MILWAUKEE— Spring is here and so is warmer weather, which means it’s almost time to get to planting. For those in the downtown Milwaukee area, a new greenhouse will soon be open to grab your floral needs for the upcoming spring and summer seasons.
It’s not everyday you see a greenhouse in the midst of a downtown location like Walker's Point, but it’s one of the many reasons 414 Flowers decided to open up a pop-up shop for the spring and summer seasons.
Opening up a greenhouse from scratch means lots of orders are coming in to fill the shelves. Neddless to say, delivery day is a busy day for 414 Flowers.
“It’s kind of chaotic these days. In the last two days we’ve gotten over 600 hanging baskets and 400 flats inside for setting up,” 414 Flowers owner, George Holtz says.
Holtz is the man behind the flowers. This business has been his passion for the past four years and he’s finally opening up his own stand alone location.
“It’s kind of exciting, a little bit daunting at times and we are just trying to keep it all under control. We are getting there. It’s exciting and scary at the same time. It’s a busy time of the year,” Holtz says.
The 414 Flowers pop-up shop is the only greenhouse in the downtown Milwaukee area. So accessibility for those who live downtown was a priority in the planning process. This means more items like hanging baskets and potted plants will be stocked to appeal to those who live in the area.
“Right now we’ve got a lot of annual bedding plants. We have a lot of hanging plants with tomatoes and peppers in them. It’s fun especially for the apartment people to get a little garden going,” Holtz says.
It takes a lot of work to bring it all together. On Dylan Barker’s first day of work with the company, She’s offloading hundreds of hanging baskets to get ready for opening day.
“It’s a lot. Getting everything off these big carts and move everything into this big green area is basically what we are trying to do,” 414 Flowers employee, Dylan Barker says.
The plants Barker is offloading are all from Wisconsin growers. It’s another one of Hotlz’s main business goals: To stay local to the state by importing flowers from Green bay, Jackson and Mequon.
So with opening day near, Hotlz is hoping to see lots of blooming, both in his flowers and business.
414 Flowers is set to open May 1 and will be open throughout the spring and summer seasons with hopes of doing more pop ups in the fall and during Christmas. The pop-up shop is located on national ave in the Walkers Point neighborhood right next to the Ivy House.
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