshelving every day,” Doug says. “People don’t want to look at stuff that looks picked through.”
Beyond presentation, there’s watering, even in winter. There’s pricing and plant education. There’s constant monitoring of inventory, spacing, and condition. And there’s the reality that plants are living inventory. They require care 12 months a year.
Even on 40-degree days in January, Doug may be watering.
“You make a pot of coffee on Monday, leave for three days, and those grounds are powder dry,” he says. “Same thing happens in pots. They’re not using much water in winter, but they can’t dry out.”
The work never really stops.
Early Adoption of Woven Fabric
Doug’s relationship with DeWitt goes back nearly 45 years. He was introduced to Larry DeWitt early in the company’s history and immediately saw the value in woven landscape fabric.
“It just made sense to me,” Doug says. “When I was a kid, my grandmother laid newspaper in her garden and put straw over it. The water went through, but the weeds didn’t.”
Woven landscape fabric was the professional version of that same concept—without the downsides of plastic.
Plastic degrades quickly in sunlight. It blocks water. It traps moisture. It fails.
Woven fabric, particularly Pro5, solved those issues.
Doug often tells customers to hold weed fabric up to the light.
“If you can see light through it, you’re probably going to get germination,” he says. “With Pro5, you don’t see light through it.”
For him, that’s the difference between a product that performs and one that just sounds good on the label.
Retail Reality: Educating the Customer
Doug is careful not to oversell.
“Just because it’s called weed fabric doesn’t mean it keeps weeds out forever,” he says.
Installation matters. So do anchor pins.
Without proper securing, rock shifts. Wind lifts fabric. Gaps form. Weeds find their way through.
Doug stocks DeWitt’s retail rolls, pre-packaged pins, and accessories—and encourages customers to use them properly.
“Dump a bunch of rock on it without pinning it down, and the whole thing moves. Now you’ve got rock without fabric underneath.”
Education is part of the sale.
Deer Pressure as a Bottom-Line Threat
If weeds are a constant pressure, deer are a business threat.
The deer population in Doug’s region has exploded. A healthy herd, according to conservation officials, is 8–10 deer per square mile. In nearby Wildwood, night-vision surveys showed 90–100 deer per square mile.
“They’re basically starving,” Doug says.
The impact is real.
He once sold 5,000 hostas annually. Today, he sells none.
Arborvitae can’t sit exposed during winter or deer will strip foliage up to five feet high. Young trees are damaged by antler scraping from August through February.
Doug uses thousands of feet of DeWitt Deer Fence Pro around the nursery perimeter, mounted on T-bars. For smaller residential applications, he recommends lighter-grade netting draped directly over plants.
In high-end neighborhoods, aesthetics matter.
“You can’t put bright orange safety fence in someone’s front yard on a million-dollar home.”
For young Green Giant arborvitae, Doug developed a creative solution: three bamboo stakes forming a teepee around the tree, wrapped in deer netting, sometimes with small bells attached.
“As soon as they touch it, it makes noise. It’s worked pretty well.”
It’s practical. It’s subtle. And it protects inventory.
Shade Cloth Beyond the Greenhouse
Shade cloth plays multiple roles at Zick’s.
Doug uses knitted shade cloth in hoop houses and for annual displays, but also as functional fencing and gates. Frames wrapped in shade cloth act as entry points into fenced areas, providing flexibility and airflow.
It’s also used creatively for tree transport.
When customers purchase larger trees, Doug wraps them quickly using a 6-foot roll of knitted material. It’s fast and efficient compared to tarps or complex tying methods.
There is education involved.
“If you drive home with it and leave it on in full sun at 90 degrees, it can burn the leaves,” Doug explains. “It’s about knowing when to remove it.”
Again, product plus knowledge equals performance.
Planning in a Weather-Driven Business
Doug buys from 75 to 100 suppliers each year. Early order programs are essential.
Some require ordering by September of the previous year. Many offer dating programs or incentives on hard goods.
But even the best planning faces weather risk.
April 2025 was the wettest April on record in St. Louis. May wasn’t much better. Weekends—critical retail days—were lost to rain.
Inventories ran high.
“Our sales are dictated by the weather,” Doug says. “You can plan all you want, and then weather slaps you in the face.”
Supply chain dynamics have also shifted. Suppliers are carrying less inventory. “Just-in-time” expectations don’t always align with seasonal demand spikes.
Advice for the Next Generation
Doug jokes that his first advice to young entrepreneurs might be: “Don’t do it.”
Then he smiles.
“You have to have a passion for it. It’ll consume you.”
From February 15 through Christmas, Doug works seven days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day. But he doesn’t use an alarm clock.
“You wear every hat. Accounting. Design. Plant care. Warranties. You’re dealing with living material.”
Honesty—with customers and with yourself—is non-negotiable.
“You can’t take this business lightly.”
Despite the pressures, Doug remains energized.
Zick’s hosts seasonal produce markets, Halloween walks, Christmas tree sales, and ongoing retail operations across 12 acres of paths and specimen plantings grown over 45 years.
Nearly every first-time customer says the same thing: they’re blown away.
Doug’s goal is simple—to keep evolving, to keep improving, and to remain one of the most unique nurseries in the Midwest.
After 45 years, the foundation remains the same: practical solutions, durable materials, careful planning, and a deep passion for the work.
Bottom Line
Zick’s Great Outdoors is proof that longevity in this industry comes down to three things:
- Passion for the work
- Planning for the unpredictable
- Products that perform in the real world
For Doug Zick, DeWitt Weed Barrier, Deer Fence Pro, Anchor Pins, and Knitted Shade Cloth are tools that help him manage 12 acres of living inventory in one of the most demanding environments in the Midwest.
And after four decades, that kind of consistency speaks for itself.