Simmons Oak Farm lies on more than 100 acres just outside of Harlingen, Texas, a border town between the United States and Mexico. Audrey Hooks and her mom run the farm. Strewn across the property are fields of trees and plants of all sizes. There are 1 gallon pots of Agave in the nursery, along with huge yucca and live oaks in a field next door. They also have rows and rows of palm trees.
Hooks points to some trees that are mostly brown. “These are queen palm trees,” she says. “You can see the green coming out the center.” That’s a good sign because it shows that the trees are “still alive.” However, the ladies at Simmons Oak Farm are not going to market the trees. Rather, they are going to wait for “another head to grow so we can cut off all the brown and it looks good.”
Hooks calls it ‘basic quality control.’ Unfortunately, the farm’s customers don’t want to hear that. Robert Burk, for example, runs Mission Landscape Supplies in San Antonio. He buys lots of plants from Simmons Oak Farm as a wholesaler. As he says, “it’s kind of like a large commercial operation where we bring it in and sell it.”
According to Burk, the last couple of months have been ‘unreal’. Everyone, including homeowners, city parks, schools and businesses need to plant trees. He says the company is ‘busier now than ever.’ However, they’re also struggling to find material to sell. As he says “we bring it in and it goes out the door.”
Amy Graham is the president and CEO of the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association. She said that her industry is tied directly to the housing market which was booming well before the February Freeze and Winter Storm Uri. She notes, “Our growers were already increasing the total numbers that they were growing for this year.” Then, the storm came in and they were unprepared for the short-term ramifications and impact. Now, Texans who have a high need for trees are importing them from Florida, Georgia, California, and other places. Unfortunately, trucking them in adds significant costs.
Another problem is that trees take years to grow before they can be sold. That means that, for sellers, like Audrey Hooks and her mom, the end of the tunnel is ‘years away.’
Winter storm Uri impacted every house, business, and grower in Texas. To think otherwise, would be folly. Hooks surmises that “we’re going to have a shortage for multiple years to come.” She is hopeful, however, that her business will be able to withstand this setback and that demand for landscape trees will still be high when inventory returns to normal levels.
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