Gardeners, greenhouses ready for ‘21 spring planting season

    “April showers bring May flowers” is alive and well in the area this week, after generous rains fell Tuesday and Wednesday.
    While the rains will definitely be a plus to perennial flowers and plants already in the ground, local greenhouses are also happy for the rain.
    Most of them are just starting to put out their spring flowers, hanging baskets, vegetable plants and landscaping trees.
    And, just in time for Mother’s Day, too.
    According to interviews with several greenhouse owners/operators in Imperial, people are anxious to get into gardening.
    Ronee Kruger, owner of Lavender Market at 1040 Court St., and employees were filling the greenhouse Wednesday morning with flowers, patio pots, flowering baskets and more that were just picked up Tuesday in Denver. The starter plants they grow in the greenhouse will be ready in a couple weeks, she noted.
    Unlike a lot of other businesses that saw customer declines in 2020, Kruger said there was an uptick last year in gardening.
    “It seems like we had a lot more gardeners after having to do more things at home,” she said. “We saw a lot of that last year.”
    She’s counting on that to continue this season.
    Lavender Market will open its greenhouse on May 1.
    Hanging baskets and six-packs of flowers lined much of the greenhouse this week at Holiday Farms on Highway 61.
    Co-owner Donna Vlasin said everything out so far they have grown in their own greenhouses. They’re expecting to have more flowers and vegetable plants arrive by May 5.
    Family members were busy at the greenhouse over the weekend cutting back the flowering baskets already, thanks to some warm weather days the area has seen.
    Vlasin was hopeful the predicted rain that did come would cool the temperatures for awhile.
    S & T Ventures Gardens and Greenhouse, Inc. at 1609 Broadway opened last weekend, and their greenhouse is filling up with hanging baskets, flowers and vegetable garden plants.
    Sammie Johnson said, after customer requests, owner Sid Bartels ordered in some new, interesting items this season, including pink Black-Eyed Susans.
    Employees at Bomgaars on East Highway 6 were battling the conditions Tuesday outside their greenhouse, with their variety of trees and shrubs bowing in the wind.
    Asst. Manager Nicki Sailors said last weekend was a busy one for the greenhouse, which opened several weeks ago. Tree sales picked up this week.
    While they lost some vegetable plants and impatiens to the cold a few weeks ago, more are being delivered this week, she said. Their greenhouse also has other flowers, potted plants and hanging baskets.
    She noted Mother’s Day racks with hanging plants and pots were just put out Tuesday.
    “Mother’s Day is always a big day for sales, and for those looking for last-minute gifts,” she said.
    Sailors said the height of COVID last year at this time didn’t affect sales much even with restrictions in place there such as masks and directional arrows in the greenhouse.
    All those restrictions are gone this season, she said.
FFA greenhouse a
learning experience
    Flowers for planting, hanging baskets, potted flowers and vegetables will be ready for sale on Monday when the Imperial FFA Greenhouse opens to the public.
    The FFA business venture has a goal that’s different from its commercial counterparts in Imperial—education, said FFA Advisor Jason Speck.
    Chase County Schools’ horticulture class has most of the responsibility in preparing for greenhouse sales and its upkeep.
    Those students do the transplanting after the half-inch size plugs arrive, Speck said. The class also starts the vegetable plants grown from seed.
    “The kids get a lot out of it,” Speck said of the greenhouse.
    One of their “perks” is the hanging baskets class members create, which they get to take home later, Speck said.
    This is the fifth year the FFA greenhouse has opened sales to the public. The greenhouse was built 24 years ago, and for many of those years, Speck said it was used to grow plants just for use in their classes.
    “We were looking for ways to use the greenhouse more,” he said.
    That led to opening sales to the public, with good success.
    Profits go back into the greenhouse for purchases the following year. Some of the funds also send FFA members to national FFA events.