While Californians Isolate at Home, Nurseries See a Boom

Somewhere that green.

With millions of Golden State residents asked to shelter in place for the time being, many local businesses are understandably under great duress. A glimmer of hope can be found at nurseries, where customers are flocking for plants, herbs, vegetables and fruit for their homes and gardens.

To accommodate the huge demand while honoring social distancing, most nurseries are offering online or phone orders with parking lot pick ups and delivery.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “Armstrong Nursery Centers, the employee-owned company that operates 29 nurseries in Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange counties and two in Marin County near San Francisco, is also providing phone orders, or online requests. Customers can pick up their purchases in the store parking lots or pay $20 to have them delivered to their homes, as long as they live within a seven-mile radius of a store, said Desiree Heimann, vice president of marketing.

“Armstrong is seeing brisk business from people looking for vegetable and herb seedlings, Heimann said.

“We’re seeing this as a resurgence in victory gardens,” she said. “There are so many unknowns now, we’re encouraging people to start planting their own backyard garden to have a sustainable food supply. Gardening really does reduce anxiety and stress, and what would the drawbacks be? That you have too many strawberries or tomatoes and you have to share with friends? There’s not really a downside to this.”