Petree Garden Center & Florist at 2470 East Road is open for curbside pickup and delivery. Courtesy photo

By LAUREL HARDIN
Petree Garden Center & Florist

We are all experiencing an unprecedented world event with far reaching health and economic effects.

Everyone knows that our small businesses are going to suffer extreme losses. Some of us have the added impact of seasonal income loss. For a garden center the loss of most or all of a growing season is hard to fathom. We plan all year for eight weeks of sales. We have thousands of dollars in inventory filling shelves and seasonal employees depending on that income.

Mother nature isn’t waiting for the Coronavirus to go away. Spring is here, it’s even shaping up to be early and warm. By the time the virus has run its course Spring will be gone and so will any chance for Spring sales.

At Petree Garden Center & Florist we are working hard to serve Los Alamos while also supporting efforts to stem the tide of COVID-19 cases. While we are considered an essential business, we are also trying to make impossible decisions, weighing the option to remain open to the public against the safety of family and community. We are currently offering order ahead with curbside pickup.

And for those of you who are unable to pick up, we will deliver right to your door. We will continue to assess need and add days and hours of operation as we are able. We need each one of you to help us salvage our season. (Currently Friday through Sunday 10 -2 subject to change) Please, buy fertilizers and amendments. Buy hoses, watering cans and sprinklers. Buy pots and soils and houseplants. Buy wind chimes, solar lights and rain chains.

If you can’t think of anything you need right now, buy gift certificates. It is still a little too early for tomatoes and bedding plants, but we desperately need the community to purchase gardening supplies so that when it is time to bring in truckloads of plants, we are able to do so. We need to sell nonliving inventory to make room and to pay for plants. We need consistent sales to retain our staff so that when it is time for bedding plants, we have the manpower to care for highly perishable inventory.

The lawn and garden industry is predicated on Spring sales. We can weather (and even anticipate) a late Spring, the random hail storm or even a few inches of snow. We may not survive the complete loss of an entire season. Please support your local independent garden center now.

Please call us before looking online or going to a big box store. Our business was never intended to be online or phone order, but we will continue working hard to get you the garden supplies you need. If we do not answer when you call please leave a message and we will call you back.

Many thanks to each and every one of you who has already called in an order. We cannot express the amount of gratitude we feel. I would also like to personally thank all of you who have expressed support and concern with our recent break in. What a loving and resilient community we have.

Follow us on Facebook, check our website petreegardencenter.com or call for updates and changes 505.257.6030.