While it’s still too early to put plants in the ground, Hanson’s Garden Village of Rhinelander is getting ready for what they expect to be another busy year.
“We definitely feel the anxiety, I wanna say, or the interest and anxiety from the gardeners that are like, ‘Are we going to be able to get this? Can I hold stuff? Will you have it?’ All that stuff,” said Manager Beth Hanson.
Last year was one of the best years of business for the garden center. With restaurants closed, concerts canceled, and travel plans on hold, people needed to find things to do around the house.
“It was crazy,” said Beth. “People had to find things to do with their time and gardening was just like the perfect storm.”
Brent Hanson said it’s been wonderful seeing so many people pick up the hobby. He hopes a lot of those people stick with it.
“Once you do some of it, there’s a certain type of person that it kind of clicks for them and they want to keep doing it,” said Brent. “All of this interest now might have got some of those people into it that will stick with it. I mean it’s good for our business but it’s good for our community and its good for our people too.”
Hanson’s is increasing their stock to try and meet the expected demand. The good thing about this year, as compared to last, is the Hanson’s are able to plan for that increased demand.
“We are planting more than we had last year. We’re hoping the new gardeners did good last year and they come back again, but we also want to make sure they have the stuff the people that are shopping at their normal times, end of May and everything like that,” said Beth.
Beth says if there’s a certain variety you have your heart set on, plan on shopping beginning of May or around Mother’s Day. But she doesn’t want you to stress over it too much.
“You can come and find some new plants that maybe you haven’t tried before if the one you really love is sold out,” said Beth.
Mostly the Hanson’s just want you to have fun with gardening, whether you’ve been at it for years or are just picking it up.
“Hopefully it made people happy, and they learned something from it and gain some knowledge and some skills,” said Beth.
Hanson’s Garden Village is doing house plant and succulent sales right now.
The general store is not open until early May with most crops becoming available later that month and into June.
