Businesses ready for spring

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - It's opening weekend for The Apple House in Terre Haute.

"The busiest time for any garden center operation, regardless of where it is in the country is the spring," The Apple House Co-owner Tom Cummins said.

Soon, bare shelves will be full.

"This week there's going to be a huge change here. We're going to see probably four or five semi loads of nursery stock will arrive in," Cummins said.

Employees spent all winter gearing up for the big season.

Customers spent the cold season waiting.

"The phones have been ringing off the wall. We've had a lot of people calling, wanting to know if we are open," he said.

One of those customers is Ruth Hancock.

She said she's ready to start planting before most garden centers even open up for the season.

"Oh yes. Real gardeners are. The ones who have got a green house has already started I imagine," Hancock said.

The Apple House said business really ramps up around the first of April.

It'll receive about ten loads of merchandise a week.

However, the best time to plant is now.

"As far as nursery stuff goes in particular, tree shrubs, evergreens, perennial, things of that nature, the sooner you can get them out of the ground, the sooner they'll start to root in and they're going to be much stronger coming into the summer that way," Cummins said.

Spring marks a bright new start.

"It's all beginning again, when you're old as I am, you want to start again," Hancock said.

Businesses like the Apple House make sure they're on hand and ready.

March 20th marks the first calendar day of spring.

The White Violet Center at Sisters of Providence of Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods will have a spring equinox celebration on March 16th.