Plant Materials Center Update
Here are 5 things that you should know about the PMC for March 16, 2023:
Sales
The PMC continues to book sales for this year. As of 3/15/23 sales stood at $1,657,899. That is 117% of the annual sales revenue budget of $1,114,300 and over $150,000 ahead of where sales were this time last year or a 10% increase.
Harvest Concludes
At 9:00 AM today (3/16) the last plant ran down the line in the packing shed. It has been a busy 3 ½ months of harvest and shipping. During that time the operation endured all kinds of weather, worked hard at maintaining an adequate crew size, organize lifting to provide the plants needed to keep up with a full shipping schedule and in the end bring in and process almost 1.9 million plants worth almost $1. 7 million. Everyone worked hard and remained focused to keep up the pace without making many mistakes. They all deserve a round of thanks for their efforts.
Shipping Continues
The end of harvest does not portend the end of shipping. The cooler will remain on until early April and shipping will continue at a high rate for at least another month. Out of the 1.8 million plants harvested, 1.5 million have already been shipped to 274 individual orders. Jacquie and Lori have worked tirelessly to keep all of that organized. Assistant Manager John Knox and shipping person Jon Hagen did an amazing job of building orders and arranging shipping and pickups. One benefit of shipping so much so soon is that the cooler was less crowded.
What’s Ahead
When the last plant ran down the line the crew headed out to begin field cleanup. That will continue for a week or 2. After that transplanting season will begin, followed by spring seed sowing. While harvest is our busiest time, the growing season is pretty busy too. As much as there is to do to grow next years crops it is always nice to get out of the packing shed and start producing more plants.
April is Native Plant Appreciation Month
The State of Washington and the Washington State Native Plant Society (WNPS) have declared April to be Native Plant Appreciation Month. WNPS chapters across the state have a variety of events and activities to honor our regions awesome flora. Check with your local chapter to see what is happening and remember, plants are the basis for life on Earth and deserve some recognition.
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions. You can find older posts about the Plant Materials Center at https://wadistricts.us/topics/wacd/pmc/
Jim Brown
Director of Nursery Operations