The trickle-down effect of Covid will continue to affect us for some time to come.  We’ve all experienced searching for items that were in short supply and made adjustments in our lifestyles and daily habits.

Our industry has been stretched over the past year trying to keep up with the sudden demand for anything plant related.  No one was ready for this – plant growers, suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, customers – no one. 

Then you combine that with the loss of production of items you didn’t realize were so necessary – plastic bottle caps is a good example.  I received an email from a company that supplies many chemical products to the nursery business.  They were notifying us that due to the inability to find plastic bottle caps that fit specific containers they were not able to fulfill orders of that product.  Hmmm.

Much of the ceramic pottery is made in China and Vietnam.  Most pottery companies based in the US have ties to factories in both countries.  Orders usually take 8 months or so to arrive and that time has been increased due to not only the increased demand for pots but the closures of many factories during the outbreak.

I learned that one of the factories in China that created some of the most beautiful glazed pots (pictured below) we stock had closed.  It was located 100 miles from Wuhan and sadly the owner and many of the employees died in the pandemic.  It is hard to describe how this news made me feel. It reminded me of how we are truly a global society, all of us more interdependent than we realize.   I was saddened by the loss of people I never met, but whose skills I appreciated and admired…