Alabama horticulture industry hopes for stellar spring

Alabama’s housing boom helped drive horticulture to the top of the state's cash-crop list over the past three decades, turning it into a multibillion-dollar industry that overtook cotton, peanuts and other traditional row crops, according to a report on Alabama Live.

Now, after three years of killing drought and crippling recession, growers are hoping a resurgent spring will keep their crops -- sod, shrubbery, flowers, ornamentals and the plantings for your backyard garden -- king of the state's agriculture landscape.

An official with the Alabama Nursery and Landscape Association said he's heard of record sales so far this spring for retail garden centers. Several nurseries confirmed sales have picked up.

"I think everybody's tired of being cooped up all winter and everybody's ready to get out in their yard," said John Stephens, who with his father operates Cedar Creek Nursery in Montevallo.

Sales of vegetable seeds, herbs and fruit trees have risen as the economy has struggled back from recession, partly from homeowners' efforts to save money and to get fresh food, nursery owners and landscapers said.

"We've had some customers add herb or vegetable gardens," said Bethany O'Rear, horticulturist at Landscape Services Inc. in Inverness.

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