After years of growing only azaleas, David King has added several plants to his stocks to fill the gaps when azalea sales drop.
By JANET ZINK
Published March 26, 2004
WIMAUMA - When it comes to growing azaleas, it's all about timing.
Thirty days in the cooler to trick the plants into thinking it's winter. Thirty days outside to give them spring fever and bring out the blooms. Then they go back inside the cooler to preserve the flowers before heading out to market.
Every two weeks, David King, owner of Florida Azalea Specialists, moves plants from the greenhouses to the cooler and out again, so that stores receive a steady stream of flowering azaleas.
Growing azaleas is no big deal, King said.
"But after 38 years," he said, "you learn a thing or two."
King, 50, spent a good part of his youth working at his uncle's azalea nursery in Ruskin. In 1979, he, his parents and two brothers started their own seven-acre nursery in Ruskin. Back then, they mostly sold potted azaleas to flower shops. In 1983, the family moved the business to 83 acres in Wimauma, and recently sold 20 of those acres to other growers and homeowners.
Today, Florida Azalea Specialists sells about 100,000 plants a year to both Home Depot and Lowe's. They also supply K-Mart, Walmart and Publix.
King's brothers have gone on to other ventures. His parents remain business partners but are no longer involved in the day-to-day operations. But his wife, Eleanor, and 26-year-old daughter, Kristy, run the office, and his son, Brian, 22, handles sales. King employs about 20 people and the business grosses about $1 to $2.5 million annually.
Over the years, King has adjusted his inventory and growing methods.
"You've got to change with the times," he said.
Those changes have much to do with timing, King said.
"The nursery business is so seasonal you need to have things to keep up your cash flow," King said.
Azalea business peaks in February.
"When they're blooming in the yards, everyone wants them," he said.
But sales die off in the winter.
So after years of growing nothing but azaleas, King added ferns to his catalog three years ago. In July, he introduced ornamental landscape plants and at Christmas stocked poinsettias. In recent months, King started experimenting with roses. The variety of plants fills in the gaps when sales of azaleas are slow.
This year, King also started changing the way he grows new azaleas. In the past, it took about 18 months to get a plant from the cutting stage ready for market. King has shortened the time to a year by putting four cuttings in one pot instead of starting them in small pots and repotting them as they get bigger.
"You get a more full plant," King said. "People get their money's worth."
Azaleas come in thousands of varieties with names like Red Ruffle, Dark Rose queen and Phoenicia.
Once they're home, the key to keeping azaleas beautiful, King said, is having the right Ph levels in the soil. It should be around 5 or 5.5. They need to be trimmed just after they're done blooming to guarantee a full bush of flowers the next spring, and the plants should be fertilized at the end of the blooming season and again in September.
FLORIDA AZALEA SPECIALISTS
WHAT: Florida Azalea Specialists sells azaleas, roses and other landscape plants wholesale only. Prices range from $1.25 for a 4-inch landscape plant to $14 for an azalea topiary. The company also sells ornamentals such as roses, Indian hawthorne, jasmine and boxwood.
