When kale and spinach flew off the shelves, people kept asking about fruit trees.
Bookcliff Gardens, 755 26 Road, hadn’t raised fruit trees in years, but in 2020 its owners Rick and Steph Griggs got reconsidering.
It’s been a year for gardens like no other. Seeds, tomatoes, zucchini, trees and almost everything else that grows in garden centers and nurseries were bought by customers in 2020.
“Last year was such a surprise compared to any other year,” said Chris Adolf, who co-owns the Valley Grown Nursery with his brother Evan Adolf and parents Kathy and Del Adolf.
Sales of vegetables, trees and bushes have increased massively, he said. “It was amazing.”
And when it comes to retail, 2021 “doesn’t make the last year look like a coincidence,” said Chris Adolf.
It does so despite the fact that Valley Grown has moved its retail site from 24 Road to the wholesale store at 1702 10 Road in Mack.
“We expected less traffic, but not like that. We’re fine, ”he said. Looking at the rough sales figures: “We are at the same point as last year.”
Not only that, but this weekend and Mother’s Day weekend are usually the busiest time for vegetable sales in the Grand Valley.
Last year there was a lot of panic buying of vegetables at this point that nurseries couldn’t keep up with, said Breann Fiihr, who owns the Mount Garfield Greenhouse at 3162 F Road with her husband Travis.
In that regard, things have normalized a bit this year, and most people seem to be waiting for the 40-degree weather to be gone to plant their annuals and vegetables outside, she said.
“I think they’ll listen when we say they can’t plant them until early May and Mother’s Day instead of panicking,” said Griggs, who expected vegetable sales to go from steady to frantic in the coming weeks will rise.
Although customers are waiting for vegetables, they are not patient with trees and bushes. Those 2020 requests at Bookcliff Gardens for fruit trees prompted the Griggses to add them in 2021.
“We got them in March and we hardly have any left,” said Steph Griggs.
The peach and apricot trees have disappeared.
“We only have an apple tree and a couple of Asian pears,” she said.
And it’s not just fruit trees. Trees in general “really are a commodity,” Griggs said.
People have been much more at home in the last year and are updating their yards, said Adolf. They add or replace trees or shrubs.
“So far this year a lot of people have asked about roses,” he said.
When it comes to landscaping plants, “I would probably put them (sales) equal to last year, if not higher,” said Fiihr.
She has had clients who either moved here a few years ago and are now ready to tackle the yard, or have a new home and need to do landscaping. To further complicate matters, many growing nurseries had wiped out much of their inventory with last year’s shopping spree. “Obtaining these goods was difficult,” she said.
While the demand for outdoor facilities remains strong, the demand for indoor facilities has increased recently, according to Fiihr and Griggs.
Indoor plants are very popular right now. “People want something green,” Griggs said, noting that houseplants’ winter popularity lasted well into spring.
It’s like a revival of the 1970s houseplant trend, Fiihr said.
“Most of all, I’d call them plant collectors,” she said of Mount Garfield’s avid houseplant customers. “You want to own one of them all.”
When Mount Garfield posts something on social media about how new houseplants are in stock, “they come down on us the next day,” she said. “They are looking for curiosities.”
“I think, overall, people are enjoying their shopping experience more because we know better about COVID,” said Fiihr. Customers “wander around and enjoy the scenery and stop and smell the flowers.”
So many customers rushed around last year with an entry and exit mentality and never stopped asking questions about crops or fertilizers.
“This year we have this kind of interaction with our gardeners again,” said Führer. “We like that.”
