Staying ahead of the game

F. Lower Greenhouse in Fair Play, Missouri, is owned and operated by Caleb Whaley. Whaley, a former elementary school teacher who transitioned into the industry three years ago, took over just before the pandemic began.

Whaley’s great uncle founded the business in 1967 as a hot house tomato operation and Whaley grew up around it. Whaley’s mom also worked at the business until recently. When his uncle and mother wanted to step back, he took over after feeling burned out by teaching.

“We do everything from potted annual plants to perennials and bedding packs to hanging baskets,” he says. In the spring specifically, he says the best sellers have “evolved year after year.”

“That’s one of the most interesting things about this industry is that it’s never the same year to year,” he says. “What we see consistently always selling great are flats and 4-inch annuals. Vegetables over the last few years have been through the roof.”

Veggies on the rise

Whaley says F. Lower doesn’t do any finished vegetables — only starter plants that customers can buy and then finish themselves at home. Their customer base, he says, is 95% wholesale to independent stores with the exception of some locally owned chains.

“We’ve had the best three years [overall] that we’ve had in 30 years,” he says. “Vegetables are a part of that. We’re very blessed.”

By comparison, Whaley says houseplant sales have not remained as high as they were.

“Houseplants this past summer really slowed down for us,” he says.

Staying ahead of the game

When it comes to working ahead, Whaley says the key is to lean on their sales reps to give them insight into what plants they should keep an eye on. Ordering, he says, is typically done by the end of August.

“We work with Ball for 85-90% of our product lines,” he says. “[Ball sales rep] Mike DeRee, in particular, has become an excellent mentor to me. He’s just an outstanding person and does an outstanding job of helping us. All season he grows stuff at his own place and sends us a year-end recap telling us how summer is going, what he’s seeing out of products, what new ones he’s excited about, the new ones that are flops. He shoots straight with us.”

F. Lower does its own in-house trials, as well as in-season and postseason spring audits to see what actually sold well and what didn’t.

“Trial and error is a big part of this game,” Whaley says. “We are always furiously taking notes on what works and what doesn’t.”

For spring 2024, Whaley says he’s “fully still expecting growth.” The customers he’s talking to in the winter are excited too. There are some challenges — notably labor, where it can be challenging to find people with “common sense” around and interest in plants — but optimism overall is high.

“Some of our customers might be a little conservative in how much growth they think they are going to see,” he says. “Houseplants, like I said, have slowed down. But that’s the first thing that’s slowed down for us. ... I’ve had more demand for poinsettias this year than I have poinsettias. This is the first time in a long time I sold out. Same with mums. I grew 30% more mums this year and sold out faster than in years past. I’m not seeing anything slow down a whole lot.”