Homewood does battle with drought

On much of our trip to Raleigh, the one question we had for the growers and retailers we visited was “How is the drought affecting your business?” Homewood Nursery and Garden Center is helping out its retail customers by offering rain barrels and water by the jug to whoever wants it. A sign posted in the store says the grower/retailer is offering fewer plants this year, so it can share water from its wells with customers.

At retail, Homewood is pushing containers, baskets and window boxes to fight the drought. The business buys in much of the bedding plant flats it sells, while focusing on growing the cutting-edge plant material that would be hard to find from other growers.

The business sells 30,000 poinsettias a year and propagates poinsettias from stock plants. All the work pays off when those stock plants are sold in season for $50 a piece. It’s a size Homewood’s customers can’t get anywhere else.

Other new and exciting things going on at Homewood include an outdoor living furniture gallery and a Monrovia nursery boutique.