Bella Florals and More took on several feet of water as storm surge from Hurricane Ian swept over Marco Island in Florida last week. Videos by store owner Denise Jefferies show boxes and paperwork floating through the store and furniture and fixtures submerged in water.

Further north, Port Charlotte Florist lost six delivery vans to flooding and the roof of its outdoor cooler blew off.

And in central Florida, several growers reported mangled shade structures, damage to polyhouses, buildings and more.

The damage to some floral businesses from Ian — a Category 4 hurricane — was beyond structural. Business at several flowers shops has come to a standstill as their communities recover, and growers rushed to repair shade houses to save crops.

The floral community is offering support through the American Institute of Floral Designers Foundation’s Catastrophic Fund, established in 2020. The fund aids floral businesses with property damage from natural disasters and is accepting monetary donations.

“We want to be there to help,” says AIFD Foundation CEO Lynn Lary McLean, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, TMF. “We certainly want to do what we can, but we are limited by the amount of donations we have.”

Lost Business

The interior of Port Charlotte Florist was unscathed, and generators kicked on and to keep flowers cool and the phone working.

But days after the hurricane, there was little business for the florist, says manager Mary LeClercq. Four weddings had been cancelled and everyday orders had come to a standstill. The florist would be hard-pressed to deliver flowers, anyway, since there were no delivery vehicles, gas was scarce, and flood waters were still receding.

“All the flowers are just sitting here and not being used,” LeClercq says. “Hopefully, our town will start to get back to some normalcy,” she says, adding that some communities in their delivery area remained inaccessible.

Jefferies’ Marco Island store will need to be gutted and renovated before it can reopen, she says. She also lamented about the lost business — three weddings cancelled last weekend — but even so, Jefferies found a way to send flowers into her ravaged island community.

With a cooler full of flowers from the cancelled weddings, Jefferies took to the street with a spray painted sign that read, “Free!! Flowers,” and handed out roses to cars passing by.

“People were crying,” she says. “It’s amazing what one rose can do. People were emotional. It made us feel good and made them feel good.”

Some Florida Growers Report Damages

Inland, some growers in the state saw damage to growing structures and crops.

The eye of the hurricane was 15 miles west of Heart of Florida Greenhouses in Zolfo Springs, where the Peace River was more than 7 feet over flood stage and wind gusts topped 120 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

“We fared the storm very well,” says sales manager Austin Bryant, adding that their operation was the exception because of newer, stronger structures and the position of the storm. “Other nurseries in the immediate area lost all shade structures” which later caused their crops to become sun-scorched, he says. “There are nurseries that sustained severe damage and will be turning in sizeable crop insurance claims.”

He also has employees whose homes and vehicles were lost due to flooding. “We have never seen water this high,” he says.

Bryant believes Heart of Florida Greenhouses made it through the hurricane with minimal damage because of the investments they’ve made since 2017 when Hurricane Irma forced them to rebuild. That included re-engineering shade structures with extra anchors, improving drainage and more — improvements that were expensive, but paid off, Bryant says.

FernTrust, an agricultural cooperative, reported that the majority of its farms survived the storm with minimal damage. Their Facebook page showed a video of farm workers replacing shade cloth that had blown away.

“Farmers are resilient and we are going to do what we need to do ensure that we can continue to service all of you with the best quality foliage for many years to come!” FernTrust wrote on the Facebook post.

Albin Hagstrom & Son in Pierson, Florida, also reported minor damage and was working off generators for days, says Erik Hagstrom.

“We are fortunate that all employees are unharmed and ok,” he says.

Amanda Jedlinsky is the managing editor of SAF NOW.