Mike DeWinter, with greenhouses in Jenison and Hudsonville, Mich., sells 80% of his annuals and mums to large store accounts.

DeWinter, owner of DeWinter’s Inc. in Jenison and Hudsonville, Mich. said there’s just starting to be more promotion of flowers in the last few years.

“I think there’s room for more. There’s a lot of houses without any flowers,” said DeWinter, who is also president of the West Michigan Greenhouse Association. He said “big box” stores like Home Depot and Wal Mart are starting to show flowers in commercials and seed companies have been doing some more national advertising on television.

DeWinter said there’s been some talk on and off throughout the years about a generic promotion for flowers but that type of promotion has never really taken off. The America in Bloom program promotes competitions between cities by encouraging towns to beautify with flowers. He said the Ohio Florists’ Association is promoting this concept.

The purpose of the greenhouse association is to fund floriculture/greenhouse research and to improve the greenhouse industry in West Michigan, according to DeWinter. The association works with the Metro Flower Growers Association in Detroit to put on an annual trade show and convention in Lansing, Mich. each year. He expressed appreciation for the research done at Michigan State University. This research has included temperature control in the greenhouse, forcing flowers to bloom, shortening photo periods to time bloom and what chemicals work the best.

Staying profitable is one of the major challenges facing greenhouse growers in West Michigan, according to DeWinter, who grows spring annuals and fall mums.

“It’s been a good business. It’s been good for the growers, although it’s tougher to make that profit now,” said DeWinter. Compared to other ag enterprises, “we can control our climates inside,” he said.

Tom Dudek, district Extension horticulture and marketing agent for West Michigan, agrees that profitability has been there for growers. “Concerning profitability over the last 25 years, it’s been a reasonably profitable business,” said Dudek. “The profit margins in the last 10 years have decreased on some items,” said Dudek. He said the industry and suppliers have adapted with new containers and new ideas.

DeWinter said that as competition with the big box customers increases, so do their requirements and demands. DeWinter attributes his company’s growth of 10-15% a year to the growth in the big stores.

“We keep expanding to keep up with them,” said DeWinter. These stores make up 80% of his business.

All of their flowers are sold on the wholesale market through the Michigan Westshore Nursery, which operates like a brokerage office and takes care of transportation.

“We’re getting into containers and more combination pots and more fancier, a little more expensive,” he said about the latest trends. He said customers are buying combination pots with six to eight different items in a pot that can be used for small spaces such as condominiums and apartments. He said a different type of flower that comes from a cutting rather than a seed has been made popular by propagators who have pushed it.

“It’s different. People want different,” said DeWinter.

This season was a struggle because of the weather, said DeWinter. He said the cold weather stopped customers from getting out and buying flowers.

By early June, DeWinter was winding down from his weeks of 90 hours of work or more. He said January to June is his company’s busiest period that peaks during days when nine semi truckloads of flowers leave their greenhouses. He also noted that mum sales have increased over the last four years.

DeWinter is helped in his business by his wife, Deb, daughter, Kari, son-in-law Mike and son, Heath. He employs 12 full-time workers, eight part-time workers and 25 seasonal.

DeWinter’s Inc. includes 11 acres of varying sizes of greenhouses. Their greenhouses in Hudsonville are located four miles away from their Jenison location. Although they use some drip irrigation and a mist system, they mostly rely on hand watering.

DeWinter is a third generation grower. A few years out of high school, DeWinter said he made the decision to stay in the family business. The farm started with cherry orchards and other produce by his grandfather before the switch was made to greenhouse production many years ago. He surmises that the switch was made to greenhouses as the muck farmers from West Michigan and the Kalamazoo, Mich. area faced steep competition from Florida and California.

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