EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) -It’s been no secret, supply hasn’t been able to keep up with pandemic demands, which includes things that grow.
“People at home means more time in your garden,” says Ben Polzin, owner of Down to Earth Garden Center.
“From annuals and perennials to house plants, have been in extreme shortage to now trees and shrubs,” says Polzin.
A shortage leaving garden centers, like Down to Earth, at the mercy of Mother Nature.
“Because of the long-term crop, it’s not as easy like an annual to grow quicker, where shrubs, trees are a three to five year crop sometimes,” Polzin explains.
Polzin says they’re lucky to have a growing farm nearby, allowing them to restock as needed, which is just about every day.
“Are there gaps here and there? Sure, but thankfully we’ve been able to use our buying power to be able to get stuff booked for fall and summer of this year,” Polzin says.
Florists aren’t as fortunate.
“We’ve had to just kind of roll with it and go with the flow,” says Kadie Schultz, Chippewa Valley Floral owner.
She says their issues starting blooming back in February.
“The farms were getting shut down, nobody was going to work so certain people weren’t taking care of the flowers, things weren’t getting picked, things weren’t getting planted,” explains Schultz. “So now we’re starting to see the effects of that.”
Flowers she would get delivered regularly are now hard to come by.
“We’ve had some weeks where the trucks didn’t come in for daisies or the trucks didn’t come in for this type of flower, so they’ve just had to substitute things,” Schultz says.
With wedding season around the corner Schultz says the unpredictability of deliveries is leading to an uptick in prices.
“We are still able to make the best things possible, make them a beautiful arrangement it just may not be specific to what they had originally had wanted,” she says. “But we make the most of what we’ve got.”
Polzin and Schultz agree, for now they’re hoping the grass will look a little greener on the other side of COVID-19.
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The Link LonkMay 25, 2021 at 06:02AM
https://www.weau.com/2021/05/24/industry-wide-flower-shortage-brought-on-by-covid-19/
Industry-wide flower shortage brought on by COVID-19 - WEAU
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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