As the owners of Sprainbrook Nursery Inc. in Scarsdale, Alfred and Heidi Krautter have been busy this spring, as always, riding herd on the annual riot of fresh growth.
This year, however, there”™s a fresh twist: “People are fixing up their yards this year and there seems to be a tendency of more people staying home and fixing up their gardens,” Alfred Krautter said. “We find people are doing their own gardening more and saving money. They”™re also beginning to enjoy it. A lot of people are doing raised-bed vegetable gardens, which means they are permanently going to be growing vegetables.”
The family business, started by Alfred Krautter”™s parents in 1944, includes an organic garden center plus a landscaping department with designers and crews.
Although big purchases, such as large trees, are down, business is blooming.
It”™s a trend that has helped the nursery business.
“When there”™s a bad economy our business does better,” said Joanne Grossman, owner of Larchmont Nurseries Inc. and Larchmont Construction Inc. “A lot of people are staying home now, so they”™re noticing their lawns and gardens.”
Grossman, who bought the business at age 27, started working at the Larchmont nursery when she was 13. Since then, customers have become more educated about the law of the land ”“ and the benefits of perennials, hybridized flowers and growing methods.
The construction arm of the business has been strong the past two years, including during the winter months.
“We do more than just plant trees,” Grossman said. “From November to March, our bread and butter is masonry, stonage, waterproofing and drainage.”
Grossman”™s crew also specializes in redesign of the total property, which can include landscaping, fencing, driveways, stone work on patios and steps and building barbecue islands.
Grossman, who meets with customers for estimates six nights a week, said the nursery business, which comprises about 35 percent of her business, has died down over the years.
“Years ago, people would come in and buy 20 flats on average of impatiens and seven to eight hanging baskets for the porches,” Grossman said. “I used to bring in about 2,000 flats of impatiens a week; now I am bringing in 500 flats a week.”
As for hanging baskets, Grossman estimates she will sell 500 this planting season; in past years she has sold 2,000.
Supermarkets are hurting the nursery business, Grossman said, by offering customers the soil, lawn care, houseplants and trees at a lower price point.
And while having Tony”™s Nursery right next door sometimes hurts the business, it can also help.
“A lot of times if I don”™t have something I send customers to Tony”™s, and vice versa,” Grossman said. “I”™d rather have them go right next door and keep the business in the neighborhood than have them go somewhere else.”
While there are a few jobs Grossman estimated but didn”™t get, in the past two months she has been hired to re-do shoddy jobs done by others for a lower price. In this economy, “we”™re seeing a lot of people underselling and doing the job wrong.”
With the fully stocked nursery close by, Grossman can easily run back and forth between job sites to pick up more items to meet a customer”™s needs.
And, if the budget is tight, property owners can get a job done in parts rather than do it all at once.
“A lot of my customers are new homeowners and I try to slow them down,” Grossman said. “Sometimes they don”™t have to do everything the first year.”
Grossman said perennials were selling this year to save customers the time and costs of planting annuals.
Ricky Barragan, manager of United Gardens in Scarsdale, said business has picked up significantly with the warm weather.
“People are buying more colorful flowers now,” Barragan said.
Geraniums, impatiens, azaleas and other colorful flowers have been big sellers as well as fruit trees.
There is also an increased demand for organic flowers and vegetables.
“Starting five years ago, a lot of people wanted organic products and it”™s picked up every year,” Barragan said.
