Maine greenhouses report slow start to growing season

Greenhouses and nurseries statewide have had a slow start this season, especially after a busy year in 2023.

Although owners said they weren’t sure why, it might have to do with the cooler, cloudier spring.

“People are holding them back because Mother Nature’s telling them to,” said Scott Longfellow, owner of Longfellow’s Greenhouses in Manchester.

Despite the slow start, greenhouse owners said the interest in gardening that boomed in the beginning of the pandemic four years ago is still going strong, especially among younger people. If the season picks up, they expect they’ll continue to have a solid base of customers.

At Ledgewood Gardens in Orrington, owner Karen Ramsey said May often kicks off with sales of hanging baskets and mixed baskets of decorative annual flowers like petunias and geraniums. She sells hundreds of them, which she seeds by hand. Opening day always draws a crowd, and she’s seen excited customers so far, though she said she does hope the sun comes out soon.

Ledgewood Gardens customers don’t all have full garden space, or even land of their own. Many come in planning container gardens for their porches, balconies and side yards. Containers are less demanding for a busy gardener to care for and are easier to protect from deer, Ramsey said.

At Longfellow’s Greenhouses, Longfellow has seen a sustained interest in container gardening, too. Customers have been especially interested in fruit trees, berries and vegetables since the pandemic.

Many of those customers are younger, said Longfellow, who’s noticed more Millennial and Gen Z customers and more intergenerational groups shopping together over the past few years.

While food-bearing plants are popular among younger customers, he also noticed renewed attention to houseplants like African violets and orchids. An orchid event last week brought in the most sales of orchids to date by far.

“It’s very gratifying to see that increase in awareness and how people find it a pretty cool thing to be doing,” Longfellow said.

He noticed that interest in gardening was already growing before the pandemic boosted it further. Unlike some other hobbies of that time, it seems to have staying power. He had his biggest year in 2021 and business remained strong since.

“I think it’s something that’s sticking with people and becoming part of their lives. Once you’ve had a garden, you tend to repeat it,” Longfellow said. “They’re not seeing a reason to stop. In my opinion, they’re being pretty successful at it.”

At the Garden Spot Farm in Pownal, owner Dennis Peaslee Jr. said he hopes sales will pick up with the upcoming Mother’s Day weekend, typically a big time for the greenhouse. Usually, the beginning of May brings strong business until mid-June.

Peaslee said the slow start may be due to the weather, or perhaps the economy.

Unlike Longfellow’s, he’s seen a bit of a decline in vegetable gardeners since the pandemic, but there are a number of younger homeowners and even renters picking up interest. As the season starts out, flowers like dahlias and petunias attract early shoppers.