Summer is in the air, and for the RustyRavin Plant Ranch, just south of Kenai, it was all hands on deck on a recent morning.
Co-owner Rusty Swan was working the register, checking out a customer buying about a dozen vegetable starts. The transaction was one of many the plant and flower store has seen over the last two months.
The season started early because of the mild winter. At the beginning of March, some areas had zero inches of snowpack.
Those conditions led to the most successful May the greenhouse has seen in its 14 seasons in operation, Swan said.
“If the weather's nice, people want to get out,” Swan said. “People want to go in the yard. People go outside and work in their flower gardens. They're just ready to work in the yards and get everything set up for the summer.”
Last season, business didn’t pick up until June, Swan said. For spring- and summer-only greenhouses, like the RustyRavin Plant Ranch, that meant less business during Alaska’s already short growing season.
“By the end of June, most everybody has their gardens in, all their flowers are planted, their flower gardens are planted,” Swan said. “By then, everybody's pretty much set to go, and everybody's already got their stuff in place, so they don't need us anymore.”
An informal survey of spring nursery sales from Kenai to Wasilla found mixed results. But for the businesses that saw an increase, it was significant – even record breaking.
That was true for Forget-Me-Not Nursery, off the Seward Highway in Indian. They’re also a seasonal shop, selling flowers and vegetable starts throughout the spring and summer.
And like the RustyRavin Plant Ranch near Kenai, Forget-Me-Not Nursery sold more plants this spring than in the shop’s history.
“After not a great winter, and after last year's summer where it was really wet, I think people were just really ready to get some color in their gardens,” said Forget-Me-Not Nursery owner Brandon Ruckel.
Ruckel guessed his shop saw about a 10% increase in sales from prior springs.
“Our business is so dependent on the weather. It's amazing,” Ruckel said. “You know, if it rains and it's cold and it's a late spring, like last year, it hugely affects our sales. If it's sunny and warm and people are out in their gardens, then they come and buy plants.”
The warmer winter lowered his greenhouse’s heating costs, too, Ruckel said, which saved the business money.
Greenhouses and nurseries aren’t the only ones who’ve seen an early uptick in business this year. Some garden supply stores benefited from the mild winter.
Carl Sanche owns Panama Reds Gardening Supply, just outside of Kenai. He said this spring, his sales were up about 50% from the last few springs and summers.
“It's been non-stop,” Sanche said. “Things are looking good for this year. People are optimistic after three years of rainy summers.”
Sanche, who’s shop is open yearround, said he noticed an increase in sales by April, which is sooner than expected. And that’s good for business, because the spring and summer months account for most of his sales, he said.
The recent spell of pleasant weather has also helped.
“When it’s sunny, people shop,” Sanche said. “You can’t stop them. When it gets sunny, they just got to go out and plant things, kind of like hoarding cats.”
Although sales for most nurseries and greenhouses have begun to drop off, business owners hope nice weather will continue to bring customers in the door.
