Creekside Greenhouse officially opens Friday for its 14th season, but with 82-degree temperatures Wednesday, customers were already sniffing around.

 

Hours are flexible anyway, since O’Larry Collins lives across Pokagon Street and does wood burning art in his studio next door, where he’s finishing a T-shirt design depicting bluesman Muddy Waters. Both men hail from Rolling Fork, Miss.

 

“A lot of people in Dowagiac still don’t know we’re here,” although they attract customers from Chicago and Lansing. “They can get hostas, hanging baskets and combo pots,” combining a variety of plants. “Our $35 combo baskets cost $75 in Chicago.”

 

The business has grown from four greenhouses to six because it offers more ground cover, such as pachysandra, myrtle and ivy, and tall, decorative grasses.

 

Collins, who also does maintenance at Cedar Sands, and his wife, Mildred, keep busy until about the Fourth of July, then the pace picks back up in September for mums.

 

“We’re open every day, from 8 until about 7, Sundays, 12 until about 7,” he said. “Living across the street, you’re always here. People come at night and say, ‘I know you’re closed, but can you come across the street?’ We get a lot who come in for Mother’s Day.”

Dowagiac Daily News