With spring on the horizon, Aurora-area florists and greenhouses are working to keep things growing as pandemic-related restrictions and changes near the one-year mark.
Last March, as lockdowns and sheltering-in-place began to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Mary Ann Kutnick, 71, co-owner of Schaefer Greenhouses in Montgomery, found herself with 10,000 lily plants that didn’t appear headed anywhere. Severe price cuts along with support from loyal customers led to those plants being sold, but a year later, Kutnick and staff say there have been lessons learned about operating during a pandemic.
“We learned last year that peoples’ buying habits have changed and we can easily adapt to scenarios,” said Kutnick, of Bristol, who continues to oversee the family business along with her cousin Mike Schaefer, 64, of Aurora, who is the production manager and grower. “Right now we are prepping for a good spring season. People have found they are enjoying planting themselves at home and also gifting plants has become more important.”
“We had 10,000 plants a year ago and this time, we’ve cut that in half,” Schaefer said during the last week of February. “At this point I wish I’d cut down the order even more as the lilies are taking up too much room that we could use for bedding plants and vegetables.”
Both Kutnick and Schaefer acknowledge that the brisk church business that once energized Easter lily sales remains stalled.
“Churches are usually the last ones to order lilies and I’m sure the orders will be smaller as attendance is down and there isn’t as big a budget as people haven’t been attending,” Kutnick said.
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