Mother’s Day Preparation: How local shops are getting ready for the busy season

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Mother’s Day weekend is one of the busiest times of the year for local flower shops and garden centers. However, as the days get longer and temperatures get warmer, customers rush to local centers to buy vegetation and veggies just for their home gardens.

Dacia Parks, owner of Not Just a Garden Center in Mishawaka, says that on busy days, “early mornings” and “lots of prayers” are necessary to prepare the store for the influx of customers. From manning the register to answering the phone, they buzz around the store to keep things running smoothly.

Parks anticipates even more visitors than usual, especially as they welcome Koi Fish later this month. Despite the busy weekend ahead, Parks says she is excited to welcome all the store’s regulars. “We just love to see all the faces, all our returning customers that [have kept] us here for the 24 years that we've been here,” she concludes.

For those that have a green thumb and want to take on the gardening challenge, you may have to hold off for a little while longer. May has started off with below average temperatures, not providing the best conditions for planting quite yet. Greg Leyes, from Ginger Valley in Grangers, says “It was a nice spring. We're actually three inches above normal rainfall, which makes things grow, but then we've had some frost.”

For cooler temperatures, Leyes recommends flowers like impatiens and petunias for early May. They do better in cooler temperatures unlike annuals, that are susceptible to frost. While temperatures now may not warrant the display of annuals, Leyes says to get them now before they sell out.