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Oasis Gardens is blooming from booming business
by Jennifer Chick
A relationship that sprouted on a plant website bloomed into a marriage and thriving greenhouse partnership for Bill and Monica Harris of Loomis.
Monica, a Gering, Neb., native, was working in a greenhouse and floral shop in Scottsbluff when she met Bill, a farmer from Loomis, while chatting on a plant website about bugs, an admitted obsession of Monica’s.
Soon, the friendship grew more serious, and the couple was married in 2000. Monica moved to Bill’s farm north of Loomis and worked for the Phelps County Sheriff’s Office, where two jobs kept her busy 60-plus hours per week.
But the long hours and hard work didn’t stop them from dreaming. And Oasis Gardens was the culmination of that dream.
Greenhouses and green thumbs
With savings and bank loans Bill and Monica bought two used greenhouses and equipment. Bill and his brother, Ed, reassembled the greenhouses while Monica researched and began ordering plants.
Monica’s love of plants and flowers come from her father’s family. The 15 highly competitive siblings have a family website where they share gardening tips, boast about the greenest lawns, and compare yard stakes and lawn ornaments. Monica has funneled her inherited green genes into growing the biggest, brightest, hardiest flowers and vegetables for her customers.
“My favorite thing is that my business is at my home,” Monica said. “I love being my own boss, and the freedom that comes with that. And I love that Bill and I work together.”
Bill appreciates the positive aspects of their venture, but he’s obviously the more pragmatic of the two. “I suppose the hardest part about starting your own business is knowing what to expect in sales and wondering if you’ll stay afloat,” Bill said.
During their first year, the couple rented retail space in Holdrege, but friends told them curiosity was bringing customers up the gravel road three miles north of Loomis to look and buy. So the next year, Oasis Gardens’ retail store relocated to the greenhouses at 73752 H Road. Ever since, Monica said business has been booming.
A high-quality niche
“We were worried that people weren’t going to drive out to the country to buy flowers,” Bill said, “but by our second year, we found people prefer it because they can see everything we have to offer instead of just a small selection,” Bill said.
Monica added that customers like seeing the chickens and the chance to let their children run while they browse.
“In a rural area, word of mouth is key,” Monica said. “Everybody knows their neighbors here, so if they see a beautiful hanging basket or great tomatoes at their neighbor’s house, 25, 30, 50 people are going to hear about it.”
Still, the small rural customer base has been one obstacle the Harrises have struggled to overcome. Because they don’t have an urban population to draw on, they’ve decided to market higher-quality plants rather than try to compete with the big-box stores on volume.
Low sales the first two years made getting started a struggle, but once Oasis Gardens found its identity selling high-quality plants, sales have steadily increased.
Plant conferences in Minneapolis and Chicago provided the Harrises with valuable education and networking opportunities. At one conference, they met a man who had worked with Martha Stewart. He told Monica that they needed to grow Proven Winners from a company committed to providing plants that are superior in flowering, growth habit, disease resistance, and garden performance.
Monica took his advice and focused on a niche market, supplying quality plants like Proven Winners and creating bouquet-like hanging baskets and custom plantings for customers.
Building on success
“We have our name out there now from here to Denver to Julesburg, Colo., to Hays, Kan.” Monica said. “They come every year.”
One year a woman from New York, in the area for a family reunion, bought several of Monica’s colorfully filled pots. The next year she mailed the pots back so they would be filled and waiting when she returned for the reunion.
Oasis Gardens has also set up partnerships supplying plants to larger, local retail stores.
“It basically maximizes our greenhouse storage space, being able to fill them up instead of having them three-fourths full,” Bill said.
At capacity, the greenhouses can hold more than 30,000 plants. But the operation is still small enough that Monica oversees all plants to keep up her strict quality standards. She uses organic soil to grow her flowers and vegetables and she’s a stickler for cleanliness in the greenhouses, which keeps bugs at bay.
Every year, local garden clubs tour the greenhouses to peruse the wide variety of colors, scents, and textures. Monica has had ladies compete for her Gerber daisies, and it is hard to keep cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini, and squash on the shelves.
As spring hits, the Harrises watch for signs of those first cars making their way to Oasis Gardens.
“You never know from year to year if anyone is going to come out,” Monica said.
They were anxious last year when sales were behind $10,000, but Monica said at about the time government economic stimulus checks started arriving, customers started buying.
Oasis Gardens is open everyday from April 15 to June 15, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Barb Sander of Holdrege works with Monica in the greenhouses and at the cash register, while local high school students help with chores and carry out. Bill helps when he isn’t busy in the fields. Once the greenhouses close for the season, any leftover plants are donated to local youth groups to sell for profit.
“Last year we had another increase in sales,” Bill said. “I’m still waiting for it to peak, but we’re picking up more new customers every year.”
Who To Contact...
Oasis Gardens
Monica and Bill Harris
73752 H Road
Loomis, NE 68958
(308) 872-2189
oasis1@atcjet.net
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