Eight: A Trip to Florida
When construction of the foliage houses was complete, I went on my first buying trip to Homestead, Florida. While most Southern California growers tend to raise plants in small containers—2-inch to 8-inch pots—Southern Florida growers focus on larger house plants: 10-inch, 14-inch, 17-inch, and larger. Naturally, both of these locations are ideal for foliage growers. The long growing seasons keep the heating bills down, which is critical in this business. Florida’s high humidity adds to the tropical environment that is truly home to house plants (often simply called tropicals).
The companies I visited had sprawling acres of greenhouses and shade houses, along with loading docks, storage buildings, and sales offices. Facility tours were given in golf carts. I visited as many growers as I could. For me, this was a “down and dirty” crash course in large greenhouse operations, watering systems, new supplies and equipment, new technology, new plants—stuff I’d never seen before.
Many growers raised the same varieties of plants, but there was a big difference in the quality and health of their crops. Some growers focused on unique varieties or specialized in one genus, African violets (Saintpaulia), for example. Through the cloning of “sports,” or genetic mutations, new plants were continually coming on the market. I remember when Spathiphyllum wallisii (peace lily) first became available. Over the next few years, growers discovered “odd balls” or mutations in their crops—say super large or extra small leaves, white variegation, or a curly edge. Taking leaf cuttings to clone these changes created Spath ‘Mauna Loa,’ ‘Supreme,’ ‘Petite,’ ‘Variegata,’ and ‘Sensation.’
In this first exploration of Homestead growers, I relied on first impressions. I noticed some greenhouses were clean and orderly while others were strewn with dirt and clutter. Dirt and clutter are an open invitation to standing water and insects. I liked a grower who said to me, “The plants should look like little soldiers standing in a row.” He meant that the consistency of proper care will keep all the plants the proper shade of green, full, and looking their healthy best.
From the grower’s point of view, I was a first-time buyer. These purchases would be cash on the barrelhead and leave a credit application behind, thank you very much. They were a little suspicious of me. One asked if Utah was in the United States. Most of them had probably never had a female customer. It did make sense they wanted payment before shipping my first order. My hope was that they would give me thirty days when I placed the second.
My final worry was the delivery service from Homestead to Salt Lake City. Shipping cross-country, the plants would be in a dark, refrigerated semi-truck for five days. Wrapping the plants and packing the truck properly is important to protect them from toppling over and crushing each other. Keeping the trailer’s temperature constant is critical as the truck travels from eighty-five degrees in Florida to arrive in Salt Lake in a snow storm with the temperature at twenty-five. Despite my worries, the first delivery came in perfect condition. The semi pulled into the 7-Eleven parking lot and lurched into reverse, across 20th East and down the driveway between the “little house” and the billboard, right up to the new greenhouse door. No more hauling boxes from the street to the cactus house by hand.
The greatest benefit of this first buying trip to Florida was learning about a new industry called Interior Plant Maintenance. A grower told me about companies in New York City and Chicago that sold large plants (and decorative containers) to restaurants, hotels, and office buildings, and then provided a guaranteed maintenance service. It seemed pretty cut and dried, and at the same time, brilliant!
In the 1980s, there was a transformation in office space design. Fluorescent lights and seas of cubicles were blamed for a cold, impersonal work space. New décor was needed. Wall art and foliage plants took on a popular and important role in warming building interiors. In 1989, NASA conducted studies on the health benefits of interior plants and their positive effect on air quality and air purification. Even before the science came out, there was a general sense that people felt, and therefore worked, better with living plants around. The NASA study bolstered that idea and gave some science to the sales pitch. Two plants that are high on the list of air cleaners are pothos and Chinese evergreens.
My first sale was to our branch bank, and I was their first plant technician. I learned the woes and pros of caring for plants in a commercial building and gained complete empathy for the technicians to follow. An example of a “woe” is a client who continually pours yesterday’s cold coffee or today’s warm Coke on the plant. Another woe is when the only source for water is the men’s bathroom. An example of a “pro” is how much people loved having plants in their office. They gave them names like Spike or Fluffy.
The addition of Interior Plant Sales and Service to our “plantocracy” was another life-saving or life-expanding act. It provided another source of income—from both the initial sale and the monthly service fees. Green plants were driving the company, and cactus got to ride along. Pottery, decorative plant containers, ceramic, terracotta, metal, all sizes, all colors, became a staple and made more money than cactus. It was a good thing Gloria offered us the use of the chinchilla shed for storage. Our wholesale sales and the number of walk-in customers continued to grow, but commercial plant sales and service was outshining everything. Thank heavens for it! I had a mortgage and a loan to pay off.
Note: In August, 1992, Homestead was in the eye of Hurricane Andrew. Most greenhouses were destroyed. It would take a few years for growers to rebuild and raise a new crop. About a week after the storm, I called one of our growers to see how he was doing. He said, “Lorraine, I am lying in my bed looking at the stars.”