Pandemic Creates More “Plant Parents,” Boosts Outdoor Industry
In partnership with: North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
When COVID-19 spurred impromptu home offices, nursery owner Dana Massey noticed people buying houseplants to literally liven up the background for video conferences. The pandemic has produced many types of new “plant parents.” First-time gardeners tried their thumbs at vegetables and herbs. More people planted and cared for flowers. Homeowners invested the time and money to enhance their backyard green space – all a boon to North Carolina’s landscape, greenhouse and nursery industry.
“The pandemic, although it was challenging, was a jump-start that the green industry needed to prove to people who we are and what we do,” Massey says. Massey owns Plantworks Nursery, a Rougemont-based wholesale supplier of herbaceous plant material to independent garden centers and landscapers up and down the East Coast. “We look forward to keeping all of the new plant parents that we have gained over the last year and keeping them on to be experienced gardeners who will teach their kids and grandkids what gardening can do for you and the environment.”
Growing Demand
North Carolina’s horticulture industry ranks sixth in the nation with overall sales of $556 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2019 Census of Horticultural Specialties. Since this report, the pandemic generated record annual sales in 2020 for many green businesses in the state, Massey says.
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Eventually declared essential businesses, nursery and landscape companies entered the pandemic with uncertainty. In fact, Plantworks Nursery started the process of laying off employees in March 2020 at the beginning of a typical peak season for the nursery business. Massey gladly called them back within a week. The demand skyrocketed for plants that fed people, enhanced home comfort and improved mental health, including annuals, perennials, ground covers, ferns, ornamental grasses, vegetable plants and herbs.
“2020 has been the best year since I have taken ownership,” says Massey, who bought the business in 2017.
Fresh from college in 2009, Massey started at Plantworks Nursery as an employee, leading the company’s annual plants department. Her ownership exemplifies a growing trend of women accepting leadership roles in this predominantly male industry.
“I knew from an early age that I wanted to do something in agriculture,” says Massey, also a board member of the merged North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association. “Trying to do something to be outside and with plants got me interested.”
An Evolving Industry
Leslie Herndon represents the first female president of the North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association. By day, she serves as the president of Greenscape Inc. in Holly Springs. There, she manages the day-to-day activities of a second-generation family business that develops and maintains commercial landscapes in the Triangle area of North Carolina.
Over the course of 25 years in the industry, she has watched increasingly more women serve in important roles. Trade show attendance now attracts an even mix of men and women, and business practices continue to evolve.
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More advanced technologies improve machinery, automation and chemical usage, reducing emissions while enhancing safety and efficiency. The industry serves more significant roles in addressing water management practices, including stormwater runoff and watershed protection. Research leads to improved pruning techniques, alternative growing practices and the development of new plants.
Industry growth also means more jobs.
“We are an industry that continues to grow,” Herndon says. “There is a lot of opportunity for people to join companies that they can make a difference in and provide an outdoor space for people. It is a viable career option that a lot of times people don’t consider.”