By RICK A. RICHARDS
Indiana Correspondent

DEMOTTE, Ind. — The 15-acre plot of mums at Henning’s Farm & Greenhouses, Inc. is starting to clear out. The east side of the property is bare, but to the north and west, thousands of mum plants await their turn for shipment to customers.

These plants, which are to be shipped to garden centers and small chain stores within 100 miles of this tiny community, are lined up on black fabric in the autumn sun on a recent day. They’re a sea of green (with an occasional splash of yellow, white or pink) – and that, says owner Adam Henning, is why they’re still sitting in the sun.

Because of the intense summer heat of July and August, mums are blooming late this year. In order to let customers know what the plant will look like when it does, he has tagged each to let customers know what color the blooms will be.

“They just don’t sell quite as quickly when they’re like this,” said Henning. “The plants are about the same size as last year, but this year they’re blooming later.”

It has happened before when there were a few hot days, but Henning says never this late, and never affecting this much of his crop. In fact, what is happening with this year’s crop is nearly opposite of what happened last year.

“Last year, the plants bloomed early and people didn’t want to buy them because the blooms were too far along. You never know,” said Henning.

That lament is a familiar one for growers of any crop, but for specialty farmers like him, getting his crop of 130,000 mum plants to bloom at just the right time for his customers is the key to a successful season.

Henning has been in the mum business since 1987 after moving to Indiana from New Jersey where his family was in the floral business. In fact, the family still has a flower shop in New Jersey.

While there are no precise statistics on the number of mum growers in Indiana, Liz Maynard, a Purdue University floriculturist based in Valparaiso, says there are 168 bedding and garden plant growers in the state. Since they grow their plants outside as mum growers tend to do, it’s a good bet that many of them are mum growers.
According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, the value of Indiana’s floriculture crop – which includes mums that are grown outdoors as well as flowering plants grown in greenhouses – was worth $64.5 million. Within Indiana, Marion County (the Indianapolis area) had the most growers, followed by LaPorte, Elkhart, Adams, Lake and Allen counties, all in the northern part of the state.

Ron Shelbourne, a mum grower for several years, has worked with Henning for the past year. The two men have known each other for more than two decades. Shelbourne said when he left the mum business he thought he had left it for good.

“I wouldn’t have gotten back into the business if it wasn’t for someone like Adam asking me to join him,” he said. “Adam works real hard to produce a quality product.”

Shelbourne says that means making sure the blooms are perfect, that customers get what they want and that he has the plants ready when customers want them.

On this late-September Wednesday, Henning was away from the farm because he was making a delivery to a customer north of Chicago. Shelbourne explained a shopping mall was holding a breast cancer awareness event and wanted to decorate the place with 1,000 pink mum plants.

Although the plants were delivered the day before the event, mall officials called back to say they needed 100 more. Henning delivered.

“He took that order up himself,” said Shelbourne. “That’s what you have to do sometimes to make sure your customers are happy.”
While Henning was gone, another order was being loaded into a truck for a customer in Plymouth, Ind. The key, says Shelbourne, is to get the plants to customers when they’re near the peak of their bloom. That way the plants will be more attractive and more likely to sell.

When he talks about the delivery to Chicago a day later, Henning shrugs. “You’re only as good as your customer service,” he said. “You have to make sure you get your orders right.”

Growing flowers comes naturally to Henning, although that doesn’t mean it’s effortless. It requires a lot of work and lots of help. Depending on the time of year, there are anywhere from a dozen to two dozen full-time and seasonal workers taking care of the plants.

Henning’s mother, Marguerite, moved to DeMotte five years ago and is a presence on the farm. She and her husband owned a flower shop in New Jersey. Pictures of the family’s flower shop and of Henning’s extended family back East decorate the walls of his office.

It’s difficult for Marguerite to conceal her pride in the business her son has built. She says he’s worked hard to carve out a niche for himself and his family, but she also says he was able to cultivate close friendships with other growers in the area.

That is just as important, says Marguerite, because it shows the respect other growers have for her son and the respect he has for them. In particular, she mentioned Bernacchi’s Greenhouse in La Porte, Ind., which Marguerite says supported her son 100 percent.
“It’s wasn’t uncommon for him to go to other growers and pick their brains,” she explained.

Henning says even though he’s best known for his mums, he’s busy all year round. In the spring and summer, he grows annuals such as geraniums and marigolds before switching over to mums for the fall.

During the winter, he winterizes all of the individual watering lines and pipes. This year, he is spreading new plastic over the field, something that’s done only every fourth or fifth season.

“It’s safe to say I grew up in the business. It’s something I’ve wanted to do,” said Henning.