Plants will have to be homegrown this summer

It’s officially spring and almost gardening season in Wrangell, but Sentry Hardware and Marine won’t be able to provide the plants they usually do this year, nor will IGA.

The stores’ supplier, Skagit Gardens, of Washington state, announced in February it was going out of business by the first week of April after 57 years in operation.

There will be no plant starts, vegetables or hanging baskets at Sentry this year. However, there will be trees and shrubs.

Typically, Sentry starts getting plants in the last week in April, and the February announcement from their supplier didn’t leave them enough time to get plants for this spring. Sentry has been providing plants to the Wrangell community for 30 years.

IGA also got its plants from Skagit and will not have their regular supply this spring. The store will have some bulbs, hydrangeas and lilacs which they were able to purchase through their regular produce supplier.

Much of Southeast Alaska also used Skagit as a plants supplier, so many businesses around the region are in the same position as Sentry and IGA.

Mike White, Sentry manager, said they are trying to find another supplier for next season, but it’s too late to do anything this year.

But finding another supplier has been challenging, White said. A lot of companies don’t want to deal with transport to Alaska, he said. White also noted that suppliers need to be in the general Seattle area, otherwise plants won’t survive the barge journey.

Laura Ballou, of Oceanview Gardens in Wrangell, is trying to do the best she can to provide extra plants last minute. She said she was planning to put together around 100 hanging baskets this year and has now increased her production to 150 baskets, which is the most she can do in the space she has.

Ballou noted that in the flower business, orders are typically placed with suppliers in October for the next spring.

She said if stores can’t find another supplier, Oceanview Gardens would be willing to expand and build another greenhouse to supply more plants to the community.

Ballou said her best advice to people who want plants this year is to grow their own. It’s still early enough to plant seeds, she said.

She recommended plants like lettuce, broccoli, cabbage and kale. She also recommended flowers like pansies, petunias and violas. Ballou said these plants are generally easy to grow and don’t require any special equipment — just water and sunshine.

Ballou mentioned that another option for plant starts is to purchase through the online supplier, Azure Standard, which gets delivered to Jamie Roberts in town once a month.

Oceanview Gardens has been operating in Wrangell for five years. Laura and her husband operate the farm and grow vegetables for the Stikine Inn Restaurant, strawberries, and over 2,000 peonies and tulips a summer that can be purchased at Midnight Oil.

She said that they are hoping to expand in the coming years and provide produce through community-supported agriculture.