Tough times in the nursery industry
It looks like the recession has come home to roost in the greenhouse.
The Associated Press is reporting that the nursery and landscape industry is suffering across the country, primarily because of drastically fewer housing and commercial building starts during the lingering recession. After all, you need to plant after you build.
Those industries are also suffering because their products are perceived as luxury items, because of high transportation fuel costs and because business loans are harder to come by, especially for a business as highly marginalized as a greenhouse.
Not all the news is bad, according to the AP. Sales of edibles - vegetables, fruit trees and berries - did not fall nearly as far.
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Kenneth K. Lam 2002
Comments
My mother and I rode past a snow covered Kingsdene Nursery this weekend and wondered about the state of affairs within the gardening industry.
I think it is going to be bad for the wholesalers and the big guys. Local lawn and garden outfits may be able to tighten their belts and hang on, selling "color" (another word for annuals) and veggies. -- Susan
Posted by: NotableM | February 23, 2010 4:20 PM