Michigan also ranks first in 11 floriculture products, including potted geraniums, Easter lilies, impatiens and hanging flower baskets. Growers also say they're not being washed out by large stores with garden centers, like Home Depot, Meijer, Wal-Mart and others. This year has been great, so far. People were thinking gardening as early as Easter, some said. The good weather looks like it might stay longer than last year.
Excessive heat can turn people off on gardening and cause the plants to wilt.
It also can raise expenses for the greenhouse business as it takes more water, more labor and more fertilizer to keep the annuals going. Melcarek is already turning up the spigots, but he doesn't expect that to offset the good year they're having, he said. If May continues to be as good as late April, it will mean a good year for the business because Florigen does 75 percent of its yearly business in May, Melcarek said. Local suppliers say they're doing well even though they may have missed some of the early business. The suppliers time their plants to be ready about now through June, rather than in April, because of the likelihood of frost.