Joe Shaw has been selling shrubs, plants and trees to Dade homeowners from his Red Road nursery in South Miami for 52 years. Last month, Shaw sold the property, closed up shop and re-opened his original retail outlet at S. Dixie Highway and 112th Street.

"In the beginning, we actually had two retail nurseries, the one at Red Road and this one at 7790 SW 112 St.," explained the widely respected veteran landscaper. "We found that we were competing with ourselves, so we kept the 112th Street operation strictly as the propagating and growing nursery, and the Red Road location became our retail and landscape outlet for all those years."

Shaw came to Miami in 1946, shortly after World War II and his discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps. He enrolled at the University of Miami and started Shaw Nurseries at about the same time.

"I sort of worked my way through school," he recalled. "By the time I graduated in 1949, I had a full business going."

And, quite a business it was. Over the years, Joe Shaw gained national acclaim for his landscape designs and contributions to the nursery industry. He is a member of the Florida Turf Grass Association, Southern Nurserymen’s Association, American Association of Landscape Architects, a director of the American Society of Landscape Architects and past president of the Florida Nurserymen and Growers Association, to mention just a few.

Shaw and his wife, Ginny, have been married for 48 years. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Shaw holds an impressive list of honors and awards, including one for decorating the Florida Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, another from Cypress Gardens for being the outstanding horticulturist in Florida and one for meritorious service from the Florida Nurserymen & Growers Association.

Shaw said his company at one time employed 68 people, serviced all of Miami-Dade County and was the second largest nursery and landscape firm in the county. Now, he says, they’ve scaled back the operation, service south Miami-Dade primarily and employ just 22 people. His son, Bob, is vice president and keeps tabs on the day-to-day operation of the company.

Shaw said his family-operated business has earned a reputation for quality and service, something he sees as lacking in today’s landscape industry.

"If you call us up today, we’ll be out there tomorrow," he said. "We have a 48-hour rule. If you have a problem and you call it in today, we’ll take care of it in 48 hours."

He said many South Florida businessmen today will come in and promise you anything to get a deposit, and then they disappear. He says consumers should be careful of hiring a firm with an ad in the yellow pages that has a phone number listed without an address. And, he cautions people to always be certain that the firm they hire has proper insurance.

"The competition is fierce; they’re cutting corners and the first place they cut is insurance," Shaw said. "More and more people are going without insurance and it’s dangerous for the consumer."

Shaw thinks the major problem in the landscape industry today is that the field is overcrowded with unqualified people.

"They will low bid and do shoddy work until it finally catches up with them and they go out of business," he said. "Meantime, they’ve given the profession a real black eye."

Shaw said consumers today are interested in low maintenance landscaping, yet still concerned with the appearance of their property.

"The two things a client will ask for today is low maintenance and a lot of color. It’s a pretty difficult formula, but it can be done."

And what has happened Florida’s once-glorious hibiscus? It is not what it used to be, according to Shaw.

"The hibiscus has gone way back in the background. Years ago, when there were many hybrid hibiscus that were glorious blooms and there were people who collected them, it was a great item. At this point, the really fine, beautiful, colorful, large blooms are no longer being grown. There are just so many other things to give us color."

And, what is his philosophy?