Freeze, virus take bloom off state floral industry
Products, and even glassware, in short supply; customers slow to come back
Lana King is not optimistic about the 2021 floral season.
“We’re in survival mode after a devastating year in 2020 and hoping to make it through this year,” she said. “What can we do?”
Until the economy rebounds and customers return, it’s going to be touch and go for many in the floral industry.
Until large groups are able to gather again for celebrations, King is resigned to the fact the weddings and banquets will be slow returning for business.
Mother’s Day was a boost for the Cypress florist, but says she’ll struggle to make it through to the next big holiday.
“It’s not just roses, it’s everything. Plants, flowers, it’s hard to get certain glassware, and even baskets can be hard to find,” she said.
It makes it hard for florists to plan for anything in advance other than one day at a time.
King and her husband Samuel had etched out a nice business in the Cypress area until COVID hit.
It’s a story replicated across the state, says Dianna Nordman, executive director for the Texas State Floral Association which represents the retail, wholesale and grower market.
“We’ve asked in many instances that the consumer understand that the product they wanted, maybe a red flower that isn’t available, that we substitute it for another red flower that is available,” she said.
The weather and COVID have affected all flowers and growing patterns around the world, she said.
“Growers have to look at what they’re able to afford to plant at this time. It not only affects what they put in the ground, but the staffing they currently have,” she said.
One grower finally called it quits after 51 years in the industry.
Don Darby, 68, owner of Darby Greenhouses and Farms Inc. in Jacksonville about 40 miles south of Tyler, made the tough decision to sell his grower business and retire. Last year, his wife said with all the cancellations of Easter services, the crop of Easter lilies he planted in in October 2019 was mostly lost. It cost him more than $135,000.
Weatherford Farms, in Stafford for more than 50 years, sold its 34-acre farm to Crow Holdings in October.
Keith Taylor, who owns Taylor Wholesale Florist in Houston, said the pandemic hit them on March 24, 2020, when businesses were asked to shutter to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“Fortunately, the flower business came under the agriculture exemption and it allowed us to do business in a non-contact way,” he said.
Taylor has been in business since 1972 and has never had a layoff but found himself in a position where he had to advise his employees to go get unemployment.
He kept about 20 percent of his workforce and they got busy hunting down as much business as they could to survive.
“There were complications. Florists do weddings, but no one was holding weddings,” he said. “Florists do church services, but no churches were meeting. Growers were confused about what to put in the ground. Transportation was difficult because airlines weren’t flying as many aircraft. The whole logistics of this industry got complicated fast.”
By May they were still holding on, a number of growers didn’t want to invest in a lot of plants in the ground if they weren’t going to be able to sell them. That created a supply and demand shortage on top of the pandemic.
Flowers take time to grow and have to be planned six months out before planting and a demand there in the market, Taylor said. That was hard to predict through 2020.
“The appreciation of flowers went up as consumers were forced to stay home,” Taylor said. “The impact of flowers became important particularly for relatives out of town.”
The industry was lucky to have had a good Valentine’s right before the freeze hit, he said.
“Valentine’s is a crucial holiday for the floral industry. It’s like a Black Friday for Christmas season for florists who may struggle in leaner months but make up for it with sales in February,” Taylor said.
The floral association provides members the tools they need to be successful, not just during good times, but also in lean times, Nordmann said.
“We’re survivors here in Texas and have been able to overcome obstacles,” she said.