Credit Card Fee

Starting in the Spring of 2016 we will charge a credit/debit card fee. The video below explains why.


Video Explaining Our Credit Card Fee

Paying Tribute

As we open the doors for the first day of our 25th year in business, we pay tribute to a kind, gentle man that helped us more than we could ever explain.

You ever slept on the dirt floor of a garage?

I've read all of Charles Kuralt's books.  Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and a few other authors also sit on my nightstand or the back of the tub.  I have always enjoyed hearing the experiences of a lifetime. Everybody has a journey and if I slow down and listen long enough none of them are boring.

Owning a business on a major highway means that at least once a summer you will have the opportunity to hear a life's journey.

Six years ago a mobile young man, age 65, came walking into the parking lot with a large backpack attached.  Wearing a camouflage hat and a worn pair of shoes, one could tell he was out for a hell of a walk.  Coast to Coast that is.

Jim Bragg from Abbotsford, Wisconsin was out for a walk and needed a place to spend the night.  We rolled out the red carpet.  Actually it was a blue tarp on a dirt floor of a metal garage.  It was here that Jim set up his tent and slept for the night, 60 feet away from one of the busiest railroads in the nation. We started a small fire, cooked some hot dogs, ate some salad, and roasted some marshmallows.  Dylan had just completed a new potato cannon so we broke out the hairspray and launched some russet's over Highway 30.  We ate, we laughed at those taters, and we visited.  You could spend a million dollars on a dozen college degrees and you'll still never have the knowledge and life experience that Jim Bragg has.  He talked about farming, milking, maple trees, and a lot about the strong work ethic and family values of the Amish.  Try running your farm with no tractors or electricity!  I enjoyed every minute of his stories.

About two years after his stay in a metal garage, located way too close to the tracks, he returned. This little old man, walking a little slower, and a little more hunched over, came walking down the isle of the greenhouse carrying something in his hand.  That little brown bottle in his hand would seal my love affair with Wisconsin and Jim Bragg.  Maple syrup the Wisconsin way.  No, No I won't share it! Not with anybody, noway, nohow.  On this visit Jim ate supper with us and spent the night in our spare bedroom.  He claimed he slept a little better due to the insulation between him and the train tracks.  Nearly every summer since, Jim has stopped and every summer he extends an offer to visit him and I fully expect to take him up on the offer.  Maybe summer 2016!  He promised he would give us a tour and we'd go home with an understanding of the Amish life and in no way do I doubt him.  Sometimes I fall asleep at night thinking about a trip to Abbotsford, Wisconsin, maple syrup, and a wise old man that walked off the highway in Shelton, Nebraska.  Every Christmas he sends a calendar of the Amish way and I anxiously await the arrival of a book of his Coast to Coast journey.

Not all plants will survive a hostile environment!

Penn State Trial Garden 2015.  Landisville, Pennsylvania

I'm not sure you would agree with me when I call our Nebraska environment hostile but that's what it is.  If you are going to grow beautiful flowers all summer, and do it in Nebraska, you must understand the hostility we endure.  The heat, the wind, the temperature fluctuations, all are brutal on plants.

Our customers buy flowers for many different reasons.  Some buy a planter or basket to decorate for a weekend party and on Monday morning they throw it away.  Some drive from Denver to spend Mother's Day with their mom, buy her the most expensive planter they can find and drive back to Denver the next day.  I'm not sure they care if it survives the summer as long as mom feels really special the day they give it to her.  I have become accustomed to moms buying lots of flowers to decorate for a graduation, knowing that she isn't going to water and they will die.  I do understand all these reasons to buy flowers but I want you to know it is not part of our mission.

Our mission is quite simple.  I think it has a lot to do with being raised in a large family and appreciating the value of a hard earned dollar.  Every day I run this business, I imagine myself as a customer walking in the door and wanting to buy my product.  I would be a horrible customer!  I would have very basic, but high expectations.  I would absolutely expect to buy a plant that should grow well in our hostile environment.  I would expect it to last all summer and still be pretty late in the fall when it starts getting cold.  I would expect to water it with the water that comes out of my garden hose and have it thrive.  I would expect that it should take a pounding rain on Monday and recover nicely on Tuesday when the sun comes out.  I would expect it to take a cool, wet spring if we get one and if it won't take it I would expect somebody to tell me so before I leave the store.  I would expect the guy who sells me a plant to firmly believe that this plant has a good chance of surviving our hostile environment.

Penn State Trial Gardens 2015

Kelli and I have made it part of our mission to study plants.  We've traveled a mile or two to look at some spectacular trial gardens in an attempt to see new genetics in bloom in August.  Nearly all plants flower beautifully in May but only the great ones flower beautifully in August.  There are hundreds of varieties of verbena, petunias, impatiens, geraniums, and many others.  We believe that what goes into a Bump Up Pot is the best of the best.  There are certain genetics that are literally the most beautiful colors imaginable as long as they are in the greenhouse.  The minute you put them in our hostile environment they will collapse and never return.  You won't find them in a Bump Up Pot. I've walked through the competitors greenhouses and at times I shake my head and wonder why they are selling that plant when there are so many good alternatives.  They either don't know or don't care that there are better alternatives.  Our industry is looking for a new generation of buyers.  Every year I hear my baby boomer grandmas tell me, "Clark I'm just not planting as much this year.  My knees hurt.  It's hard to get up when I get down and I'm just slowing down".  As I age I get this.  I also know that if I am to win over a new generation of buyer, I must provide them with plants that will not only survive, but will flourish in our hostile environment.  I want you to know that we work hard to accomplish this.  It's not only about making a living but it's about knowing and growing the best!

Penn State Trial Gardens 2015

Penn State Trial Garden 2015

Not everyone is excited to be here at the Dallas Arboretum.

Dallas Arboretum Summer 2015