Victor Flaherty didn't know much about plants when he started Plants for All Seasons more than 40 years ago, but he had land, he had the pieces in place for a garden center and he knew what customers wanted.

"I was always very good with customers," Flaherty said. "That was the key to me being able to stay in business because I understood that service, quality and selection were the three things I had to do well to keep up with my competition or surpass them."

More than four decades later, and the garden center still stands. Flaherty said the shop offers thousands of species of plants, including flowering plants, shrubs, vegetables and herbs as well as fertilizer, gardening tools and accessories.

"I'm not bragging when we say we offer the most variety around," he said.

The business is in the middle of its most important time of the year, Flaherty said, with about half of the store's sales coming between March and May. In early March, he said vegetables and herbs were the best sellers, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and some lettuces.

"People want to control a little bit more of what they're eating, and they want produce and spices that they know there isn't chemicals on," he said. "Ten or 12 years ago, I couldn't sell organic solutions and fertilizers and things like that very easily."

Flaherty said warm weather plants will be popular sellers throughout the rest of spring, including begonias, impatiens, petunias, caladiums and salvias.

Recovering from a harsher winter than normal, Flaherty said gardeners will also be looking to replace tropical plants that died throughout the winter months.

"Because it froze this year, there's going to be a lot of tropical that will be sold: hibiscus, bougainvillea, ixora," he said.

Flaherty said knowledgeable staff helps the business compete with larger stores, as each customer has different needs.

"What is important is people want to create an environment that they enjoy," Flaherty said. "Everybody's got their needs, and we've got to try and help them with what they want and not what we want to sell them."

Although the area around him has developed since the store opened in 1973, Flaherty said the shop initially struggled with only a few neighborhoods in development.

When Flaherty was 22, his father—a prominent business owner in Houston—died and he was in danger of losing a low-level job working at another company run by a family friend.

"I said, 'I don't want to work for anybody else again,'" Flaherty said. "And I said, 'I think I can start a garden center. I don't know anything about plants, but I'll give it a go.' And the rest is history."

Flaherty also attributed his success to the help provided by his four children—Kelly, Sherri, Cody and James—whose participation with the business has helped with its growth.

A second location

A second Plants for All Seasons location opened in 1987 on Louetta Road. Although the business is run by Victory Flaherty's brother Brian, it is owned and operated separately. Brian Flaherty said the business offers about 80 percent of the same products as the other location. The significant differences are the growing operation of the Hwy. 249 location and the larger gift shop at the Louetta location, which offers garden decorations, candles, cards, rugs, seasonal products and other gifts.

Plants for All Seasons

21328 Hwy. 249

Houston 281-376-1646

www.plantsforallseasons.com

Hours: Mon.–Sat. 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

6610 Louetta Road

Spring 281-370-6390

www.plantsforallseasonslouetta.com

Hours: Mon.–Sat. 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.–6 p.m.