Guess what grows in southern Florida!

One of the many farms we found raising trees,
and more, for the nation of gardeners.

    There we were in March, driving through Florida City and Homewood, Florida, when what to our wondering eyes did appear ... garden nursery trees! Shrubs! Flowers!

    It was unexpected. I don't spend much time thinking about where the garden products actually come from; I usually just buy what I like. Southern Florida is a likely point of origin.

    We stayed in a hotel, and ventured out in the rural areas on our way to the eastern Everglades. The products grown in this part of the country are mind-bending.

    According to the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association (which partners with Farm Credit of Central Florida in an economic report), the industry is "growing." The pandemic forced many people to stay home to beautify the house and yard. Environmental horticulture in Florida generated some $31.4 billion in 2020 with jobs for more than 266,000 workers, according to the report. The numbers have grown by 9 percent, per year, since 2009.

    My dad, Emery Cox, was also an enthusiastic gardener. He told me that buying flowers, trees and shrubs from "big box" stores is okay, if you can find them right off the truck.

    That's pretty much what I do to this day. Big-box stores have some materials at cost, but I do haunt local growers, like Wallace's Garden Center in Bettendorf, and Green Thumbers, Davenport. Both of them have local ties.

    But it's a fascinating scene in southern Florida: There are fields, upon fields of trees and shrubs. Each farm features a big sign and lots of parking. Obviously many customers are local. But there are also trucks and these are used around the country. The report states that Florida produces some 69 percent of indoor house plants.

    I can certainly believe that.



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