June 2021 - 6

FROM THE EDITOR
OFF TO A GREAT START
While spring had its " official " calendar start back in March, the horticulture industry
typically considers Mother's Day as it's big entry into the spring gardening season. The
success of your season significantly depends on the success of Mother's Day. After all, it
is the biggest floral holiday of the year.
Unfortunately, this year - similar to last - we've seen some obstacles at all levels of
the supply chain. Higher transportation costs, numerous shortages and ongoing labor
struggles certainly threw things off, but growers and garden center retailers remained
cautiously optimistic leading up to spring.
This Mother's Day, just like every year for as long as I can remember, I went out and
purchased plants for the moms in my life, and I was thrilled to see how busy the stores
were. Parking lots were full, flowers were just flying off the benches and lines at the
register were winding.
As I sit here writing this, it is mid-May and I
actually just returned from a lunchtime trip to my
local garden center, as I had two empty hooks in my
yard that were in need of hanging baskets. I didn't
expect such a crowd at 11:30 a.m. on a Tuesday,
but I was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm
and chaos around me. I wasn't as happy that the
selection was minimal, but I suppose that is a good
sign that gardeners are shopping!
When I returned home, my visit got me thinking.
Was my experience unique to my region (Chicagoland suburbs)? Or is the rest of the
country experiencing just as much gardening excitement? I decided to reach out to some
growers and garden centers to get a pulse on how their businesses are handling the start
of spring.
Beth Gulley of Gulley Greenhouse in Fort Collins, Colorado, shared her thoughts: " It
has been crazy what we're seeing - I think people may have been 'burned' last year
by waiting too long, so the general feeling is they're buying early to make sure they get
stuff! Especially veggies and herbs. "
At Leider Greenhouses & Garden Center in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, they have had the
earliest and busiest season in years. They also experienced a huge increase in hanging
basket sales and will likely run out earlier than ever before.
Greg Scnhur of Schnur's Greenhouse in Butler, Pennsylvania, said, " The Saturday of
Mother's Day is always our busiest day. This year, we had a 7% increase in in-store sales
that day compared to last year. "
At Wyman's Garden Center in Hanson, Massachusetts, Mother's Day weekend was
insanely busy but comparable to years past. But now they are having a hard time keeping
up with customer demand as everyone is getting into gardening more.
Given the market circumstances, I think what I'm hearing across
the board is sales are up (yay!) and all those new gardeners we
gained last year have stuck around this year (double yay!).
How has Mother's Day, Memorial Day and early spring
overall treated your business? Shoot me an email at jdolce@
greatamericanpublish.com, and let me know. I'd love to hear
from you.
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June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2021