Easter, warm weather means blooming flowers

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Some local flower shops and retailers are seeing a spring sales boost from customers  buying flowers and plants for their churches, homes and friends. Other business owners are getting supplies in and ready for customers who will be planting when the warm weather rushes in and seriously warms the earth.
    Even though it’s still too cold for most area gardeners to really dig in, local florists were busy making deliveries of cut flowers and potted plants for Easter including that seasonal favorite — white lilies. Many are spending despite the economy’s drag on finances and the pinch on discretionary spending.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
NATURE’S BEAUTIES — At Chadwick Florist and Greenhouses Jared Tapley and Debbie Nisbett admire and arrange blooming plants for Easter deliveries and pickups. 
    Although the national economic slowdown has hit just about everyone, from coast to coast, Karen Fitzpatrick said her customers in the Houlton area still want something beautiful.
    “The economy has affected us maybe about 10 percent,” said Fitzpatrick who co-owns Daniels Florist with her husband Russell. “Easter business is very weather-related. If Easter lands during warm weather business is better than during a cold spell.”
    With the recent warm up, it meant sales at Daniels over recent days and through last Saturday were good. “We are very pleased with our Easter season. We have been very busy. We have sold out all of our Easter lilies and almost all of our blossoming plants. I think a big part of it is the fact that the weather has been nice. And, personally, I think that when Easter falls in April, it’s a better Easter than when it’s in March,” she added.
    Russell Fitzpatrick said most of their business, averaging $30-$35 per sale, is local pickups and deliveries — not floral gifts by wire. “The big rush is usually at the end of the week.”
    At this time of year Daniels Florist in Market Square is selling mostly inside plants due to Aroostook County’s climate. “We are selling fairly even to churches and residences and it’s about the same as last year. The church sales lean heavily toward Easter lilies, hydrangeas, tulips and spring blossoming plants. Residential deliveries are about 50-50 fresh cut flowers and blossoming plants like hydrangeas and Martha Washington geraniums (pelargonium),” said Russell Fitzpatrick.
BLOOMING — Russell Fitzpatrick, holds the last Martha Washington geranium at Daniels Florist along with an Easter lily as he looks over several blooming plants that were very popular again this year.
    Chadwick Florist and Greenhouses on Spring St. in Houlton is blooming, too. Debbie Nisbett said residents are spending around $15-$40 on potted plants. She owns the business with her husband, Tom, and added that, “it’s a little early for gardens right now. But, we are selling lots of blooming plants. We are selling Easter lilies, of course, hydrangeas and a lot of potted plants like tulips, daffodils, mums and azaleas that people can plant outside when it gets warmer — around the end of May or so.”
    Nisbett said “people are buying to send to the churches for Easter in memory of a loved one for Easter Sunday. A lot of the churches will print the names in the bulletin. We send all kinds of plants. The lilies, the tulips, azaleas, hydrangeas — all of them. It makes a nice garden effect in the churches. And, we send them to homes as well.” She added that church representatives often take Easter plants to shut-ins.
    At Aroostook Milling on Hillview St., also in Houlton, Jane Torres is the greenhouse manager who is bubbling with excitement over prospects for spring planting and gardening. “It looks like it’s going to be better than last year. I am convinced people are going to stay home and they are going to plant and beautify their yards.”
    “People want pansies and they want their seed potatoes. If people want them, we’ll get them. And, pansies are tough they can survive the cold. If you put them in the ground, and they get hit by a frost, they bounce right back. Violas are the same way,” said Torres. Last year the six-pack flats ran around $2.75, she said. “And, seed potatoes were around $3.50 a bag. Backyard farmers cut and plant them. They will be here this week.”
    “Backyard farmers are going to put their peas, potatoes and onions in. They come here for peas, pea seeds, onion seed, green bean seed. We buy seeds in bulk — in 50-pound bags. Then we put them in bins and give the people what they want,” explained Torres about the cost-effectiveness of selling and buying in bulk.
    It’s more reasonable to buy in bulk than small seed packs at stores, she added. “We start at a quarter of an ounce and we go up to however many ounces the customer wants.” Even though it’s early, Torres said people are anxious to get into their gardens.
    Larry Scott, owner of Boutilier’s Greenhouse on the Calais Rd. said he hasn’t seen too many of his customers yet. “Its usually May before they start planting anything and then they start with your pansies, violas and cooler stuff that can take the cooler weather. We can still get some frost. But, it will be the first of June before people plant a whole lot outside. Our season won’t start until Mother’s Day.”
    Nisbett said be prepared for some winterkill when you do get out in the yard. The mild winter does not necessarily mean you will be seeing robust plants in your garden. For example, she said, “if the snow recedes from the side of the house and the sun warms the ground, plants think it’s time to sprout. Then at night it gets cold or freezes. That ruptures the cells of the plant and you get a lot of winterkill. Snow acts as insulation.” Nisbett recommends gardeners put down tree boughs to protect plants from the long, cold Aroostook County winters.
    But for now, it’s spring — a time to start planning that beautiful garden and yard. Torres said: “I have trees and shrubs coming in over the next couple of weeks. People want fruit trees — apples, plums, cherries, red maples and blueberries. People want to put money into something they can eat. They want it to be pretty and useful, too.”