Season means profit for nursery businesses

Published 9:45 pm Sunday, March 13, 2016

CAROLINE HUDSON | DAILY NEWS NEW PRODUCTS: A group of customers check out some of the new plants at Forest Hills Nursery in Washington.

CAROLINE HUDSON | DAILY NEWS
NEW PRODUCTS: A group of customers check out some of the new plants at Forest Hills Nursery in Washington.

As the temperatures start to rise and little green shoots start to sprout, nurseries in Beaufort County start to prepare for one of the biggest seasons of the year.

For landscapers, whether working on a professional job or touching up one’s backyard, springtime means planting flowers and preparing gardens. When March rolls around, those landscapers come looking for what they need.

Pattie Queen, owner of Forest Hills Nursery in Washington, said the spring season starts around mid-March for her business.

To prepare, the business makes sure to stock up on products, such as vegetables and bedding plants, to get ready for customers. Queen said everything for the spring season is brought in and ready to go before mid-April.

“As far as the nursery, we just have to make sure we have good inventory, you know, for spring,” Queen said. “That’s the main thing: make sure everything is ready.”

CAROLINE HUDSON | DAILY NEWS OPTIONS: Among the many plants offered during springtime are bedding plants, garden vegetables, perennials, annuals and the year-round shrubbery.

CAROLINE HUDSON | DAILY NEWS
OPTIONS: Among the many plants offered during springtime are bedding plants, garden vegetables, perennials, annuals and the year-round shrubbery.

Crystal Hopkins, manager at Petals and Produce, said the business also has an emphasis on vegetables this time of year, including cabbage, collards and beets, which need to be planted in the spring.

She said many of their products are grown at the larger Petals and Produce site in Pinetown, where there is space for planting, before being transported to the store in Washington.

“It’s pretty much just getting the land ready to plant everything,” Hopkins said. “Most of the plants that we have, we get like little plugs and the little seeds for them and plant them ourselves.”

“Most of the time, it’s either me or the boss that brings whatever we need,” she added.

Queen said the spring season is of the utmost importance in the nursery business, as it brings in some of the larger profits for the year.

“If you don’t make it in the spring, you usually don’t make it,” she said. “Hope for the best; pray for the best.”

During the Great Recession in 2008, Queen said Forest Hills struggled to stay afloat, but as the economy slowly rebounds, so has business.

There is no real way to prepare for this, however, and she said all nursery businesses can do is present the best products.

“Spring, summertime, it’s busy, busy, busy,” Hopkins said.