Any Move’s a Pain, but 9 Million Plants?

Ever moved across town and tried to take a large number of house plants with you? Then you may appreciate the problem of moving about 9 million plants 200 miles to a new home.

That’s the task facing Bordier’s Nursery in Irvine as it plans to move to Kern County by the spring of 1997.

“Shipping them to a new location can take a lot of the (profit) margin out of the plant,” said Lynn Strohsahl, Bordier’s president. “If we’re going to handle a plant, we’d just as soon be driving it to a customer.”

To hold down costs, Strohsahl will grow as many plants as possible at the new location.

And before any plants sprout at the new location, Bordier’s will have to grade the land and install concrete drainage ditches to catch and recycle runoff water.

The nursery must also install underground pipes to feed irrigation tubes and build greenhouses on up to 35 acres.

By spring of 1995, Bordier’s will begin planting slower-growing stock like evergreens and rose bushes. A year later, faster-growing plants like flowering bushes and vines will get their start.

Meantime, the nursery will try to sell as much of its Irvine stock as possible. Whatever it can’t sell, it will move north in huge, refrigerated trucks.

Strohsahl figures the move will take three to five years.